Skating, Snowmen and all Smiles

The ice rink was closed but we were not detered we strapped on wheeled skates and headed over to see Ms. Dollar at the Rola-Rena.  The line outside the roller rink on Friday night was cetainly nostalgic as five of us waited to get inside.  Ella was at school and sleep over, but the rest of us where ready for skating!  It was a total hoot, Amy and I had to spit out our gum at the door...Ms. Dollar, a certified skate instructor, wouldnt allow such things on her floors and with good reason.  My skates had no stoppers and insurance wouldn't allow them to be used either so I would have to rent another pair.  Also it turned out that insurance wouldn't allow coats to be on the backs of chairs but lockers were provided at a small fee.  Merrick flew around the rink on a knife's edge of being in control and totally out of it.  I caught up with Sophia and asked her if She had friends here her look was enough to signal yes and but I still had to verbalize the question that I already knew the answer too....'should I leave you alone?"  Grace was finding her feet and told Amy that she didn't know why the floor had to be so hard.  She was very glad it was Friday night so that she wouldn't have to go to school with her legs all bruised.  There were scooter races as well as a birthday sing along lap for someone.  We had to all line up, based on sex, along the wall while others skated by and choose whom they would skate with.  Amy picked me and Merrick was picked five and half times (he said the song ended so he only counted the last girl as half).  Sophia scored a lap or two and we couldn't quite convince Grace to pick a boy from the presented options.  Sweated up and wore out it was time to head to the bar.  He ate a couple of pretzels the size of our heads at Titletown and chugged quarts of rootbeer while watching Friday night fights.  The kids got into the fight and quickly chose a pugalist to root for.  Saturday was gymnastics day for Grace and the rest of us headed to TR to bring Ella home.  The kids giggled all the way home about the movie she had watched during the sleep over.  Merrick headed out with a friend for an afternoon of open gym/parcour and the Sophia had a friend over to the house for a while, wich increased the population of American Girl Dolls in the house.  The girls did find some time to get outside, with dish washing gloves on their hands, to build some snow people.  The temps were really warm and the snow was really quite wet but as it melted the minnows from last week were exposed and apparently made wonderful eyes for one of the snow people.  Science Saturday!!  The evening required some testing and use of the PHOEC model the kids use in school.  The Problem was oreo double stuff vs. original.   We were quite impressed as they took notes on the various qualities of the cookies and made insightful conclusions based on the evidence they had collected. They even added ways to increase their research.....mint oreos, halloween oreos, vanilla oreos....The sugar and transfat loading of Saturday was the perfect base for Sundays trip to the donought shop. All in all another wonderful weekend with plenty of smiles.

Shake your Fist

It had been too many days inside and the sun was shining, so as Grace headed off to her first day of gymnastics Ella and I shook our fists at the -19 windchills and headed out to do some ice fishing.  The car was loaded up and he headed to the Machick, fishing reports had been lackluster and this was confirmed by a couple of guys at the bait shop.  We were undaunted and pushed on with a bucket full of minnows.  Ultimately, as Ella pointed out, we would only use two minnows.  We set up the shack and got the heater going.  Sitting around the holes with our jackets off, reading a lot, snacking often and chattinga  bit was a wonderful way to spend some winter hours.  Not being interupted by fish or havng to wash fish smell out of our clothing was ok by us.  The tip ups were getting buried in the snow and I had to becareful not to touch the metal parts as my wet hands would stick to those parts, but it was great inside the shack.  Tried to push a guy's truck at the boat landing, having tried to drive out and quickly getting stuck in the snow.  Ella and I walked.  The way home we skipped the A&W so Ella could keep her New Year's resolution of no fast food and we talked about was to improve the shake, like maybe a small radio or hanging our jackets on the auger.  We didn't catch any fish, but Ella seemed to enjoy herself and we talked about going out again so it seemed that we at least hooked something.

WInter Comes for the New Year

School has arrived to replace slow paced winter break that brought cold and snowless days.  The cold was enough, in the eyes of some, to delay schools a couple of mornings, but with yesterday's snow it now looks and feels like winter outside.  The kids are excited about the possibility of finally getting some sledding done.  The break was spent doing many holiday activities indoors.  The smell of baking cookies was common in the house and everyone got their fill of various sweet treats.  The kids each got a bunk bed for their American Girl dolls and with that Amy showed them all how to make tie blankets to keep their 'kids' warm.  I lost count of the number of hours that they were playing with these dolls but over the break it was likely more easy to measure it in complete days.  Santa scored an unexpected hit by dropping off a case of root-beer, showing yet again parents can never be sure exactly what will be the 'wow' gift of the season.  We did get out for two short hikes once on the oconto trails, wolf ridge and another time closer to home at Osprey point.  Wolf ridge provided a good place to nibble on the easy to identify wintergreen that is quite abundant.  Osprey point was better for deer sign given the prolificness of the urban herd.  The kids did up the new year with a wonderful party complete with helium balloons and multitudes of snacks.  They all made it up until midnight and I don't recall anyone being too cranky the next day, although I also seem to recall even Merrick sleeping to nearly ten in the morning.  The older girls spent their last day of vacation at the Y, for a parcour class.  This is basically urban gymnastics and is pretty cool to watch them jump and somersault all over a gymnasium scattered with boxes, ropes and balance beams as they played a final game of insane lava tag.