On Motherhood, Writing, Wine, and Friendship: Icy roads, Speedy kids, and Frostbite

Well, at this point almost everyone knows we're in Canada, eh?

It's the second time this year we've made our way to the Great White North to stay in the picturesque town of Mont Tremblant.

The first time we visited was back in February. We did a lot of the same things almost 10 months ago; however, this time around it's a good 30+ degrees colder.

I always assumed that cold was cold. I figured that once you reached a certain degree of coldness, you just can't get any colder. It's kind of like when you start eating one day and just can't stop. By 2 pm you figure you've already blown your daily recommended caloric intake out of the water, so you might as well just keep eating whatever you want for the rest of day. It's like the additional calories just don't count anymore after a certain point (At least that's how I see it!). So I expected cold to be just, well, cold.

Then a few days ago I was riding up the third lift on the south side of the mountain. It was difficult to see two chairs in front of me and I hadn't been able to feel my middle fingers for at least 30 minutes. Twice, my iPhone told me it was too cold to work. And I started thinking maybe I should pack it in after only two and half hours of skiing.

But the pictures I was getting were amazing. And I wanted to remember how beautiful it was, even if I was slowly losing feeling in the rest of my hands, and my face had become so numb I couldn't move my lips. Surely, I couldn't possibly get any colder.

After lunch, I met up with Teague and skied some of the lower runs. It was still freezing, but we adore the time we get together on the mountain. It's always nice to have one-on-one time with the big brother. After all, for 3 1/2 years it was just me and Teague; sometimes I forget that our dynamic is very different when Crews is not around. Not better, just...unique. And I deeply cherish it.

So we kept on skiing. And I was glad to feel a tiny bit warmer.

The following day we went to Expedition Wolf. This is one of my favorite places on the planet. Not only are you surrounded by over 100 gorgeous Huskies, but the guides, the sleds, and the trails are one-of-a-kind.

About 3 hours into the trip, all three of us had lost feeling in our hands. When we tried to talk, our mouths didn't quite move the way they should. It was similar to watching those anime cartoons where the dialogue doesn't quite match up with the mouth moving. But we were still having an amazing time and smiled as best as we could.

But then, Crews had to pee. I really didn't want to remove my gloves to get him undressed out in the frigid wilderness. But he had on two pairs of longjohns, a ski bib, a fleece, a coat, and gloves. There was no way this was going down without me getting all those layers off ASAP. And honestly, I have no clue how he managed to pee while stripped down to nothing in below zero temps.

By the time I had replaced all of his layers, my hands were a shade of grayish purple I've never before seen. I started thinking about the Frostbite Waiver we had to sign before departing on the sleds, and worried we might all lose some digits. But one of our guides wasn't even wearing gloves, so I tried not to be a wimp.

By 4 o'clock it was dark and I was shaking despite being wrapped in a sleeping bag. All of us were glad to be heading back to base. And I was sure I could never be colder than I was at that moment.

Yesterday, we woke up to find it would be the coldest day yet. But the boys still wanted to ski, so I put on 10 layers of clothes and slowly eeked my way back out into the cold. Teague practiced his turns while I made sure Crews could handle the mountain (and getting off the lift) on his own. I followed my little bug down twice and he was all set!

But our ski adventure was brief. After an hour, we left in search of warmth and food. We were SO cold.

After lunch, we drove over to a tubing park. By this time, it was 2 o'clock and though it was the sunniest day yet, a large portion of the park was in the shade. We paused for a brief photo-op with our fabulous Luca Max Sport sunscreen (Thanks Georgia!)...