Sledding Party

My two sweet princesses...


Thought I'd try and get back to writing a weekly blog so it isn't as much of a chore to write (or read it-!). That last one felt like a novel!

So how's everyone been? We're doing well here... over our Christmas colds and back into the routine of school, work, and basketball.

At right: Emma peeking out from a fort she built in our living room.

It was nice packing away the Christmas stuff. I used it as an opportunity to weed out excess things for donation and to better organize whatever was kept.

Then I moved on to closets! What a job. But it was fun to re-discover things I'd forgotten all about, and to make more room for us by getting rid of things we've outgrown.

The picture at left is Emma and Leila riding a miniature train at the roller rink in Eau Claire. Emma had been invited to a skating party for one of her school friends.

This weekend we went to a sledding party at our neighbor's house. It was very cold but the sun was shining... and of course there was lots of snow.

These neighbors have about three sledding parties a winter, and invite the neighborhood children and their parents. It's a fun way to get the kids outdoors and moving around. Also it's fun socializing with everyone.

They have an outdoor firepit for warming up, but also have a large mud room inside, with benches and plenty of room to spread out wet things while getting a cup of hot chocolate or a snack.

Michael wasn't sure if he wanted to go at first, but once there had a GREAT time. He was proud that by the end of the day his shirt sleeves, which had popped out from under his coat at the wrists, were frozen solid. He'd done a lot of sledding but also went for snowmobile rides... Jon and another Dad towed kids on sleds tied to the back of their snowmobiles.

This was the first year Leila's been old enough to actively participate in all the sledding. She started out riding with others but soon moved on to solo rides. She had trouble coming back up the hill, though, so Jon and I took turns retrieving her.

Emma gave snowboarding a try this year. She was pretty good at it, for a beginner, but did end up hurting her back. She was sore the next day, but is fine now.

She had a great time driving the snowmobile, with Jon on back. She also enjoyed getting pulled on a sled by a snowmobile, riding over bumps and getting sprayed in the face by cold, powdery snow (while screaming and laughing with her friends).

After our busy day we laid our wet things out by the fire and hunkered down for some serious laziness. Good times.