Finally - Sledding Snow!

We FINALLY got enough snow to go sledding.

 So we did school faithfully until lunchtime...

 and then hit the big sledding hill in town.

 If the pictures look blurry, it's because it was still snowing while we were sledding.

 Thus the blur by our friend's face!   It looks like one of those crime pictures where they try to hide the face of the innocent person.

 Stephen and his friend relaxing on the slopes.   Stephen took it easy on the sledding hill due to a previous injury.  Nathan and Stephen were trying to run and see how far they could "ski" down the   "generator" ramp sidewalk this morning.   Eventually gravity caught up with them and Stephen came down hard on his hip.   He's mostly disappointed that there isn't a great bruise there.

Surviving the Elements (in a field trip)

This fall we took a survival field trip at the Chippewa Nature Center.   First we learned about compass work and how quickly you can get off course if you don't have a compass.

 I don't know if it was the fire building or the shelter building that was the more fun.   I helped Deborah's team get their shelter built.   Good thing we had two tarps and some rope in our "backpack".

 We had to create a shelter that would keep us dry and would house all the members of the team.

 Our "door" to our shelter

 The finished shelter.   Notice how we piled up lots of leaves to help keep out the wind at the bottom.

 Looking in through the door.   And yes, our whole team, including me, could fit in there.

 Aaron's team made a huge shelter that could shelter all three teams (as long as the wind didn't come from the east!).

 The outside view of Aaron's shelter.

 Now on to building fires!   Aaron and his partner set up the sticks in preparation for lighting.

 Deb was teammates with the only other girl in the group.   

And the girls win!   They got their fire going by only using 2 matches.

All of the boys really enjoyed building fires.

 Then we tried to make a fire without matches.

 Note:   Always bring emergency matches.   Otherwise you will die of cold!   Not one of us could even get a puff of smoke going.

Visit with Grandma and Grandpa

My parents came for a week of fun and food after Christmas Day and stayed until Jan 2nd.

We played a lot of board games,

 played with Grandpa and Grandma's Ipad,

 card games, 

more board games,

puzzles,

and more card games.   This is Nathan's hand in Quiddler.   Look at all those vowels!

 

Joe made us a surprise drink one night - the Swedish 60.   It is a variation of the French 75 drink.   It was made with aquavit which has an anise taste.  Since I come from a Swedish background, he thought we might find it interesting.

 I liked it.   I especially liked getting a picture of him pouring the drink from our John Deere pitcher!

 Joe also made a copy of the wonderful Poached Pears with Blue Cheese and Walnuts that we had at Molly's this summer with my parents.   They just loved it and my mom was raving about it 6 months later.   So Joe made her some.   He poached the pears for 5 hours in wine, sugar, and water.   Then he cooled them, split them, sprinkled crumbled blue cheese and pecans over the pears, and drizzled them with balsamic vinegar.   They were fantastic and Mom was very pleased.

Pasta tonight!

Joe made homemade pasta tonight for supper.

 Ta-da!   Tagliolini with mascarpone and lemon.   It was very lemony and light tasting.