Wintering

 A month of our lives has flown by since my last update.  We've been in the trenches of inter-holiday wintertime, where life becomes a string of featureless days unified by dark cold mornings, dark cold evenings, and a lot of laundry and dishes.  Notable highlights have generally involved snow.  We've finally gotten some and we've also finally got a kid (Jack) who's fallen in love with skiing, and another kid (Ivy) who's obsessed with sledding.  So the daylight hours we've had, have been full of a lot of "moving downhill quickly."

Starting with the annual Polar Blast alumni event.  The even that almost wasn't because January and February in Cleveland can mean rain just as much as it can mean snow, and we almost skipped tubing in the rain.  Glad we didn't because it always is a blast there, and we love time with our friends.

 Better snow awaited in the future for this Cain Park trip:

 Indoor fun: Boulevard night at United Skates of America.  Terrific people-watching there.  And it turns out Nat loves skating.  Couldn't get him off the rink.

 We had a few special events with my Community of Hope table--  exploring the Gordon Square area, and celebrating Empress's first birthday!

Did a fair amount of running. Inconsistent because this month has been full of busy work days and evening meetings and rehearsals.  But the Saturday long run is becoming a regular tradition, and time with my running friends is one of the highlights of my week.

 On the weeknights we've been home, Jenga has been the game of the month.  I enjoy this photo taken seconds before the tower tumbled.  I feel like this phase of our parenting journey is a balancing act between taking the easy way out-- letting the children play on their screens til enternity while we deal with the busyness of life-- and dragging them towards alternative activities-- like games, or skiing-- which involves more work and less productivity but is invariably worth it.

 Like taking this tall kid to an art opening.

Luckily we didn't have to drag him skiing-- he's been begging to do it.  Ivy is still not game to try to she's been getting some quality time in with friends while I get in ski time with my boys.  Our first day out was in spring-like conditions.  Stunning and warm and full of slushy sticky snow and SO much fun.

The next outing was little tiny bit less temperate. 

 
But we persevered with having fun anyways.  Gale force winds and driving snow never stopped me from skiing!  I'm so proud that my son feels the same.  And he's improving his skiing visibly each time we go.  So much fun to see.  Tomorrow  we head for a day at Snow Trails.  I could get used to this.

This month has brought another new family activity:  Archery.   Nat and Jack have gone three times now.  Ivy's only tried once but she did great and really enjoyed it. Plus we get to spend time in this great converted warehouse space.

 Other events of note:  Back to the Broadway series!  Nearly forgot about this show but Ivy and I made it and had a lovely time.

 And a day at the Home and Garden show.  Every time I go I remember that one trip, years ago in our pre-kids life, where Melinda  and Will and I had a snow day so we went to the Home Show.  And got the call about a SECOND day off while sitting in Adirondack chairs by an indoor garden.  A part of me waits for that call every time I go..

For this trip Ivy brought along a friend and it was great to watch them enjoy the entire experience, from taking selfies to earning swag.

Jack was pretty sure his favorite part was this pink yardstick he got from the Dollar Bank booth.  The kids determined that this loft in a 2 car garage was actually created for the sole purpose of swordfighting with pink yardsticks, and that's why kids are great.

 But the best part in my opinion is always the indoor Ferris Wheel.  Good clean fun and the best bargain at the IX center for sure.