What an Amazing Winter Weekend

 

What an amazing weekend, maybe it was the cabin fever left from the polar vortex or the recognition that the winter months are fleeting way too fast but either way we lived outside and packed in plenty of fun.  Friday Sophia had a friend over and we did the traditional Little Caesers pizza and early morning pancakes but also headed over to the ice rink for a some skating.  I managed to only pack a single skate, fortunately they rent skates so I plunged my foot where so many others had been before.  We skated for more than an hour and Sophia was a rock star not wanting to leave even after everyone else was satiated.  Merrick too showed improvement since our last trip out and clearly the summer roller blading and another year older certainly helped out.  After Sophia's friend left on Saturday the three off us headed out for a quick ski and although the air was brisk we quickly warmed up as we kicked and glided across the newly waxed skis.  We headed home to pack and meet the TR tribe down south.  We headed over to a great sledding hill in Mishicot.  Sophia was impressed with the idea that we could park at the top of the hill rather than starting at the bottoom and having to walk up as is the case with the two hills we use around here.  One of the sleds was less than cooperative so the two oldest hiked to a family friend's house looking for a new sled.  After a long time over there, long enough for a couple hot coco's, they returned with two more in hand for Merrick and Grace.  Amy and I drank most of them as all four of them headed over the castle structure at the park to play with their imaginations in new setting.  We returned to huge lasagna meal and then geared up again and the kids donned their headlights as we set off into the hiking trails of the State Park.  The snow was crunchy and the sky was wonderfully clear with a derth of constellations visible through the leafless trees.  At one point we did have to grab kids from the ground and toss them into the woods as a couple of snowmobiles unexpectedly came down the trail.  By midmorning we found ourselves on the lake jigging for panfish and watching tip ups for northerns.   It was the innagural trip for the new ice shack and it was well used through out the day to get out of the wind and snack on kit kats.  We pulled three notherns through the ice from the same tip up.  It was really exciting and two of the three where around 24 inches with good girth.  No keepers however as the size limit on that lake is 32 inches.  Keepers or not it was a riot.  The kids did spend some time generally running around the ice and pulling each other in the sleds before we wrapped it up and headed to the pizza place for a 'shore lunch.'

"Snow" much to do!

 The cold has passed (Polar vortex) and the snow has fallen.  The kids spent sometime earlier this week looking at the calendar and lamenting about how short the winter is and how much we still need to do.  We have yet to get in any ice fishing at all and our ski trips have been seemingly sparse.  We are hoping to ramp it up this weekend with some much needed outdoor time.  Sophia did have a flute concert that was cancelled do to a blizzard and then rescheduled, she played wonderfully.  Merrick is doing well in school and his stint at Playground Pal has now concluded.  The kids both have new backpacks in anticipation for some backpacking this summer, but for now they are just great weekend bags for traveling. Merrick's will have to be loaded pretty light if we are going any great distance. We have spent some time tromping around the 'Back 40" and playing in the woods of Two Rivers, plenty of trees to climb and snow shoe tracks to make.  We certainly found enough beds in the snow to confirm that we weren't the only ones that thought it was a pretty place to hang out.  The recent snowfall has left a wonderful cover of fresh packable snow and Merrick and I have plenty of snowball fights.  Even spent nearly an hour just tossing him around the backyard as we pretended he was getting attacked by a bear.

New Year

 

 The New Year found us celebrating in traditional and not so traditional ways.  The kids through a huge party in the basement and energized on homemade pizzas and sugar and caffeine managed to stay up to great the new year.  We had bangers and clappers and hats and whistles and bubbly spirits and loud music and everything a good party needs.  New Year's morning was greeted with a frat house type

feel.  We all chipped in and it was cleaned up before too long.  Earlier in the week we took a trip to the mall and the oldest two were allowed to wander on their own to buy the things girls buy at the mall, lotions and necklaces.  The rest of us got cookies and all the kids found ways to spend some of their Christmas money. The warm weather followed by a quick drop in temperatures had left the ski trails too icy to use, but we did find time to wax all the skis in preparation of better temps.  The weather has had some nasty wind chills and Ella and Sophia each received a fair dose of frostbite when their balaclavas slipped down.  We found a field near the house to play cut the pie and chased each other around the fresh snow in a variation of tag.  It was a great way to get a little sunshine on a cold day.  Then we also headed over to the park to bust trails through the multistory high phragmities.  Inside the swampy grass the wind was nill and we even took to through the kids into the tall reeds to help bust the trail.  They laughed the whole while and were all completely surprised at how little distance we had actually covered through the grass when we popped out only about a 100 feet from where we went in, even though it was pushing nearly a 45 minute trail breaking session.  The kids rolled around on the ice rink for a while and played their own games before we headed back home for lunch and naps as the vacation dwindled into the remaining hours and we changed our focus back to academics and work.