Snow Fun

Aiden had been praying nightly for new snow for a week... and we got plenty!  The three of them have been burrowing in our snow mountain of a front yard, but finally moved to the back yard to create "Praise God" the snow angel.

And today, with the wonderfully mild weather, they got to be useful while getting thoroughly soaked and having fun... We were trying to find the drains to drain the road of the few inch deep sea in front of our house, but they were buried too deep under snow and ice piles for us to find, let alone uncover.

And it struck me that we have been here before:

February 2009!

Since I was out there in it with them both times, I guess that first fake Spring thaw is irresistible for water playing people.

Finally Christened Canadian

Third winter in Ottawa (this time around)

At least twice that for Mom

And yet this February

First time skating on the canal

A rather impromptu plan

To take advantage of the weather

To not miss yet again

To be fully Canadian in Ottawa

We joined the throng

Winterlude kickoff breakfast

Pancakes drowning in maple syrup

Steamy cups of hot chocolate

Eaten amid the organized chaos

Trying without success

To not besticky 

Hats and mitts and coats

Curious boy wandering off

After the "tall man"

Waving cheer 

Upon his stilts

Really, Canada?

Saturday morning crowds

For a winter picnic breakfast?

Obviously a popular idea

Across the road

A park full of wonders

Carved in ice

Gleaming, sparkling celebration

Drum and dance bands

Ice map of Canada

Kid creation station

Proud of 150 years

After a wander through the wonders

Through the igloo

Exiting with Inuktitut names

We headed for the canal

A busy place

A thrill of the momentous

A long hassling with skates

Finally everyone in and on their feet

With Aiden on a chair

Off we went with the crowd

Grace tracking the distance

We made it 3 km!

And then stopped

(As Mom's skate broke)

For a quintessentially Canadian skating lunch

Poutine and Beavertails

Only in Canada...

Crowds on ice just for fun

Comfortable on skates

Old and young

And then the weary way back

Not quite so fun

But still with thrill

We could have made it all the way

It was very quiet in the car on the way home

Everyone sleepily satisfied

An Ottawa dream come true

Finally christened fully Canadian 

Things We Did in Halifax For Christmas

Succumb to and recover from yet more colds

Gather with family from far and wide

(Aunty Ruth now from Vancouver - the other side)

Read thick books and thin buried in blanket folds

Give and receive some most wonderful gifts

Games at Uncle Arran's - hilarious jacktv

Can you believe it - we didn't see the sea

Shovel snow for an hour; what humungous drifts!

Find a bobcat skull with Aunty Jo

Slip on ice and gash eyebrow on the car

Snowshoe - the first time! - not so very far

Please, mom, home we don't want go!

Eat some fantastic festive food

A December birthday brunch (among us there's 4)

Christmas dinner for 19, and room for more

A show for which puppets are glued

Play long, hard, loud and often with cousins

A struggling campfire in Imma's back yard

... a burnt coat (mom let down her guard)

Cousins play aplenty - just three short of a dozen 

Visit a hobby farm and milk a goat

Learn a new game called Sleeping Queens

Aiden playing alone - hardly we've seen

Think many blog post ideas that never got wrote

Unfortunate circumstances called for a puffer

Our three attempts to get a prescription

Defies poetic description

But in the end Dad no longer did suffer

Many late nights and late mornings too

Friend meetings aplenty to fill in the days

Hot chocolate and eggnog, sugar craze

Far too busy to take photos for you...

oops!

What Else?

A flu-style cold with great tenacity
Seized our household
Jasmin first
Right after getting "protection"
In a flu shot
Then Aiden
Then Daddy (twice it seems)
Then Mommy
And Grace stands alone

Daddy bumps another car
Their car is fine
Ours is not
Adventures in living carless
For... longer than we thought

Added tasks for Christmas coming
Begun and not finished
Added to the trickling stress

Busy weekends
Choir singing
Choir practicing
Sunday School, Church
Jasmin's winter recital (She did fantastic though still not feeling great)
Daddy consulting at a men's retreat

Patience stretched
Niceness worn thin
Sharp words and snarls
Hurts and "humphs"
Relationships pulled taught
Courage energy spent in restoring peace
And real unity

A call for prayer
Family first
A measure of relief
Wider call issued
Growing victory
Hopefully we're done for now!