First Snow

It has been a warm winter thus far, so the boys were very happy that it snowed this week.

Not a lot, and it's already melting, but it was fun for a day.  They are hoping for a lot more!

Good Morning!

This is what greeted us outside this morning.

Eggs on Toast claimed he was not cold.  I said, "You will be.  You...will...be."

Time Keeps on Slippin' Slippin' Slippin'...

The first day of 2013 dawned cold and bright.  So here is what we did:

May we all slip with grace, excitement, and joy into this new year!

Slip Slidin' Away...

About the time that school got out for Christmas vacation is about the time that the snow began falling.  It was perfect--just in time for Christmas.

Look at these good boys shoveling the driveway!

There is a fantastic sledding hill next to our neighborhood.  The boys got a couple of sleds for Christmas so we went and tried them out.

Whoops!

Whoooaaa!

Weeeeeeeee!

Whaaaaaaaaa!

Just as we were leaving, the moon was rising across the valley, and it was huge, bright, and beautiful.

First Snow

Since that bit of cold weather we had in October, we have had more beautiful fall weather--sunny with temperatures in the 60's, even 70's.  Until today, that is.

It snowed last night and some more this morning.  It's supposed to snow more this weekend and then warm up a tad.

So we pulled out all the winter clothes and I made some hot cocoa for the boys when they were sufficiently cold and wet.  Then we had popcorn for dinner (yeah, I didn't feel like cooking, and Brandon makes some pretty fancy popcorn--kettle corn, taco, and honey butter, separate, not mixed together--and the boys downed four large bowls full) and I forced them to watch "The Borrowers" (1997 version).  It was on Netflix online.  I had never seen it before, and I thought it was cute.  They thought it was dumb.  Junior cried because he wanted to play games on the computer, instead.  We relented.  Onion Ring refused to watch and instead watched Psych (also on Netflix).  Eggs on Toast and Buttermilk Sky watched the whole movie.  Then I put the kids to bed while Brandon fell asleep on the couch.  He is still asleep on the couch.  So now you know what our Friday night was like.  What about yours?

We Freezie and See Kokanee

A week and a half before Halloween, I got to go to Eggs on Toast's school field trip to Taylor Creek (near Lake Tahoe) to see the Kokanee salmon.

After beautiful, endless, sunny summer and fall days, this day slushed in the valley and snowed in the mountains.  Just three weeks before, we had been at the lake, swimming.

I don't know how the poor little wet, shivering kids survived.  I almost didn't.

Eggs' class had been studying the life cycle of the Kokanee.  By the time we got there, they were nearly finished spawning.

The red color of the salmon was spectacular and it was cool for the kids to see what they had been studying.  However, we were so very, very cold, it was a little difficult to enjoy.  But I think everyone was still glad that we got to go.

After I got home and changed into dry clothes, I got into bed and stayed there until the kids came home from school, and I still felt cold.

Check out the video below to see exactly where we went and what we saw (minus the snow).  Although, in the video, the narrator says that the bears eat the salmon, but the tour guide told us that while there are many bears in the area, they don't eat the salmon.  She said that they don't for two reasons.  One is that the fish are about to die and they are pretty much rotten so they wouldn't taste good to the bears.  The other reason is that fishing is a learned behavior for the bears and because the salmon are not native to the area, the bears do not know how to catch them.  So now what are we to believe?  The tour guide or the movie?

Spring Snow

Winter is always reluctant to leave around these parts. I continue to be amazed at the bipolar nature of the weather in the spring. Yesterday temperatures reached 70 degrees and then we woke up this morning to about four inches of snow. I sent Eggs on Toast out to take some pictures of it.







He obliged, complete with self portrait.



After breakfast the boys all went out to get their fill of the cold, wet stuff.











A lot of it melted throughout the day and now it is snowing again. Ten minutes later--now it's not.

Cold

See Junior.

See Junior walking barefoot in the snow.

See Junior eat snow.

See Junior's arms rise.



When Junior's arms rise it means he is cold.



Do you feel cold now, too?

Sunday Morning Snowball Fight

What do you do when you wake up on a Sunday morning and there is a thick layer of snow on everything?

You shove your snow gear on top of your pajamas, beg your dad to come outside, and have a snowball fight, of course!

Said snowball fight involves eating snow to your heart's content,

chasing and fleeing,

watching others get pelted,

preparing to duck behind the protective mound you just made,

getting pelted,

pelting others,

and lying in the snow, watching the snowflakes come at your face.