"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.