Winter, it seems, is back from its vacation and ready to make up for lost time. This past weekend, it pretty much snowed all 3 days for about 6" of accumulation.
Which means sledding time! (I was going to take H up to Targhee for skiing on Sunday, but the roads were too bad, so we turned around. Later we heard the mountain got another foot of snow that day over just a 5 hour-span.) Anyway, it was nice to be home and to lay some fresh tracks on the sledding hill instead!
There was also an attempt to make a snow fort in the yard, but the bricks kept breaking when trying to remove them from the form. I think they got 3 bricks built in an hour!
Owen didn't have school on Monday either, so we did a trek to the other sledding hill in the neighborhood. There were a few jumps set up here from the weekend. Owen liked getting air in the sled, but the landing is always a bit jarring.
Here Owen demonstrates the track he said was like a bobsled run...
And here, I opted to take you along for the ride! Feel the wind in your hair? Now you see that the ride down is about 1/20 the time it takes to hike back up to the start...
Well, I was having a rare illness-free winter and thought I was home free, but the flu caught up with me for the last week of February. Ah, well. Looking back at February, we had a birthday to celebrate! Might be the last one we count for a while. ;)
There were a few events around town celebrating engineers' week, so I did manage to get the kids out to see Dream Big when the mayor brought it to town for free last weekend. They also had some hands-on projects for the kids to try beforehand, which was fun. It was a nice change up from the usual rigamarole of birthday parties, soccer games, and long indoor staring contests, all of which we did that day, too!
Oh, before I forget... we did a mini-Valentine's celebration. The kids both get parties (and lots of candy) at school, so I set up a scavenger hunt for them at home. There were about half a dozen rhyming clues that sent them to different locations around the house until they finally found bags with a book and sweets inside. It was fun to watch them try to decipher the clues, and they really enjoyed figuring it out!
Lastly, I just had to share something I found one afternoon. Hadley had gone downstairs to practice piano, and I turned around to discover her lovey, Kitty, penned in by blocks while she was gone. I asked her later why, and she said, "to keep her safe." Not sure from whom or what, but I left it at that. Kitty, rest assured you are in good hands.
For our long Presidents' Day weekend, we headed east to Driggs for snow and friends. Our first stop was south of Victor, where we found a free cross-country trail at a resort's golf course. It was pretty quiet, just before a storm, with only a handful of other skiers enjoying the trail. This was my view behind: Hadley inching along in her plastic skis with Dad keeping her company.
And my view in front: our fearless leader, who only fell a few times. It was a pretty trail with a few loops that followed a creek flowing into a pond. It was too cloudy to see the Tetons, but still surrounded by mountains and cabins. The kids were done after the short loop, but my spouse was kind enough to stay with them while I went on the remaining larger loop solo.
Then we met friends at their condo. The kids all get along great, and they let us crash with them for a night. Too bad this was the only picture I got of them, wedged between the couch and the wall with a game!
The next morning we drove up the mountain where the kids reported for ski lessons. Because of their age difference, they were in different classes.
Both lessons ended at lunch, so after we ate our sandwiches, I skied with the kids on the bunny hill. We started off on the magic carpet (a gently moving belt). I think I rode it at least 10 times, at which point Hadley requested to go on the lift. (Absolutely!) Owen probably rode this thing 40 times between his lesson and our afternoon together.
Here's O going down the little hill back to the magic carpet. He was in the zone, on repeat, but I had made him a deal that he could do whatever he wanted, no pressure. So, this was what he wanted to do! And I was glad that he found something he liked (since he was nervous from a couple of crashes in his short skiing history).
Hadley really enjoyed her lesson, even though according to her it was full of "toddlers". She seems to really like skiing! Yea! Here she is leading me after we rode up the chair lift on the beginner hill. (The group she passes is her class from the morning - the ones that did full-day lessons. Her instructor says "Look at that unicorn!!" as she zooms by. He liked her helmet.) We went up a few times, and she showed me a "bobsled" run, a "mouse house" door cut out of wood, and a lot of moxie! She was excited to be the leader and was really the happiest I've maybe ever seen her when she was shouting, "Follow me! This is sooo fun!!"
And at the end of the day, we met up with Hadley's friend, Ella, who lives down the street and goes to H's school. They were pretty cute little snow bunnies together!
They went down the hill a couple of times together, along with Ella's dad (and me for a bit!). Since everyone was going, even Owen left the magic carpet for a trip up the chair lift for his last run of the day, so I stuck with him pretty closely. When asked if they'd like to ski again, I got a "yes!" and a "maybe". Ha!
I have been wanting to go cross-country skiing in GTNP all winter, since hearing that you could do so. I don't know why it didn't cross my mind earlier! John had obligations in town, so Owen and I ventured out for a mom-son day. Although we are clear of snow in town, they certainly have plenty still up in the mountains. Owen got a little carsick over the pass, so we took it easy and had lunch in the car in the parking lot for a while. Luckily, I think the best view was from the parking lot!
When he was feeling better, we decided to get some fresh air and just walk around a bit. Turn out, the snow was crunchy and hard enough that we didn't really need skis or snowshoes! So we kept walking. Owen had a great time making new tracks off between the trees and over little hills.
I went into hiking mode and wanted to see how far we could get up the mountain for the views, but kids have a way of making you slow down and see things you wouldn't otherwise. Every boulder was a climbing adventure. Every track was a potential squirrel or rabbit hiding nearby. Some of the creek had thawed and was running under the snow, so of course, we had to kick in more snow and watch it disappear.
And the hills were sledding opportunities! I think this kid has been missing snow fun this warm winter. See his tracks down the hill? He called this "butt slides" and could have done this for hours! I gave it a try too, but he was way better at it!
My selfie game needs work! I can never figure out how to get faces and background in the same frame... I'm going to say that my arms are just too short. Ha!
So I let the 8-year old take my portrait to get the mountains in the back! Not bad!
I love Jackson, so we had to stop for some hot cocoa and pastries before going back over the pass. Wish we could spend more time doing this kind of thing! It was a fun, if long, day!
Not to be outdone in a winter sports video, Owen has his own skating clip now. He really enjoys it and can turn and accelerate pretty well, just on the cusp of control. We do need to work on stopping though. He kind of run-skates and as a result, is a pretty loud skater (that's him clip-clopping across the ice). He won't be sneaking up on anyone on skates, that's for sure! It's definitely given me renewed awe at the Olympic athletes that make it look so easy.
Well, maybe I did learn my lesson. On a sunny Saturday, I signed up Hadley for an hour-long ski lesson. She was skeptical, but ended up loving her teacher (Diane) who taught her how to slow down and stop! I was impressed that they headed for the ski lift right away.
I had an hour to myself and then went back outside to meet them at the end of the lesson. Hadley is in super-bright ski pants and her unicorn helmet:
Meanwhile, Owen's school had a multi-cultural week where they learned about several countries from around the world, focusing on those participating in the upcoming Olympics. One day the entire elementary school (grades 1-6) was bussed over to the local skating rink/city park for some 'adventure learning' to cap off their case studies. They started off with an Olympic flag ceremony with current and former student hockey players and figure skaters doing demos. It was so cool!
And with an army of volunteers at their disposal (for example, I was tying skates for kids all day), the day was a success! Originally, half the school was going to cross-country ski, but you can see from the lack of snow that they had to make alternate plans. Some of the non-skating rotations included sledding relays, ice bocce, and winter survival skills.
In the end, every kid got to try ice skating, which I think is pretty amazing. Owen actually enjoyed his second skating experience immensely and has already asked to go again a few times.
Lastly, Hadley got her craft on again at another kid's wood creations event. She really enjoys these 2-hour sessions, and we get cute seasonal displays, so it's a win-win.
This has been a very warm January! It's a little disconcerting to see so much grass in the middle of winter around here, though I certainly don't mind the consecutive days above freezing. There have been a few flurries here and there, but most of the collection from December has melted, and what ice remains melts every day and re-freezes every night for slippery, slushy, muddy conditions. So what to do in our free time with no snow? We took the city up on its free-skate hour last weekend. We do this so infrequently that it's a little like relearning the skill each time we go.
Hadley stubbornly agreed to use the guide, although she didn't want any advice on how to skate! Much like when she learned to ride a bike, she did better when her parents gave up and left her on her own. This is what it looked like early on, but she was doing much better with the guide by the end. And Owen, who was reluctant to go and fell quite a bit, ended up liking it very much, despite his wearing ankle socks and getting severely chafed!
Both kids were off from school for MLK the next day, so we went in search of snow. Harriman State Park always delivers, and they did not disappoint! I rented some "real" skis for Hadley, thinking that it would help us equalize our paces, but the poles and hills presented a whole new problem. And just like skating/biking, I had to let her work it out on her own. But, can we just agree that it's frustrating to try to help someone and be willfully ignored? Okay then. Someday I'll learn my lesson...
Anyhow, it was a gorgeous day, the scenery was beautiful, and the swans were plentiful.
Owen did great and kept waiting for us patiently. It was hard to resist messing up all of the pristine snow beside the trail! But we did have a little break by the river, and I think we took nearly 2 hours to do a 0.75 mile loop trail. Whew...
So by the end, we put our skis in the car and took some time to just play in the snow.
There was a vicious snowball fight, wild snow cougars, snow slides, making lots of new tracks up to our knees, and of course, snow angels.
A new diversion was this snow dunk tank where you had to try to hit the stop sign with a snowball to knock the person off the post into the snow. Even hangry Hadley enjoyed playing in the snow after a snack! And Owen wants to drive back here just to play in the next snowfall. Never thought I'd ask for more snow, but maybe just a little more... especially on our local ski hill.
