Day Eighty Three - "Christmas Break"

“External heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge. No warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him. No wind that blew was bitterer than he, no falling snow was more intent upon its purpose, no pelting rain less open to entreaty.”

Charles Dickens

Yesterday was a travel day. It started at 5:30AM with Master's Swim. The pool was full with athletes pounding out a few more workouts before the Christmas celebrations.

The Tuesday Workout consisted of:

300M Warm up
200M Drills
200M Kicks
3 X 200M on the 3:40's
Cutting down the stroke count on the last 50M's by 6 strokes
2 X 400M on the 6:40's
5 X 200M on the 3:30's
7 X 100M on the 1:45 (Last 25 meters was only 3 breaths)
8 X 25M all out with 10 seconds on the wall
100M EZ
100M Kick

The Master's Swimmers gave Coach Mike a little Christmas present for having to put up with us twice a week so early in the morning.

I wished all my friends a Merry Christmas and headed home after the swim.

My oldest daughter, Grace has been running a fever and when I arrived home there fever was still invading her body. We decided to get her into the doctor's before we flew to Boston for the week. The doc loaded her up with med's to hopefully combat the fever. After we were equipped to battle the illness we took off for the airport.

Tuesday was the busiest day for traveling at ATL airport. Though there were tons of people at the terminals the process to the gate was uneventful. Upon arriving at the gate we were informed that the First Officer for the flight had not been grounded for the regular 1 hour in between flights so our flight was delayed. A lot of moans growled through the gate as people flipped their phones on and dialed their connections on the other end to complain about the delay. I have always looked at it as if the pilot needs a little rest before they are flying 200 people in a 200 ton sardine can, then let them have their rest. I would rather be late at my destination then never to arrive at all.

We arrived in Boston safe and sound. Last night Ellie could not wait to get to play in the snow, so at 9:00PM Ellie and I headed out into the back yard. The temp was around 15 degrees and the area had received about 20 inches of snow from the storm a couple days ago. We were not outside very long, but Ellie enjoyed the tromp through the cold, untouched, white snow leaving her tracks all over the yard.

This morning she was outside again, attempting to make a snowman, but with the air temp at 11 degrees the snow was crystallized and dry making the snowman building complicated. Tomorrow it is to top 30 degrees which will help the build. We will be out there tomorrow to make the biggest S-man we can build.

The ladies are going to see "Wicked" this afternoon leaving me to do a little shopping at the Natick Mall along with the task of making dinner. Through the cold and snowy weather a man's job is never done, even on vacation.

Shot of Sarah near the finish looking strong. Thanks for the picture Michelle.