Hi everyone - we're back!
Hope I'm excused since I dropped off my "we're going skiing" excuse last night! However, DH and I didn't end up skiing. Nope, it was too nice out for skiing, so we spent the whole day snowboarding instead!

Convinced Matt to go out with us in the morning on his SB, but he skied in the afternoon and the other two skied all day. Yep, we're a wacky family where the parents snowboard instead of the kids!
But the conditions were great and I felt SO good snowboarding, which I don't normally. And once again, you know you've lived in Green Bay too long when you're looking at the weather forecast and announce it will be 23 and your husband says "oh, that sounds really nice!" And it is!
Oh, and the neat thing. We had no idea, but at the place we were at today, they were doing an international ski jumping competition. This is like what they do in the Olympics, and they even had the Olympic gold medalist there. Supposed to be 20,000 people there for it, at $15 a head, plus parking. Well, we were using our free passes from last time (with the bad weather), so we go to go right in and park. Of course we skied/SB'd all day, but you could see a lot of it even from the slopes (because of course the jump is HUGE!). Then afterwards (around 3), we just walked over and watched for about a half hour. Of course we were the only sober people anywhere in the viewing area, but hey, what are you going to do!

DH wouldn't let Matt drive out of there because of the number of drunken idiots, but he took over once we cleared the area!
Anyways, I finally got Matt to get his girlfriend (who's up in his room with him right now) to get him some of the pics he took from our couple trips skiing with her. This one shows the ski jump in the background from the last trip there:
And here's the first time, doing the night skiing (when, as you recall, I killed myself tumbling down a double diamond!):
Marcie, that is soooooo funny about the bus! I know that was completely unexpected!
Here in Arkansas, kids can get a permit at 14 (as long as they have a 2.0 GPA or better) and they take the driving test within 6 months of getting the permit or when they feel they are ready (whichever comes first). When they pass the driving test, they get a "restricted" license, which means they have to have a licensed adult driver (21 or over) with them while they are driving until they turn 16, and then the restriction is lifted. Insurance is the same here as it is for you, it doesn't increase until the child actually gets his license.
What's the difference between the permit and the restricted license? Here they're the same thing as far as I can tell from how you're describing it. Although I think the person with them (with a permit) must be the legal parent or guardian, or must fill out some notarized form from the parents saying it's okay. So not just anyone over 21. Once they get their license, for the first 9 months (or 9 additional if they get any kind of violation), they can only drive immediate family members and 1 additional person, period. But I think that's all the restrictions other than something like no driving between midnight and 5am or so!
So glad to see you back Lawrence!

And glad your wife is feeling better! And I agree - just stay here with the "cool" group

and you won't get into any trouble!
kfed - is your school off all week? we tried that once a few years ago, i thought it was a great idea...peeps that had to pay for day care didn't & bombarded the school board
It's weird here I was just saying because I've never lived anywhere else before that didn't have that whole week off (for schools) or at least Monday off (for businesses). Of course I have to work Monday and we have all these notification emails from everyone we work with telling us they're off on Monday. Gee, thanks!
Question for you all- has any homies here stayed at Nick Hotel?
DH and I are just starting to look at hotels. I keep getting Nick Hotel emails.
We haven't been there, but my brother and his family and my mom are there RIGHT NOW! Mom should be back tomorrow, and they'll be back next week, so I can definitely give you some input soon from them if you'd like! I know if you go over to the Orlando Resorts boards, there were some recent posts about some discounted rates, I thought through around June. If you can't find the posts, I'd just start a new one and ask. I didn't get the impression it was WAY expensive - I'm guessing from what I've read around $100-200 a night depending on the season and the room and the discounts.
Lawrence
welcome back
have you read the pages?
we picked drivers for the season for nascar.
Please pick a driver and post it, you can have the same as others. just pick one. lots of other folks did.
I need you to post a pick right way - no more picks after today.
if any of you have still not picked, hurry up the clock is running out. just pick someone.
Okay, Penny, since you're giving Lawrence a chance, I guess I'll bite the bullet and go ahead and guess. Obviously I know nothing, but since I was in the Army, I'll go with:
8 Mark Martin Chevrolet U.S. Army
If it's not too late! Thanks!