I think I shoveled 5 out of 7 days last week and we still didn’t come close to getting as much snow as New England got in a day (hope things are getting back to normal for all of you by now). The weather has been anything but predictable here…snow, rain, ice, way below zero, back up to thirty degrees…I’ve stopped looking at the weather forecasts so each morning is a fun surprise 🙂
On one of the really cold days (I think it was -12F at the time) we boiled water and sent the kids out on the back patio to throw the hot water into the air. Pics are cool, huh? Poof! No more water – it barely even hits the ground.
We survived another pinewood derby. Christopher had the 5th fastest car. Megan’s was fast too – but not quite as fast. Christopher and his friends had lots of fun watching the cars zoom past (I loved watching his expressions from photo to photo). In one of the pics Christopher’s car is in 1st (in the far lane with three fins on it) and Megan’s is in 2nd (in the closest lane – red, white & blue). We painted sinkers on hers to look like people’s faces so it looked like hers had 10 people riding in her car. Christopher also got to lead the American flag in and out of the event that day.
Colleen and Megan built a snowman and sprayed blue food coloring all over it. The next day our neighbors had a red snowman in their front yard. Down the street there is a family of snowmen each holding tennis rackets, umbrellas, pinwheels, etc – they are a fun group to pass as we drive to and fro. We still have our Christmas lights up – only a few people on the street are in the annual lights contest – we’ll go to July if we have to – nobody is beating us, no way, not a chance.
Colleen danced again at the Timberwolves halftime. A friend of mine who works for the T-wolves got us great tickets (4 rows up) so we had an awesome view of the game and players. I don’t know how I did it but once again I positioned myself perfectly to not be able to get any good photos. Colleen’s instructor lined herself up perfectly between me and Colleen. The same thing happened last game. It’s a challenge because you’re fighting to get a good, low seat as half-time starts while so many people are exiting and we never know exactly where Colleen will be. She did great and had a fun time.
Megan had a music performance at school. We did the same thing at this event – got lined up so her music teacher completely blocked her for most of the songs (you can just see her in the pic right in front of her teacher). I don’t think we could have picked a worse seat – she was pretty much the only child in the entire gym that we couldn’t see! And the place was absolutely packed so we couldn’t move at all. The songs were great – my favorite was listening to her shout “Mama!” and wag her finger back and forth and do all the other hand gestures:
Mama! when you bake,
Mama! I don’t want cake;
Mama! for my sake
Go to the oven and make some ever lovin’,
Shoo fly pie and apple pan dowdy
Makes your eyes light up,
Your tummy say howdy
Shoo fly pie and apple pan dowdy
I never get enough of that wonderful stuff!
She also had a speaking part, which…earns us all ice cream 🙂 Yummy!
I’m two weeks into my five weeks of training to be a CERT member. Last week we learned how to use a fire extinguisher to put out fires. The rule of thumb is that if we can’t put it out in 5 seconds then we should retreat. That’s just a bit different than my fire instruction over the past 10 years but I’m ok with it and glad to be involved 🙂 My annual ski trip to Vail is coming up. Ran up the IDS tower again (50 floors – 1280 steps). I shaved 2 seconds off my time from last year and now am only 13 seconds from getting below 10 minutes total. Racquetball league has been good. Work and UMN are good for us. Kids are good. Purdue stinks. Man are they awful. Had a really fun night out with some friends last night – we stuck with the “sipping” tequila (versus the “shooting” tequila) but it was still a bit rough playing three early games of league racquetball this morning. Hope all is well with everybody. Hope RSS works for you dad – let me know…
Neat pictures of the water turning to ice. Christopher looks like he’s dressed for it. Seeing the girls out in the cold makes me feel cold again. I was cold all day. The forecast was for a high of 38F. I dressed for the temp, but not prepared for the strong wind. I never did warm up. Tomorrow is the 4th day this week for me to work. It’s been two years since I’ve put in that many work hours in a week. Other than a few aches I feel pretty good. I see the oncologist again this Fri. One of my goals is to go 2 months without seeing a doctor or nurse. I have appointments the next few months, so I won’t be able to start that goal for awhile.
Sounds like you’re staying in shape. That’s good that you could shave time off your time for last year. Don’t think I could make it up more than 2 flights. My get up and go seems to have got up and gone. My test is the hill over on Pemberton. Sometimes I’m pulling Casey and other times she’s pulling me up the hill.
They say another nor’easter is heading our way for this weekend. This time only 12 inches. The last snow wasn’t all that bad even though we got around 20 inches. It was light and not too hard to deal with.
I didn’t realize the pinewood derby was coming so soon. I’ve looked for the orange car, but so far haven’t come across it. Only ones I’ve found are the red and purple cars. They are similar in design, but not the one you raced in Philly. I liked the designs of Christopher and Megan’s cars and the facial expressions. Did they have an event for sibblings (or do you dress Megan in a Cub Scout uniform so she can participate?).
I thought the snowman looked blue, but didn’t realize why until I read your comment. Don’t suppose it would be a good idea to use yellow food coloring… I took our backyard tree lights down before the blizzard. There is one house a couple of blocks from us that still has Christmas lights. They can have the prize for our neighborhood. I’m ready for some warmer weather and am starting to look for robins.
We never did hear the final score of the Purdue – IU game. At halftime it was pretty much a run away. There’s always next season. If it can’t be Purdue, I hope IU or some other hoosier teams do well in the March madness finals.
I was able to find Colleen in the midst of the dancers (I just looked for the prettiest dancer), but glad you indicated where Megan could be found. I went through a couple of times and wasn’t able to find her. Looks like you did have great seats for the Timberwolves game. I don’t suppose the fans there trash the place like that Vikings game we went to. We might not have set a good example for your youngins, but I enjoyed the experience. It was unique to say the least.
Glad all is going well. Let’s keep it that way. After the past two years we all need some time for cathing our breath, healing and simply enjoying life. Keep looking for the simple joys in life and I’ll do the same.