We only managed to get in a handful of runs, but the snow was perfect, the air was sweet and crisp, and once the sun had faded, the sky opened up like diamonds on a black velvet blanket.
#2 has discovered Google Sky Map on my phone and became an immediate fan, and this was a perfect opportunity to put it to work. We spent the entirety of our last two or three lift rides checking out Orion, the Gemini, Ursa Major, and a bunch of stuff that I didn't remember from my days with my mom, a flashlight and one of those "star wheel dialer chart" things in our backyard. I'd never heard of Monocerotis, for example, but it seemed to be the brightest thing in the sky, and the app's embedded Hubble shot put an entirely new and awesome perspective on it. I was very aware that my life was, for a few minutes, imitating a "Families: It's About Time" and I loved it. I tagged a few dozen yards behind the little guy as he rocketed down the slopes, and realized when my teeth hit a subzero chill that I'd been smiling involuntarily and widely the whole way. Can't remember the last time I smiled like that.
At bedtime, he prayed, "I thank thee for friends and food and trees...and stars."
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