Winter Fun

I have to admit, every year around this time I question my decision to live here... I am not always the biggest fan of winter.  Cold hands, dirty cars, and brown snow on the side of the road - yuck.  But then I remember how fun it is to be a kid here.  Growing up in New England is amazing.  We get to experience every season - tulips and daffodils in the spring, hot summers at the beach, jumping in leaf piles in fall, and yes - even snowmen and hot cocoa in the winter.  And we are trying to show Nicholas everything that winter has to offer.  I won't raise a couch potato!

So, we have been keeping busy with lots of winter fun lately.  Auntie Mary, Auntie Jenny, and Susanna got us a really cool snowman kit for Christmas, and we were able to make an awesome snowman in the backyard a couple of weeks ago.  Nicholas loves to build things in the snow.  The other day, when the temperature finally rose above freezing and we got a glimpse of the grass/mudpit underneath, he was devastated to find that his masterpieces had melted.  And by masterpieces I mean mounds of snow with a bunch of sticks coming out.  It's modern art.

We also tried our hands at ice skating!  Todd and I used to go ice skating all the time in high school, but although Todd used to skate in college, I probably haven't been on skates in 15 years.  I really wasn't sure how helpful we would be to Nicholas.  To be honest, I was more concerned about one of us landing on him and crushing him!  But I think we actually can be very proud of our performances if I do say so myself.  When we first got there, Nicholas was what Todd called a hot mess.  He just could not keep his feet underneath his body.  But once he figured out how to keep his legs still and just glide, he was much more successful.  Todd has big dreams of a future for him in the NHL, or at the very least a college hockey scholarship, so I think we're off to a great start.

Nicholas also went skiing!  Ahhhh... good 'ol Mt. Southington.  I have fond memories of ski club in elementary school - my friends and I going up the ski lift with a pocket full of Sugar Babies and flying down hill 5 (or "bombing it" as we used to call it).  I can't believe he'll be doing that someday soon. 

Nicholas's daycare provider used to teach skiing for a living out west, so when he was with her last week, she got him out there and up on skis!  I wish we could've been there to watch him, but she was great about sending us lots of videos.  I attached one below. (I think I finally figured out how to do that!)  I think after watching it, you'll agree that he's the coolest 4-year-old ever!

 So for now, I guess we'll stay here and make the most of the winter weather.  Once this kid graduates college though - we're going to the beach!  How does everyone feel about visiting us in Hawaii??