School starts tomorrow! The last day of vacation seems like a good time to reflect on some of the summer fun I missed blogging about.

The boys were persistent, though not whiny, in their requests for another camping trip. The first weekend of August the weather conditions looked favorable, so we loaded up and headed to Backbone State Park, about two hours away. Actually, it should have been closer to an hour and 40 minutes, but inevitably, construction slowed us down. We picked this park because I'd heard great things from friends about its beauty, especially the namesake hiking trail. Also, it had a "tent-only" campground that didn't require reservations or a two-night minimum. We thought we'd found a nice site, though later in the evening we would learn that our neighbors were not too concerned with the 10 p.m.-6 a.m. quiet hours rule.

We set up the tent and then split up to collect (boys and me) and buy (John) firewood. On our hike from the campsite in search of firewood, the boys and I spotted two deer eating dinner beside a creek. Their nature camp training allowed them to spot the scene, silently point it out and then stand still to observe without scaring the deer away. Priceless!

We gathered plenty of kindling to go with John's fire logs and soon had a fire burning for our hot-dog dinner. I'd looked up "camping recipes" before we left, but decided I'm just not that ambitious.

Burning sticks

S'mores for dessert, of course!

We did not get a great night's sleep, to say the least. Neighbors were loud until close to midnight, so that I was determined not to try to keep our boys quiet in the morning. But then the same neighbors got up and started being loud even before we did! I also discovered in the middle of the night that my air mattress had a slow leak. Both of these factors combined to ensure this would be only a one-night stay. Still, I do love the early morning light and air and stepping outside just after waking up. I just don't love the non-bed and non-bathroom (pit) that accompany this sort of rustic living. I was once lucky enough to have the ideal combination--a full bed on the sleeping porch of my aunt's family cabin overlooking the Puget Sound. Sleeping outside on a real bed while listening to the gentle lapping water and with a bathroom and kitchen just inside the door--Paradise!

But back to Iowa--we had muffins (store bought in advance) and cereal for breakfast, loaded a backpack with water and granola bars and set out to find the Backbone trail. The park map left a lot to be desired, but we eventually got there and were not disappointed. The boys each packed his own pouch with "essentials" for the hike--a whistle/compass combo, flashlight, band-aids, granola bar. I carried all the water in the backpack.

We were tired when we got back after about two and a half hours (recall the lack of sleep) and not excited about PB&J for lunch, so we decided to go into the nearby town of Strawberry Point. (Unbeknown to us, the very next week, this town would be the foil in a Jon Stewart bit on The Daily Show.) Thus re-energized, we headed to the Backbone lake to fulfill another of the boys' long-standing wishes--paddle boats. Unsurprisingly to the parents, the boys were much more interested in using their feet to dangle in the water than to pedal the boats, but it worked out to everyone's satisfaction. And from there we headed home to our showers, our toilets and our beds!

Another fun summer day was a combo Kernels game and Planet X game night. Planet X is sort of a smaller version of a Chuck-E-Cheese, with pizza, video games, rock climbing, bumper cars, laser tag, and on this special occasion, face painting. The occasion was a fundraiser for the Summer of the Arts organization, for which John is a board member. This group puts on a series of summer festivals in Iowa City.

The boys always ask for face painting at these festivals, but the lines are always ridiculous and it seems like a lot of $ for something you'll just wash off in a few hours anyway. But this time it worked well. Edward requested these eyes on his eyelids--creepy! Daniel got a batman mask, but I can't seem to find a picture--will have to check John's phone.

This event was on a Sunday evening and the Cedar Rapids Kernels had an afternoon home game that day, so it seemed like a good combo. The boys had participated in the Kernels Summer Reading Challenge, reading 1,000 minutes to earn a whole spate of prizes. (These could be claimed in 250 minute intervals as you "arrived" at each base on the activity sheet, but we saved it all for one trip.) They got a free game ticket as well as a wristband for unlimited access to the Fun Zone. They would have been very happy to stay in this area the whole time. In fact, I'm not sure they were even fully aware there was a baseball game going on!

After the game, kids were invited onto the field to run the bases, play catch, and get player autographs. Ours were primarily interested in the base-running.

Daniel rounding second; Edward on his way from first

Coming home

Running in a crowd toward home

Other summer fun included:

Grandpa's birthday

Note the Lego cakes and number 71

Johnson County Fair (OMG it was so hot! And it rained while we were there which did nothing to cool but really ramped up the humidity.)

"Pirate ship"

Messy science day at the public library--wading pool full of oobleck!

This was before the full body immersion

I don't know what this was, but it kept the boys occupied and giggling for a while one afternoon.

 Reading!

 Not all of it upside down on the stairs, but hey, we take what we can get. As noted above, the boys completed 1,000 minutes of reading for the Kernels Summer Reading Challenge. This also doubled as minutes toward the public library summer reading program. They finished the library program with five weeks left of vacation so we created a bonus Kenyon Summer Reading challenge seeking 500 minutes with the prize of The Lego Movie DVD. We did not take into account that the final two weeks of summer included all-day, exhausting, outdoor camps, so we still have about 100 minutes to go, but we'll make it by Labor Day, which is the true end of summer, right?

Last Sunday, we tried something new as a family: stand-up paddle boarding. Just last year the city opened a new park/recreation area with a small lake and contracted with a local business to provide a boating concession there. Canoes, kayaks, paddle boats and paddle boards are available to rent by the hour. We've biked the trail around the lake and Edward and I tried kayaking earlier this summer when Daniel was enjoying a week off camp and having a sleep-over with Grandma and Grandpa. The paddle boards had piqued our interest, so we made a plan and off we went.

We decided just to get two boards for the hour as we didn't know if we'd like it well enough or have the stamina for a full hour. This was a good choice, though I'm told we did not do a good job splitting the hour evenly. John and Daniel went first and didn't think they were out for a full half hour. They were expecting Edward and me back in time to take another turn. But time is not really the first thing on your mind when you're paddling around a peaceful lake with a light breeze to keep cool (and blow you ever so slightly off course.)

Daniel receiving instructions and a push off

Paddling like a pro

Edward back paddles away from shore

Ready to cruise

We ended up running a bit over the hour as it seemed the breeze had picked up by the time Edward and I were returning to shore and it was kind of tough to steer. He grew quite frustrated and stopped paddling at one point, but I had to explain that there really was no way for me to do it for him, so he'd have to keep going. That was a tricky thing about paddle boarding with kids, but ultimately I think a good lesson. Edward eventually got himself going in the right direction.

 Then Daniel, who thought he hadn't had a long enough turn, went back out again with John (who would have been quite satisfied to leave well enough alone) and ended up getting stuck in the marshy area you can see just behind the beach launch. He was standing there pulling his paddle and barely moving. The water is not deep, and we could have gone in to get him if things had gotten desperate. But with John's coaching from outside the marsh and our encouragement from shore, he inched his way slowly back to open water and decided to call it a day. But not before some splashing fun in the lake and off the dock!

(See what I did there with posting as if I hadn't taken a nearly three-month blog hiatus? Apologies for the virtual silence. I promised my mom some new material in time for her birthday next week, so will try to fill in some of our summer adventures in the coming days. Also, watch for 1st day of school on Tuesday!)

After three weeks of having a cast, Daniel got it off today. He was very excited about it. The process itself was very quick. The biggest problem was that the vibrations of the saw tickled him so much that he could hardly sit still long enough to get it off. Note: the video is on the long side, but it was a milestone for the boy, so I thought it was worth documenting in full.



The doctor told him to stay off the monkey bars for a week so his arm can regain strength, but cleared him for his debut in a T-ball baseball game. He was very excited about finally joining his team on the field, and did well despite the long layoff. The Cardinals were happy to activate him after 21-days on the DL.

Daniel lost his first tooth! And he promptly swallowed it while eating an after-school snack of popcorn. Even though he has already busted the Tooth Fairy myth, his first question was still, "Can I write a note to the Tooth Fairy to explain why there's no tooth and still get my dollar?" We decided he'd write his note on a print-out of this picture:

I think she'll be persuaded.

We're nearing the end of the soccer season and finding we don't have the right kind of camera to capture action on the second-grade sized field (which is significantly smaller than a regulation field, but still larger than our camera range.) Edward played goalie for a whole quarter on Saturday without allowing any goals--hooray! As many times as I remind myself that they are 8-years-old and technically not even supposed to keep score, I can't deny that I feel very anxious when he's in the goal. He had several stops and a few he couldn't scoop up, but still managed to deflect with a kick. He was very happy trotting off the field, especially after even his coaches were heard to exclaim "WOAH!" on this cherry bomb:

At the end of a very busy Saturday, Edward quietly called John into his room with a, "Psst! Dad...come in here...secret Mother's Day talk." (I was not privy until much later.) He had concocted the following plan and wanted John's support: "Dad, after Mom falls asleep tonight, you come and wake me up. Then we'll go downstairs and decorate for Mother's Day. Then if there's still any time left before morning we'll go back to bed for a while." John persuaded him that they could sleep all night and accomplish the task before I got up on Mother's Day. So at 6:05 a.m. Sunday, there was Edward at his bedside whispering, "Psst...Dad! Wake up!"

Daniel's secret involved a library book and a sous chef. Every Friday his class visits the school library and each kid can check out one book for the week. Daniel checked out this "Gifts in a Jar for Kids" book because he wanted to make one of the recipes for me. He wouldn't let me open his backpack after school and waited for John to come home to have a secret conference about this plan. They accomplished the baking while I got a Mother's Day pedicure on Sunday. Tasty! Daniel later told me, "Well, I've really been wanting this book on wolves at the library but then I saw this book and I thought, 'Which do I like more, Mom or wolves' and I decided, Mom!" I rate above wolves, so I've got that going for me!

 Mother's Day weekend is the traditional time for planting the vegetable garden, but we're still expecting some chilly nights this week so we stuck with just broccoli and carrots for now. Probably a little late for those, but we'll hope for the best.

This year's rhododendron picture coincided with Edward's First Communion weekend. We'll also remember this one as "the year with the cast!"

We'll also remember this as "the year three cousins in three states all had their First Communion on the same day!" Katherine in Wisconsin and Sean in Arizona were also celebrating the sacrament so Geraghtys were dispatched in all directions with Aunt Nora (Edward's godmother) coming to Iowa City, my parents to Wisconsin and Uncle Joe to Arizona (where Sean also needed a Confirmation sponsor.)

Can you see the halo? The day before the big event, our former neighbor who also is a member of our parish stopped by with a card for Edward. This was his first indication that this would be a gift-giving occasion and it was very cute when he opened the card and exclaimed, "Whoa, five dollars--thank you!"

Good thing Daniel has two years to mature before his own big day.

The bright day was too much of an adjustment after leaving the church, 

so this was the best family portrait we could manage.

Godson and Godmother (and rhododendron!)

Edward's party needs were very simple. He asked to go out to lunch at Micky's after church (Nora and Simon were a bit scandalized that our son's favorite restaurant is a college town bar!) 

And he wanted vanilla cake with a gold cross. Done!

Well, this finally happened

I missed witnessing it by about 10 seconds. I was walking up to school at the end of the day Wednesday, and as I rounded the side of the building saw the flurry of activity as the teachers came running then started ushering Daniel up toward the main entrance. I ran to catch up, heard the breathless, sobbing story of a fall from the monkey bars, and took him to the office for ice. Then ran back to get Edward and our two friends who come home w/us on Wednesdays. Then back to the office where the friends' mom (who is a teacher at our school) took the other kids away to see crayfish in her classroom while I tried to figure out what to do. Ultimately, my friend ended up driving us home and then we had some calming time w/TV.

He could move it, but it was swelling (even with the ice) and pressing near the wrist/hand juncture was very painful, so I decided to err on the side of caution and call the doctor. John walked in the front door at 5 to take Ed to baseball game (in 45 degree weather and intermittent rain!) and Daniel and I walked out to our nearby clinic, which has evening hours. The Nurse Practitioner thought it was probably OK since he could move it without pain, but sent us for an x-ray (across town!) just to be sure.  

He was not complaining at all of pain by this time so I was sure it would be fine. Just after I called John to tell him we were home and fine, the NP called back to say she'd received the radiology report and it was indeed broken. She had given us a splint and a huge ace-bandage to use to secure an ice pack, so she said to keep that in place overnight and then wait to hear from the orthopedics clinic the following morning.

Ortho called at 9:30 a.m. to tell me to bring him in at 10, so I leaped up from work, raced back to school (where I'd called ahead so D would be waiting in the office) and then dashed back across down, arriving breathless by about 10:05. Then we waited. and waited. and waited. We were called back from reception at 11 and finally saw the PA about 11:30. But then we were out by 12:30. (Good thing I had D bring his backpack and lunch. He ate in the exam room!)

It's the radius that's broken, and a "bulging" fracture rather than a clean line (see arrow pointing to the injury site.) PA said ulna is likely also affected, but hard to say definitively and it doesn't impact the treatment. He'll wear the cast for three weeks, then have it removed, re-x-rayed and should be good to go. For now he wants to "keep it orange" and not have friends sign. That may change as the time goes on and he needs a distraction.

Three weeks means no more soccer this spring (which elicited the only tears over the incident other than the initial fall,) but he can rejoin his baseball team after the cast is off, May 22. No biking or anything that would potentially cause another fall while it's healing. He has to skip the swimming part of a birthday party, but still gets to go for cake and Harry Potter-themed games, so not too great a disappointment. 

He's definitely counting the days and is already annoyed by my reminders to take it easy. The PA recommended slides for park and playground entertainment, but Daniel has no interest in sitting on his butt and sliding down. To him, slides are for climbing up/over/around and/or for shimmying around the edge and dropping from the top.

Ultimately, I think this will be just a blip in Daniel's childhood story. As my mom noted, with a playground fall, it definitely could be worse (e.g. involving the head or neck!) And as I responded, "Yes, and given the child, this was basically inevitable." (It's worth noting that it was a cold, damp day and Daniel was attempting the monkey bars while wearing thick gloves. And, he told me the monkey bars were wet. Life lessons in cause & effect.)

We tried to squeeze in a quick trip to the park this afternoon before impending bad weather. But after about 20 minutes we were sent packing when the weather siren sounded. The boys were absolutely horrified to be caught outside, exposed to the danger. Even my calm reminders that the sirens are not just for tornadoes, but also for severe thunderstorms did not quell their anxiety.

"WHY aren't you RUNNING," they called over their shoulders as they rode their scooters down the hill toward home. For the record, there were a few stray rain drops and gusty winds, but no thunder or lightning at this point.

Once we reached home they were still scampering around like nervous cats so I finally gave them a bag and said, "Here, take this and put things in it to keep yourselves busy if we have to go to the basement." I emphasized that this was not a "survival kit" as we had plenty of water, food and flashlights in the basement already. Here is what they packed:

• Nintendo DS (and games)
• LeapPad (and games)
• iPad
• Lego
• Lucha Libre masks
• Willy Wonka hat
• coin purse
• set of toy magnets
• rubber snake

We did not end up needing to seek shelter, but the gathering of items did calm them a bit. Then we allowed a bit of TV time and by the time the show ended the worst of the weather had passed.

And later in the evening there was much love for new pajamas that I impulsively added to my "cart" while ordering a new pair of "church shoes" for Edward, having learned this week that the ones he was wearing were 2 sizes smaller than his everyday shoes!

Oh...just realizing that the picture of the Lucha Libre masks John and I brought home from our trip to Mexico in February never made it to the blog. Here is what is considered essential severe weather entertainment:

Shortly after this exuberant embrace of the Easter Bunny's largess, the jig was up.

In the 10 minutes it took to drive from our house to church for Easter Mass, three childhood heroes were toppled. I always knew that I would not lie when confronted head on with the quest for truth, but I thought it would come from Edward and I thought he might get a few months or a year of being "in on the secret" before Daniel was brought up to speed. At the very least, I thought Edward would be the one to reveal the truth to Daniel, in a conspiratorial big brotherly way.

No.

A friend of Daniel's, whose family does not participate in the myth-making, told him, "It's your parents" and that's all it took. I think she probably told him back around Christmas, because Daniel has tested the theory a bit in the last few months, casually mentioning, "I think maybe you and Dad are Santa Claus." My response, "Oh, really, that's interesting. What makes you think that?" has never drawn him into further conversation.

But this morning there was no dancing around it. Voice from the backseat: "Are you guys the Easter Bunny?" Sideways glance between John and me. "Are you sure you want to know?" YES!

"OK then, here it is. Yes, we got the treats and made the Easter baskets."

What about Santa? Again, "are you sure you want to know?" YES

Another one bites the dust. Here, Edward was skeptical, "But, wait, how do you know what we want from Santa. We only tell him!" Oh, really, you mean you don't spend weeks and weeks of anticipation listing your hearts' desires? "Oh, yeah, I guess so." There's still the magic of the snowglobe, which Edward knows he only told Santa and Mrs. Smith. Maybe there's still a kernel of mystery there.

That 10-minute drive seemed endless, and then, getting out of the car Daniel said, "What about the tooth fairy?" Are you sure you want to know? NO...wait, yes?

I'm sad for him that the myth is busted even before he loses his first tooth (which just started wiggling this week.) I guess he won't care too much as long as he gets his dollar when it falls out.

We made a point to let them know they should NOT spoil the secret for other kids. I've revisited that point separately with each boy today. We talked about how even though there isn't a real guy in a red suit who travels all over the world in a single night, there is a special feeling of excitement and a spirit of giving that helps us celebrate Christmas. And we agreed that holidays are special family time with or without the colorful characters. And we proved it by spending a lovely day together riding bikes (with new baskets from the "bunny") to the park, playing backyard wiffle-ball, grilling out and eating our first porch dinner of the season, and then another bike ride--for ice cream dessert.

 It was an amazing milestone year for Team Kenyon in the March for Babies. As we approached this year's event we wanted to do something special to recognize it was our 10th time walking for Will. We decided we'd set an audacious goal of $10,000 and see if we could make it happen. Well, I shouldn't say "we" could make it happen. It turned out, all it took was an army of generous friends and family members supporting us as they have from the very beginning.

The local March of Dimes staff asked us to be part of the opening ceremony for the walk. They announced that it was our 10th March for Babies and we were called to the "stage" to share a few words about our journey. John announced the "moment of silence" to honor all the babies who have lost their battle with prematurity. And then we walked! It was the most beautiful day we've ever had in 10 years. Cool, but growing warmer. Bright sunshine, light breeze. Wish we could bottle that up for every year, since we know what it's like in rain, snow and cold!

We had to dash to Daniel's soccer game after the walk and by the time we got home I was spent. Literally. I had to put myself to bed for the afternoon with a 100-degree fever! The boys muddled through and I stumbled down to join them for pizza and a movie at dinner time. By mid-afternoon Sunday, one final donation (from a stalwart Team Kenyon member who had already donated, but just couldn't stand to see us less than $100 from our goal) put us over the top.

We raised $10,000 in honor of our 10th March for Babies

 and Will's 10th birthday coming up this fall. Wow!

Thanks once again to all of our amazing family and friends who answered our call. We know we would not have made it this far without you and each step forward is that much easier with you at our sides.

Well, the entire basketball season passed without any documentation here. Luckily, the four primary readers of this blog got to see games in person. My parents' experience even included Edward getting a bloody nose mid-game--exciting!

So let's start soccer season off right with a couple of shots of Daniel's first game, in which he scored three goals! Yay!

Edward's team played two games this morning (can we say insanity?!) but with the bigger field, our low-powered camera, and his, shall we say, less-engaged approach to the game, I wasn't able to capture a picture. Will work on that (both the action and the picture) as the season progresses.

Edward's second game was at the same time as Daniel's, but luckily on adjacent fields so I could shuttle a bit between them. We were expecting chilly conditions as this last week has been pretty brutal for the first spring practices (temps in the 40s and winds not far behind!) But this morning the sun was shining and the wind was calm.

The Children's Department at our library has had a large Lego castle on display for about a month. For the first three weeks or so they asked kids to submit ideas to name the castle. We happened to be there the night before the drawing and both boys submitted names. Lo and behold, when they drew a suggestion from the jar, Edward's idea "The Fire Temple" was the winner. This was cause for great excitement!

We stopped by Friday evening for a visit on our way to a community art show featuring work from students at all the local elementary schools. This is work students are supposed to complete outside of art class and submit to the art teacher for inclusion. Our boys  used one of their two-hour delay mornings in January to work on their projects in water color. This year I confirmed what I've long suspected--anyone who turns in work is featured in the display and invited to the artists' reception. That matters not at all, as it is a fun event for the kids and a total "see and be seen" event.

We got a note home about Edward's piece being included, but did not receive one for Daniel so we weren't sure if his piece would be on display. It took us a while to find it (even though the pieces are arranged by school--we simply overlooked it in all its abstract glory.) He gave quite a long artist statement, the gist of which was that it is a pond and the black section is a monster truck with orange pollution escaping into the pond.

Edward was more literal in his work: a castle (mixed media: water color, crayon, colored pencil.)

One Sunday in February a woman I recognize but do not know well approached me after Mass and said she was so proud of how well the boys had been behaving recently and asked if it was OK with me if she gave them a treat. I figured she had a piece of candy for each and thanked her. She went and talked to the boys while I was talking to another friend and out of the corner of my eye I see her hand a dollar to each! They were over the moon! She said her husband was Italian and it's an Italian tradition to reward kids with money. We thanked her again, but on the way home I had to be sure to let them know this would not be a weekly occurrence.

Not to worry. The very next week Daniel returned from the Children's Liturgy to report to me that Edward had been performing his latest skill: armpit farts. Edward denied it, but I knew Daniel would not make up something that specific. I also knew how enthralled Edward was with this skill and its ability to both impress and draw attention/laughs.

Not to be outdone in seeking attention and laughs, Daniel composed the following notes as the Mass progressed, handing the top one to me and the bottom to Edward:

Mine says: Mom I (heart) you you are funny
Edward's says: Poop I (heart) you you are good

Of course passing Edward a note referring to him as "Poop" led to uncontrolled giggles and poking and whispered one-word reminders "Poop" (ha ha ha ha ha!) I finally said they were both losing their iPods for one day and that sobered things up, slightly.

I was furious when we got home and sent them to their rooms. John was even more furious when he heard what happened and went up to collect the iPods and demand explanations. Edward tried to continue in his denial of the rude behavior at the Children's Liturgy, but when pressed, admitted he'd actually done it. For the lie on top of the bad behavior, John imposed a further punishment of writing a note of apology to the Liturgy leader. Unfortunately I didn't copy it before he presented it to her. But John also told Daniel he was to write an apology to me, giving no further instruction or assistance regarding content or spelling. This is what he wrote:

(I am sre for riting a not to Edward abwt poop I wil dust the TV stand for a weck Daniel)
Translation: I am sorry for writing a note to Edward about poop I will dust the TV stand for a week

I appreciated that he gave himself a punishment even though this was not part of John's instruction. It should be noted, however, that the TV stand was never dusted.

At long last this week, we reached the 100th day of school. The celebration had to be pushed back twice due to snow days that will have to be made up in June. But by Feb. 3, they had actually achieved the 100th day, which is cause for celebration. I think it's more of a kindergarten thing that extends into the early primary grades. A friend with 3rd- and 4th-grade kids said the milestone was not marked in the older grades.

But Daniel and Edward were each invited to create an item out of 100 pieces. Daniel elected to string together 100 rubber bands, which was quite an impressive task. The finished product stretched from our front door to our back door. I lack the photographic equipment to capture that, but this double loop gives an idea of the length.

Edward's medium, of course, was Lego. He decided to make the number 100 out of 100 Lego pieces. This was also an interesting challenge as we didn't have exactly the same size pieces to make the two zeros the same way. But through a bit of trial and error, adding and subtracting and substituting, he made it happen.

This week we also finally completed our Christmas present to ourselves when our new TV stand was delivered. We decided to take the plunge on a new TV for Christmas and John spent a good amount of time researching the various options. The TV itself was delivered two days before Christmas, but then we were left with a conundrum over its set up. It seems that furniture manufacturers are simply unprepared for 2014 customers who want a stand for a 47-inch HD TV that will also accommodate a stereo receiver and turntable.

A day of shopping (with the boys--oy!) the weekend after Christmas left us with one possibility, which we didn't love the look of, but which we were confident would hold the components. It was to be ready for delivery in the 3rd week of January. That week rolled around and I called for an update, only to discover that the piece we had ordered had been pulled out of inventory and another would not be available until the end of February. UGH! In the meantime, we had the new TV set on an end table in front of the old TV and stand (which was not wide enough to accommodate the new TV.) Very classy.

John and I both spent time scouring options online, but just couldn't bring ourselves to settle for a cheap, pressed-board, assembly-required piece as the center of our living room. Finally, John went back out (alone) to our local stores and hit the jackpot. He emailed me a picture of a stand that met the size requirements for all three components plus our DVD player. Then I asked if the narrow side shelves might even be the right width for his stereo speakers. A quick measure and eureka! It works! And we only had to wait five days for delivery.

 

 It just wouldn't be a 2014 winter blog post without a snow/ice/frozen tundra reference. The biggest bummer has been that the sub-zero temperatures have really limited our ability to get out and enjoy all the snow, but last Saturday was a perfect combination of mid-20s with fresh snow from that morning. We called/texted some friends who were just a eager for fresh air as we were, and spent a fun afternoon sledding and then playing on a snowy playground.Whee!