a real winter weekend

A couple of Fridays ago we went to see our first hockey game.

That's Blue in his uniform trying out his skates

And Violet getting ready to take a shot

There was a zamboni

There was a fight

There was some stadium food

and there were some souvenirs.

It turned out to be a lot of fun and the kids have been asking when we are going back.  They can't make it through a whole baseball game, but a hockey game seems to be the right length for their attention spans.  Ok, our attention spans.

The next morning I got up and tried to get out for my run before the cold rain moved in.  When I looked out it was snowing.  G gave me a look when she saw me headed for the door but she didn't say anything mean.  When I saw how hard it was snowing I had to turn back and grab my customized zip lock bag to cover my phone.  She couldn't hold back any longer and called me an idiot as I walked out.  But the joke was on her, the snow turned to rain and I was soaked to the bone when I came back inside.  My phone, however, was dry.

Once the run was done the kids wanted to paint but they wanted to use real brushes.  So I threw a couple of my old shirts on them, covered the table with newspaper and gave them some of my special paper to paint on.

And no, this is not tempera paint.  It's not washable.  It's acrylic, the good stuff.  It stains, it never comes out....we like to live on the edge.  

After a nice short nap I heard a loud crack of thunder.  Then I heard something hitting the windows.  I looked out and saw the yard being covered by hail.  The hail stones were smaller than a dime and they seemed to have a coating of snow on them when they fell.  After a few minutes of that it all turned to big snowflakes and soon the ground was covered with snow.

Violet has been asking for snow for two years now and she was thrilled to finally get some to play in.  We had a nice little snowball fight....

And then we built a small snowman.  It took most of the snow in front of the house, but it worked.    If you're looking for fashion trends to try out, please note how Blue is dressed.  Cowboy boots, thermal pajama pants, a windbreaker, skeleton gloves and a Scooby Doo beanie.  It's a good look for him.

Zeke was convinced the sky had broken up into small chunks and was crashing down to earth in flakes.  He cowered in his doggie forcefield until we convinced him that the snow would not kill him.  He was still not a fan, but he ran around and checked out the new landscape.

And that was the roof of the car the next morning.  The larger ice areas are the hail stones.

Two days later this was all that was left of the snowman.  I think we're ready for spring now.