January Happenings

 

January hasn't been too exciting here.  This is the time of year that we are so busy with organized skiing activities that it doesn't leave much room for other adventures.  It does feel weird to be this busy again, but it also great to feel a bit of normalcy even though everyone is masked and distanced.  We are thankful this year that we are involved in so many outdoor activities!  All 4 kids are part of a nordic ski program with James and Noah starting the racing portion of their season. Both kids are enjoying racing with two races under their belts!  This year looks a lot different with many fewer teams and participants in the races, but it's still fun (and cold!). 

With more remote learning at the public school last week we were able to have another lego challenge. This time the kids had to make a scene from their favorite book, myth, movie, or fairytale and give it a Home Alone twist by developing at least 2 booby traps for the villain of the story.  Audrey chose "Home Alone", James chose 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears', Ben chose "Cinderella', and Noah chose "Last Kids on Earth".  

Moving on into 2021!

We are trying to start off this new year on a high note. There still is virtually no snow, but that makes us actually able to continue to hike with relative ease.  There is ice, but without snow that makes it more challenging to climb any real elevation. So, for our January hike we chose an old standby in hiking to Poplar falls. It was a quite warm day, especially for the start of January so it made for an easy 4 miles.  We had hot chocolate when we made it to the falls, which seems to be an effective carrot to get the kids more willing to get outside.  We have hiked this path many times and rarely do we see more than 1 or 2 other groups.  Today we were glad to have gotten an early start because there was a steady stream of people hiking in when we were on our way out.  We finished the day at home with more games... a great start to 2021!