Skiing Fun!

James and Dan had season passes to Campgaw this year and have been skiing all winter. John was super jealous. "I go skiing too! I go mountain too!"

Today we enjoyed an end-of-season special, and all four of us hit the slopes! It was my first time on skis in sixteen years. We had so much fun!

Another Snowy Day

No school today. Ice and rain mixed in this time, but that did make the snow "stickier." Daddy was home, so we ha some family fun outside. Still no snowman, but we did create a luge/skeleton run and a snow fort. I looooved taking the sled down our track, but I've already got my eye on a longer, steeper run in the backyard. James employed Dan as his "building servant" in creating the fort, then they had a small snowball fight. James was in the fort yelling out, "Stop Daddy! You're on my team! You're my building servant!"

Ha! John was happy in his many roles: arctic explorer, sled rider, neighborhood greeter,...

The current snow bank depth:

James the foreman, Daddy the servant:

Servant at work:

John goes for a ride:

Snowball attack--

Dad's tuckered!

Proud of his fort--

Front walk--

Top of the sled run--

Looking up from the "finish"--

New luge/skeleton track site?

Spring?!

It is snowing right now.

It snowed Monday as well.

However, there are some early bulbs coming up in the yard. Last week, when they were just tiny green sprouts, Dan pointed them out to James.

"Look, James! That's spring!"

A couple of days ago as we were walking up the steps to the deck after school, James noticed one of the bulbs had sprouted much more. "Mommy! Look! Spring is getting taller!" he exclaimed. "I want to go check the others." And back down the stairs he darted to check on the others. "Look, Mommy! This Spring is getting taller, too. And this Spring. All the Springs are getting taller!"

Blizzard of 2010

So, you may or may not know that we got walloped with snow here last night.

It started snowing lightly early in the day yesterday, and James immediately put on his snow boots. It didn't amount to much yesterday. Just before dinner, it picked up, and so we took James out for a quick walk in the snow, but the white out was starting, so it wasn't very fun. James, however, wanted to stay outside and shovel. Unfortunately we don't have a small sized shovel yet, so he and Daddy did a bit of shoveling with the full sized shovels.

This morning we woke up to a few feet of snow. It was dumping all night and so very windy. Our cars were absolutely buried.

Dan was fortunate enough to be able to borrow a snowblower, and it still took hours upon hours to clear.

James and I went out for a little while before lunch. The snow was up to James's waist
and not sticky enough to make snowballs or snowmen, so we basically trudged around making trails and paths through the snow.

Snowy Playdate

After Wednesday's big snow, James and I both had delayed openings at school on Thursday which afforded us more quality time at home in the morning. Fun. That afternoon we headed over to Cora's for a fun time in the snow with James's buddies Cora, Isabella and Chase.

We had a stomp a path up the hill for the kiddos because the snow was so deep. James, of course, loved climbing up and down "the mountain" and didn't care about the sleds too much. He had a few fast, fun rides, but was just as content being an arctic explorer. Which was fine because that allowed the others to get more turns :-)

Blizzard of 2010

Last weekend our trip to visit Auntie Ali and Uncle Preston was cancelled due to the fact that DC got buried in snow. Today they got even more snow, and this time so did we. Dan just came in from a 3-hour shoveling marathon. And it was the third time he's shoveled today! The snow fell steadily and heavily all day long.

James and I were both home from school (Snow Day!) and as Dan was finishing his first shoveling tour this morning, we headed out to the winter wonderland. James kept quoting The Snowy Day, "The snow plopped on Peter's head." He stomped all over the yard and kept jumping up and plopping himself in the snow. He tried to make a snow angel a few times. I tried to make a snowman a few times (but James kept destroying them).

When Dan finished shoveling, we got the sled out and went for a walk. James loved riding along then rolling off into the snow. It was like watching someone jump out of a moving car. Funny.

He did not want to come inside. We talked up the hot chocolate which finally got him headed home. However, even though he'd been chanting, "Hot chocolate!" he wasn't actually a fan when he drank it. Oh well... maybe next time.

Photo note: these pictures were early in our adventure which was around 10 AM. It has been snowing pretty much most of the 13 hours since, so the snow is much, much deeper now.

Snow Day with Daddy

This morning we got an early morning phone call from James's school-- their district was on a two-hour delay. Sadly, Mommy was off to school on time. Daddy decided to stay home instead of taking James in late, so they had quite a fun day together.

While Mommy was getting breakfast ready, Daddy went out to shovel. James suddenly started talking about going sledding. Then he was putting on his boots! "Put on James's snowboots." Then he was looking in his bag-- "Get your mittens. Get your hat. Get your snowpants. Go play in the snow."

It was really cute. He just had his hands full of his snow wear, standing by the door saying, "You go outside! You play in the snow!"

I convinced him to eat breakfast first (TWO bowls of oatmeal! After helping himself to two slices of bread while I packed lunches). While wearing his snowboots.

After I went off to work/school, Dan & James went out to play in the snow. They built two little snowmen (a Daddy and James), but James knocked them down before Dan could snap a photo.

Among other fun snow day activities, Daddy made an amazing Thomas the Tank Engine for James in the living room!

Here is Sir Topham Hat. James put him there to say, "Hello, Thomas. Welcome to the island of Sodor."

Here is a photo of James being Thomas's driver.

Thanks for a great day, Daddy.

Oh, Happy Birthday, Auntie Peg! While I didn't sing you the birthday song on your voicemail, I was singing it while Mommy called you. And I was REALLY happy about the phone call. I was grinning in a goofy way looking at the phone like I do for Nana. xox James

Snow Day

Today there is a Nor-easter sweeping up the east coast closing schools and creating excitement for meteorologists.  There were flurries throughout the day yesterday, but we awoke this morning (three cheers for James sleeping ALL night!) to snow on the ground and falling from the sky.  It stopped for a few hours (helpful for the morning commuters like Daddy), but basically has been falling all day.

James and I went out for a bit of playing before lunch.  After a brief period of uncertainty, he really enjoyed it.  He liked watching me pat it, especially if I said, "Pat, pat, pat," and seemed quite amazed at how it collapsed under his hands and feet.  You could see him reach out to touch it and then be surprised when his hand smooshed it down.  He was actually laughing with delight as he ran around the deck, in and out of the snow.