Lesson Learned

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.

Skate and Ski

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.

Back to Idahome

I think the kids actually missed the snow. New Year's Day was sunny and pleasant, so we got out the sled to acclimate quickly back to Idaho winters. Idaho only had a few inches of snow while we were gone, so this was old stuff, but it served its purpose, and the kids enjoyed just rolling around in it. 

(It must be noted that some of the rolling was because they only brought one sled and were having fun not sharing. Sledder1 would bring the sled back up the hill and often hop back on it before reaching the top near Sledder2, at which point Sledder2 would try to hop on a moving sled and often miss.)

Of course, this was after a lazy morning of sleeping in their own beds, staying in PJs, and working on Christmas Legos.

Since we had been gone for most of the Christmas holidays, and the kids had requested to make gingerbread houses several weeks ago, we made it happen in January with graham crackers. I know it's just an excuse to eat a lot of sugar and candy, but it's a fun activity for an hour or so, too.

And finally, I signed up my little crafter for a kids' craft class, which she loved. This is a wooden mitten that we designed, painted, papered, stickered, mod-podged, and festooned with ribbon. It has a place of honor on our mantel for the rest of winter.