Saturday, February 15, 2014

Winter Fun


We finally got some snow! Last year was too warm and wet for snow. This year has been very dry and cold, but it finally blew it's way in just a week before Valentine's Day! This is Baelor's first real experience in any substantial snow. The first night he cried when we made him come in after already an hour of playing in the 17 degree weather, not including windchill factor. He is such an outdoorsy little dude. The next day since there was no school I got to enjoy some sledding fun with the kids while Paul went in for a slow day at work.




We found a really great hill that was safely placed in a parking lot. Reina had no fear soaring down the hill head first, and Baelor had a blast the first ten times on mommy's lap. He only lasted so long before he was done. We decided to go out again the next day so Paul could test the hill out. It was even better now because there was a layer of ice covering the hill which made us go twice as far down the hill! We were the only crazy family out in the dark sledding down the ice hill, but it was seriously an adrenaline rush for us parents who don't get thrills very often. Someone had made a snow ramp which caused Reina and I to flip over once. Luckily I had a tight grip on Reina so she had a nice cushy fall on top of me.



Paul has enjoyed testing his Jeep out in the snow. He likes to show off to us his drifting skills around the corners...and probably loves seeing my nervous reaction.

We've done some other fun stuff during this winter season. Reina and I had a special movie night. Just the two of us. She thought it was so fun to watch "Despicable Me" (the first one that came out along time ago) and eat popcorn. Neither of us had seen it before. She kept cuddling to me and saying "I love you so much." We have plans to go to her first movie in a theater to see "Frozen".



We took an evening as a family to a kids play place called "Dizzy Castle". Although I'm sure full of germs, they had an always great time! Baelor's favorite was the ball blower. You collect all the balls you can find and put them in this vacume thing. Then you push a big red button and watch them blast out the top. We have him on video repeating this over and over, ecstatic every time. Reina's favorite was the alligator ropes that you swing from clover to clover and try not to land in the alligator-infested water below.


All of us adults enjoyed the ball guns that you can shoot and hit your opposing team on the other side of the jungle gym. I was definitely ganged up on with my lonesome self against three dads.




We have recently implemented daddy/daughter days. Their latest adventure was teaching Reina how to ride a bike without training wheels. She did a great job, and even learned how to do it all by herself in ten minutes! I'm impressed. Better yet, she had a great attitude about it! Paul got out his musical instruments that have been stored for way too long and let her try blowing into a saxophone and clarinet. I let her try my flute but it was tough for her to get the correct embouchure (yes, I had to look up the spelling of that word). Reina also requested to go to the climbing toys in the middle of the mall for her daddy/daughter day. She was so tired by 7 o'clock. She felt quite special that day. Here's her biking video again: