Last year when it snowed....

Last year when it snowed we had a grand old time outside with the kids. Nathan couldn't walk around in the snow much at all so he didn't spend too much time out there with us but it was a lot of fun. We were living at my parents place in W. WA and they have a great sledding hill in their backyard that is probably about 25-30 yards long. It's good enough to enjoy as an adult and a kid - not too fast but not too slow, with some blackberry sticker bushes to avoid. Sarah loved it until Daddy got a little too childish and had to build a jump, then she didn't like it so much and was ready for her "Warm Chocolate". The kids had so much fun and we got some great pictures. Before we got into the sledding, Jordan, Braden, my Mom, Sarah, Mary, and I all went outside and built a great snowman, named Spike (notice the pretzels for hair), whom Sarah still talks about today. Sarah loved having her uncle's around and enjoyed being out in the snow with them. One of the fun things that I remember about this is that after we got the kids to bed that night (or maybe it was the next night), Mary and I put our headlamps on and went out and did some sledding of our own! It took some convincing and probably some kind of bribing to get Mary to brave the cold, but we had a lot of fun and enjoyed that time together.


I love this pic with Mary and the kids! You can tell that Sarah is having the time of her life. We must have done a dozen or more trips each with the kids.
Our first family portrait in the snow with both Sarah and Nathan.
Here we are with "Spike" our snowman. Jordan is in the back on the left and Braden is next to him. Then it's Mary, Sarah, and I kneeling/squatting below. I think that Braden found the rocks for the buttons, one of which he (or Sarah, I don't remember) thought was shaped like a heart so they put a heart on Spike. So much fun!