Gliding on the Ice

So, turns out, our adventure playing in the thin layer of snow we got a few weeks back was an introduction to a great January filled with wintery fun.  It continued the next Sunday when we decided to take an adventure to a nearby ice skating rink.  The boys and I had been ice skating once the year before at a rink that offered stroller skating, but of course, Benny wasn't old enough to get out of the stroller, and Evan relied on hanging on to the stroller and getting a ride.  We had all had a great time though, so we decided to give it a try this year. 

When we walked in, we saw a youth hockey team finishing up a game.  They boys really enjoyed watching the kids skate around, but when I asked Evan if he wanted to play, he gave me an emphatic "no!"  After the game was over, they were even more entranced by the zamboni that came out to clean the ice.  Finally, the ice was ready, we had all put on our skates, and we were ready to get out there. 

The boys took one step on the ice and weren't sure what to make of it.  Evan made a death grip on the wall and started inching himself along.  Benny hung himself on me and we slowly wandered around the rink together.  After a while, we decided to try out a great little device that you could rent.  It looked like a little plastic walker.  The boys could take it out on the ice and use it to help them keep their balance while they skated around.  Ben wasn't too sure about the walker, but Evan had a ball with it.  Once he got in it, he could zoom around the rink with only the occasional nudge for steering.

After a while they dimmed the lights, turned on the music, and started all of the twinkly, fancy, roller-rink type lights.  The kids loved skating into where each of the lights were shining on the ice.  While it was pretty physically demanding on the grown ups when they had to sit hunched over one child or the other, everyone had a ball.

Ben wore out before Evan.  For a while, he just wanted to be carried around the rink in someone's arms while Evan continued to zoom around the rink threatening to take out anyone in his path in his little plastic trainer.  I was a little worried about carrying Ben while on the ice.  It was fine, but I had visions of me losing my balance, falling flat on my bum, and spilling Benny onto the hard ice.

The boys were thrilled and couldn't wait for their next winter adventure...which turns out would not be that far in the future...

 (These boys are excited about skating!)

 (Ooooh...zamboni)

 (Daddy and his boys cruising around the ice.)

(Mommy with a tired Benny-notice he's watching the twinkly lights on the ice.)

Snow Day

We had snow a few years ago.  Benny was about six months old and we were decorating the Christmas tree.  We all went out and played in it.  That was the last time we saw snow in Durham.  Needless to say, both boys had no idea what snow was all about.  So, I was really hoping for some sort of wintery precipitation that the boys could remember.

A couple weeks ago I got my wish.  While it wasn't feet of snow, it was a nice crust on the grass and some coating the houses.  It was enough to get the boys completely enthused, and that was all we needed.  We immediately put on our boots, coats, hats, and gloves and tromped outside.  Pretty soon, our neighbor girls ran out of the house just as excited to check it all out.  We played outside for a long time.  We picked up chunks or ice, ran around on the hard snow, checked out the coating of ice on our car, sampled the taste of some of our snow, and eventually pulled out our unused sled from under the house.  

While, again, there weren't feet of snow for sledding, but that crust was just enough to make the grass slippery.  So, I tied my scarf to the sled and pulled the boys around the slippery grass.  Eventually, the boys joined in and started pulling each other around.

It was so cute to watch them playing around.  They didn't care how much snow there was, it was all new to them.  Stay tuned for more tales of our winter adventures!

(Ben, Izzy, and Rip hang out in the grass.)

(Look ma...ice!)

(Evan and Carolyn dig in the snow.)

(pulling the sled)

Rain, Rain...

Okay, so there are times when we don't want the rain, rain to go away...like when the kiddos look so darn cute under their umbrellas!

 (Evan and his best buddy Nathan)

(Ben and his girlfriend Anna)

A Watery Birthday Treat

The holidays might have been over, but celebrations weren't.  My birthday rolled around, as it always does, 12 days after Christmas.  This meant that I got to choose what we did that weekend.  What was my birthday choice?  I wanted to take the family out on an adventure of course, and this time I had found some great water fun for a cold winter's day.  A great new indoor pool had just opened and I had been dying to check it out.

It was fun to get everyone in our bathing suits in the middle of winter and get ready for some swimming.  However, I have to say, that even though the pool was indoors, we had to get ourselves moving to get warm in the water. 

They had a great zero entry splash area with a little slide where the boys could just play around.  Then, the water got deeper and there was a great lazy river area.  We started in the splash area and Evan and Ben both loved going down the slide.  Ben was particularly fond of standing on the fountains coming up from the ground.  We moved over to the deeper area.  Ben wasn't as much of a fan, but Evan loved putting on the life jacket and just floating around the lazy river. 

There was a big yellow twisty slide, but unfortunately the boys were too small to go on it.  That didn't stop the grown ups from having a little fun though.  Ian went first, and I wasn't sure whether I wanted to go on it at all.  It was a pretty big slide.  Well, then Ian got done, gave me a little healthy challenge, and I figured-what better way to spend my 32nd birthday?  The slide was awesome, and I think it's going to be a great year!

(Evan enjoys the fountains.)

 (Benny splashes too!)

 (the infamous twisty slide)

(My little cuddle bugs and I)

Having a Ball

So, the holidays were over, January had arrived.  We had just had so much fun over the holidays, how would we possibly compete with that in the new year? 

Well, you know us...we will always find a way to have a great time on some new adventure.  The weather has been pretty miserable this month, so we've been having to find some indoor things to do.  Abby and I just happened to realize that we hadn't taken the boys bowling since Ben was in his little baby carrier, so it was definitely time to go back.

We arrived Friday morning and were the only people in the whole place.  We discovered that they do actually make bowling shoes small enough for Benny, and we got ready to have some fun.  Now, kid bowling has advanced quite a bit since I scored about a 20 at one of my birthday parties in elementary school.  As soon as we got there they put up the bumpers in our lanes and got us a little metal ramp for the boys to roll the ball down.  This means they actually got to knock down pins every time they roll the ball down.

We got started and the boys had a great time. Ben liked to position the ramp just right, and Evan just liked to push it down as hard as he could.  Ben made it about halfway through the game before he lost interest and Evan made it all the way to the last frame before the lure of the arcade pulled him away.  I might have come home with the victory that day, but a good time was had by all!

 (Who's taller...they boy or the ramp?)

(intent conversation)

Christmastime in Charlotte

Ok, I promise this will be our last Christmas post, but we just had so much fun celebrating the holidays with out family, so we had a lot to share.

After all of our travels in Texas we headed back to North Carolina and stopped for a few days in Charlotte.  There we got to do Christmas all over again with some present opening, great meals, and spending time with family.  It was so nice that we got to see both sides of the family this year!

We woke up on our second Christmas morning and got to relax a little before our present opening-because the boys didn't even know we were opening presents so they even slept in a little.  We had a lot of fun watching the boys and even getting a few goodies ourselves.  Evan had been asking and asking Santa for a light saber for Christmas, and both boys were thrilled when Uncle Reid and Aunt Candice provided them.  There has been some great sword fighting going on in our house ever since.  The boys also had a great time building a fantastic couch pillow fort with a little help from the grown ups. 

It was a great finale to a great holiday season!

(A few more presents can't hurt.)

 (My cutie with his light saber.)

 (Benny power lifts his new tool bench.)

 (take that!)

 (Use the Force, Benny and Evan!)

 (Ben hides in the pillow fort.)

 (Evan and "Hot Wheels" peek out from Fort Sofa.)

 (A great family meal)

(Merry Christmas says Uncle Reid!)

Feeding the Animals

So, you may have thought we were all done with Christmas posts, but oh no, we still have a few to go.  A visit to the Hill Country in Texas wouldn't be complete without a trip to see Ian's grandparents-Papa and Marianne.  I love that my parents live so close to part of Ian's family so that we always get to make a visit when we're in Texas.

Papa and Marianne live on a great ranch in Kerrville. which is just about an hour down I-10 from my family.  We had a great time talking and visiting with them, and they gave us all some wonderful gifts.  But of course, we had to have a little adventure while we were there.  So, Papa and I hopped in the car, Marianne, Ian, and the boys hopped in their new little Bobcat vehicle, and we headed out on the ranch to feed the animals.  Marianne had gotten the little Bobcat as a Christmas present so that she could better feed the animals, and the boys had a blast riding in it. 

We first headed down to feed the emu and the two zebras.  They came right up to the fence and the boys delighted in scaring them off.  Next, we drove up to the lake to feed the ducks and geese who were a bit shy, and we finished off by reloading the deer feeder.  We all had a great time!

It's always so nice to get to see family, and Papa and Marianne are always wonderful hosts.  Can't wait till our next visit!

 (Evan and his Great-Papa)

 (Marianne and Benny enjoy a book.)

 (Marianne and the boys share a laugh.)

 (Our attempt at a group picture-too bad the boys weren't cooperating.)

 (zebras)

 (the lone emu)

(feeding the hungry animals)

(Woohoo...this is fun!)