Day 1 of 23

Starting today, the kids have a break from school of 23 days. (The holiday break is longer here to give families the time to fly to various locations all around the world.) Let's summarize where things stand on Day 1 of the break:

1. I'm still grounded by a sprained ankle.

2. Tanner is throwing up.

3. We can't use our dishwasher or our kitchen sink.

So we're off to a rip-roaring start to the holiday.

1. As for the ankle, I think I'm starting to see signs of improvement after two weeks, but man, is it slow. I'm still limping around wherever I go. I'm learning that when you're in your early thirties, things don't heal as fast as they do when you're in your twenties. So much for our plans to spend the holidays skiing. I think maybe we'll all still go to one of the nearby mountains and let Stace and the kids take a ski lesson while I hang out in the lodge.

2. Tanner will be fine. Throwing up in the top bunk of his bunk bed in the middle of the night could have been a disaster, but it helps to have a father who borders on having obsessive-compulsive disorder. When he went to bed, he said his stomach hurt a little. I didn't think much of it but put a bowl by his bunk just in case. That little bit of paranoia saved us from a major disaster three hours later when everything came up. He did a good job of hitting the target. He threw up through the night and into this morning, but it's been a couple of hours now. He kept down some crackers and he's asleep on the couch. We're on the road to recovery.

3. We discovered that when our dishwasher or kitchen sink drains, the water leaks underneath our laminate floor. This is a wonderful thing to discover in Europe on the weekend before the holidays because everyone takes two or three weeks off of work. I'm not sure when we'll be able to get a plumber in here. At least it's not our responsibility to get it fixed since we don't own the place, but still, not having a dishwasher or kitchen sink when everyone's here for the holidays is a bit annoying.

This will all pass. After all, it can only get better from here, rigtht? We'll still get in some skiing, Tanner and I will go to Paris, my ankle will get better, and life will be good.