It’s supposed to be 50F tomorrow but for now we still have plenty of snow on the ground. The kids have had fun finally getting to sled this year. We had some very heavy, sticky snow last week so we went out right away and made snowmen. I started a new thing with the kids where I give them 10 minutes each of focused 1-on-1 time each day if they want. Megan takes me up on this almost every day and typically has us going outside to do something like swing in the dark 🙂 It started snowing really hard a few days ago and she said her 1-on-1 activity was to go build a snowman. In the past I would have said no way because it was close to bedtime and I didn’t feel like putting on my snow stuff, but now I go do these things and end up loving them. We ended up spending 1/2 hour building snowmen (“Frosty the Brown Man” is what we called him b/c the snow kept pulling up all the leaves that had blown on our bare lawn over the winter – ugh) and a snow owl (in her hand). We had a hard time mounting the snow owl in the tree on a branch like she wanted but the 2nd snow owl did just fine in a flower pot instead.
Early the next day the snow was still super sticky so Colleen had a great idea to go to the top of our hill and start making the body of the snowman. By the time she finished that we had bare path in the sledding hill and a huge ball right in the middle of the sledding path 🙂 Guess that’s how we learn, huh?
I went on my annual ski trip to Vail last week. We didn’t commit to this trip until a few weeks ago once Vail finally started getting some snow. By the time we went the mountain was 100% open. We got probably 8″ of snow our last day there and had a blast as always. We got there in crazy windy conditions and we left in almost the same conditions plus snow. It got so windy the first and last days that I wore my goggles in the hot tub! Our first day there, we were on our 2nd run of the day and I decided to zoom off into the trees while the other two stayed on the trail. I got going a bit fast through the narrow paths in the trees and it got to where I was just zooming left and right and waiting to pop back out onto the trail. I could see the trail getting closer as I turned back and forth between the trees and thought I was just about out when all of a sudden there was no more snow or ground underneath me. I completely launched into the air, got leaning back on my skiis in the air (because I didn’t know I would jumping out), must have closed my eyes, probably screamed like a little girl, and after landing found myself laying on the ground with one ski off. Fortunately I landed in a bunch of powder but it really shook me up (in a nervous way, not a hurt way) and I skied off to catch the other two as fast as I could. We didn’t go back to see where I had fallen right away so for the next day and half the other two made fun of me and would point out 1′ drop offs and ask if that was what I went off. Hardy har har. I thought I had fallen fairly far but wasn’t sure, so finally we went back at the end of the 2nd day and saw that I did in fact shoot out of the woods and dropped probably 8′. I think that’s the biggest drop I’ve ever (unintentionally) done like that. This is also the first year that I rented a helmet – I think I made the right choice 🙂 Here’s what I shot off into the air – wheeeeeee!
We’ve had temps in the 50s & 60s here this past week. It would be hard to find enough snow now even to make a snow ball. That’s OK with us. We’re ready for spring.
We finally got a tree trimming crew here to cut down the broken limbs from our big snowfall in October. The big oak in front had 5 broken limbs. One came down on its own a few weeks ago. It looked much larger on the ground than it did up in the tree. I was afraid the limbs would come down at the wrong time with someone underneath.
Your 1-on-1 time sounds like a great idea. Hope it continues. You will never regret the time you spend with your children. They grow up so fast and then you don’t have those opportunities any longer.
Glad your X-treme skiing didn’t result in any extreme injuries. You better not let your kids read about your reckless adventure. Glad the unexpected drop was only 8′ and not any more. Better stick to the trails. Also, good thing you were wearing a helmet. I went up to Manchester to watch Preston and Cameron in their ski lessons a couple of weeks ago. Everyone had a helmet on. I thought about trying to ski again, but I think the meds I’m on are draining me. Now the snow is gone, so maybe I’ll look into it next year.