COLD FRONT, SNOW AND SLEDDING

I'm sure it is no surprise about the cold fronts that keep circulating around the midwestern and eastern states. It has hit us in Michigan too. Normally we will have 3 maybe 4 weeks of below freezing temperatures for the highs during the winter. And even then, the coldest days are usually in the teens and low 20s. So this year, we have had weeks of highs in the low teens and even single digits, with lows sometimes below zero. The coldest winter we have had since Kellen and I have moved to Michigan. We have also gotten more snow this year than we have had in many years, getting one snowstorm that literally gave us enough to go up to my knees. Shade and Olive and I don't like being cooped up in the house, so we have been trying to go outside at least a little bit every time it gets in the upper teens or higher. Even in the cold weather, sometimes the sun is still shining, or there is some snow to play in. We also have an awesome hill in our apartment complex that is really fun to go down, and they took down the tennis court fence, and the pond at the bottom froze over, so we have been having some fun out there too.

The first time I took Olive sledding, I took her down a smaller hill just outside our back door. She didn't laugh, but she didn't cry, so I took her down a few more times. She seemed to enjoy it enough, so Shade and I took her down the big hill. Again, she didn't laugh or cry, so we went down a few times. Only thing is, she is heavy to be carrying up that big hill all by myself time after time (my arms were sore for a couple days afterward), and I didn't think to tie a rope onto the sled we had been using until we were almost done sledding (I pulled the tie out of the hood of my jacket to use). We only crashed once, and Olive got some snow in her face, and she didn't like that and that finally made her cry. But then I learned how to steer us and keep us from getting snow in the face. Snow play - one of the only good things about Michigan winters (because the roads are definitely NOT fun to drive on, and often don't start getting cleared until the day after it snows)!