Snow Days

This winter there was a lot of snow and many cold, cold days. Sam was home from work for almost a week. We normally don't experience this kind of snow and city shut down. The first storm was a problem because there was freezing rain the first night and then the temperatures did not go above freezing to melt the ice for several days. We had a lot of fun as a family and playing in the snow.

Snow Angels

Icicles hanging from our Christmas lights still up in February (but not turned on)

Sledding with friend, Evan.

I have my childhood sled which worked much better than cookie sheets and laundry baskets.

Huge icicles at Nana and Pops' house

Thanksgiving

We went to visit Sam's family for Thanksgiving. It was full of a lot of fun cousin time. Katherine and Hannah are 6 months apart with Emily being 5 years older and Caroline 2 years younger but somehow they all still play well together. A favorite is always playing dress up.
We tried to get a cousin picture and it was tough. They were not all in the mood but the girls were pretty cooperative.
All the kids - Zac (21 months), Ty (5), Hannah (4), Nathan (7), Katherine (4.5), Caroline (2), Emily (9.5)
Grammy, Grandad and the Grandkids.
Our family of 4
The kids and grandkids.
On Friday only our family was there so Grammy and Katherine had some special time and made a gingerbread train.
Caroline loved being buried under everyone's stuff.

Birthday Day

On Caroline's actual birthday we had a family day at a local nature preserve and museum. It was HOT! We did not last long outside. There are miles of trails but we just walked the 1/2 mile to the animals and butterfly garden.
Next we came inside to look at all of the exhibits.

There was an Ice Age exhibit going on. Too bad it did not help us cool off. There were animatronic animals from the Ice Age. It was a little scary for Caroline but one of the museum workers said that our kids did great, many are really scared.




It was a really fun family day. I look forward to returning to the museum when the weather cools off and we can explore more of the trails.

Berry Picking

We spent a Saturday at an orchard and farm not too far from our house. It was HOT but that did not deter us. First we ate at their grill. Then we went to pick blackberries. It was a lot of fun and a lot of work. Did I mention that it was HOT?
There were rows and rows of berries. The girls each had a bucket and had fun picking them. They were not the most discriminating and we had a lot that were too red to eat.
We saw a few of these HUGE spiders. One I did not see until I was reaching to pick a blackberry and it was merely an inch from my face. I did find out from the farmer that they are harmless. Still, I think it would have been quite a shocker had I gotten any closer.

Before long the girls were ready to quit. Combined we filled about half a bucket with blackberries. When we got back to the store and I went to buy them (along with a lot of other produce) they told me that the blackberries were free that day if you picked them yourself. I guess they felt sorry for those of us who braved the heat.


The store has great homemade peach ice cream. The girls waited outside with Sam while I went in to get it. Poor things are so flushed from the heat.

We all enjoyed the ice cream though I did not get any photos. I guess I was too busy enjoying it.