For his 10th birthday, each of the boys got an overnight trip with dad. Eamon and I went to Cooperstown, Brendan and I went to San Francisco...and last month Aidan chose a snowboarding excursion.
The best part of hanging around with a 10-year-old, and letting him direct things, is that you get to think like a 10-year-old. This hotel is awesome! They have cookies in the lobby! There's an ice machine! Can I ride on the baggage cart? (Uh, sure.)
But the best amenity for Aidan, by far, was cable. He mandated that we have a Friday night stay, so that we could watch Star Wars: The Clone Wars. We ordered double cheese pizza and had a TV party. It was a blast. Earlier we had gone on an afternoon hike and followed some bear tracks through Donner campground, so our soggy shoes were drying in the sink.
On Saturday morning we hit Donner Ski Ranch early. Aidan was new to snowboarding but made huge gains in the first hour. I stayed on skis. Watching him enjoy himself was almost as much fun as riding the baggage cart.
