Sledding 2012

Global warming has never been on my mind so much as it is this winter. I still feel pretty ignorant to the idea, but I think the weather is speaking for itself this season! What is up with this "winter"? Rain, unseasonable warmth, almost complete lack of snow... It's freaky!

This past weekend, however, there was finally snow on the ground and it was chilly enough to stick for a couple days. Not much snow... but enough to sled!

So we bundled up and headed over to our current favorite sledding spot: the little hill on the back of my in-laws pond. There are at least five sleds available, no pushy big kids or massive congestion on the hill and a house on the property (Grandma & Papa's) that almost always has hot chocolate with marshmallows waiting when we're done. :) Also, new this year, is a snow fence at the bottom of the back side of the hill, which leads to the pond. An extra safety precaution.

{Warning: an obscene amount of pictures are about to follow. This post took forever to get all the pictures uploaded!}

The kids have new L.L. Bean coats and hats this year and we love them as much as always! I highly recommend their durability and quality. I've used Bean outerwear since they were babies and have never been disappointed. Look out for their 10-15% off sales and $10 certificates with $50 purchase. Plus they always have free shipping and the BEST customer service. Here are the links:

Will's coat

Sophie's coat (this is the style of coat both kids had prior to their new ones)

Sophie's hat... and the mittens that should arrive any day now

Will's hat is from Children's Place and mittens are from ???

It's amazing how quickly they are growing... and outgrowing clothes in length. They could both use some new snow pants, but I am super thrifty with those. I will always buy gray or black so Sophie can wear Will's hand-me-downs. They don't get enough use at this age to warrant a better quality. But make sure there's an elastic boot cuff liner at the bottom of the legs!

For this weekend, Sophie's wearing Will's old gloves and boots as well. Our boots aren't fancy either.

Snow angels:

Making our way up the side of the hill.

I used my 300mm lens this weekend and, with the perfect sunny day, I am so happy with the picture quality on most of these pictures. I say "most" because I'm still just shooting on auto and they're definitely not perfect. Also, I won't name names, but you can tell the pictures I'm in were taken by somebody else. ;)

I love this one for some reason. I think the way they're both just standing there waiting for daddy to go again.

He's about to throw a saucer full of snow at me...

You can see the snowmobilers decided to take advantage of the little bit of snow on the ground too! Snowmobiling is pretty popular around here. I bet those enthusiasts were just itching to get out on their sleds.

Will does still enjoy sledding, but I'm guessing this is probably the last year he's going to be really excited about this hill. It's more for the 18 month to 3 year old set. I think we're going to have to find something a little more challenging for Will next year. He seemed a little more interested in throwing snowballs than sledding this weekend.

Sophie, on the other hand, is still loving it. And I LOVE to see her smiles!

Packing a snowball to throw at daddy as he slides down the hill.

Waiting with anticipation as Craig gets closer.

Bulls-eye! Will hit Craig with snow... Craig caught Will and they slid down the rest of the way together.

Hahaha!

Cleaning snow off of Will's face.

Paybacks stink. ;)

But he recovered quickly and got right back to throwing snowballs.

Both kids sliding down backwards together. :)

Cecilia is here!

Uncle Steve & cousin Cecilia

Will & I with Kelly & Cecilia

Sophie & mommy

A new spin...

Weeee!

Triple decker

We needed a shove to get going. :)

But we made it! Haha!

This girl's abdominal muscles always impress me.

Handsome hubs

Sophie "snowboarding" with daddy

On Sunday morning, we got outside to play in the snow around our house before lunch. Mostly the kids were scheming on where/how they could acquire new snowballs/chunks to throw at me. ;)

Goofball

We decided this chunk of icy snow looked like a heart.

After nap on Sunday, we bundled up for a third time this weekend to meet up with the Rethmans at our sledding hill! Lots of outdoor fun this weekend!

Wow! Never had this many little people on the hill at one time. Unfortunately, the picture quality on this day is not nearly as good because it was overcast and late afternoon. Oh well.

Cousin Mya & Uncle Dub

Stella's ready to go!

A trio of cousins!

Oh, what fun!!!

Speedy Gonazlez

Craig brought out an old kayak to use as a multi-person "sled".

He tried it out first to make sure it wouldn't tip or go too fast.

And then they all piled in!

Craig regretted his decision to pull the kayak filled with kids back UP the hill. They were a little heavy. ;)

Mya's ready for a roller coaster ride! The twins kept calling this an "airplane". And they kept saying "C'mon Craig!" each time they'd try to get his attention to go again. Haha!

Will & Soph

The biggest tower of the weekend... and all four of them made it down!

Sophie felt left out from the tower so Uncle Dub took her down on his back too. I think they were waiting for an oblivious child to move out of the way.

Terribly blurry, but the only group pic I have that isn't really dark. I think it was a successful afternoon! The twins had so much fun on their first sledding experience - lots of smiles and laughter - and Will & Soph loved the excitement of "teaching them how".

Will with his Godfather.

I know I've mentioned this here before, but in case you were wondering how we got the nickname for Uncle "Dub"... it stems from William and Wesley both having names that begin with "W". Since Will was a baby, we referred to them as "Little Dub" and "Big Dub" (or "Uncle Dub"). Wes still calls Will "Little Dub".

What a fun weekend! Sledding is one of our favorite winter activities!