February in Cleveland

 Feburary in Cleveland.  The point in the year where it feels like the snow and the cold will never end.  This is our life now, full of salt and shoveling and knocking the snow off our boots into little melty puddles all over the entry way. Though the days are getting longer and lighter, February mornings are somehow the darkest of the year.  A polar vortex is heading our way this weekend, and it is snowing and blustering all over the place as I type.  It's wild to think that just a short month ago we were so excited about the snow.  It's always tempting to think-  this is the snowiest winter we've ever had!!  Thankfully my "memories" section on Facebook is keeping it real with daily reminders of snowy mornings past, celebrating snow days or lamenting their absence. 

The February-ness of it all makes me more grateful than ever for skiiing.  When I'm skiing, the snow is glorious and the cold is refreshing and everything is lovely. 

Here's Ivy at Brandywine after skiing her first black diamond! She has come SO far this season.  I can hardly believe this is the same kid who was scared of the lift and done after 2 runs when we started skiing in January.  She chose to try this run at Brandywine so she could feel confident enough to ski the whole area by herself.  She prefers, these days, to ski alone, and just heads off into the snowy world.  She will deign to ride up with us if we promise to not be annoying and to stop telling jokes that aren't funny and laughing at them anyway.  Girl does not hold back on her opinions.  She is so cute when she skis, holding her perfect controlled wedge, little hands out to the side for balance, straight and calm and confident.  There are other years to work on form. I am so thrilled she is enjoying this sport. 

The view at Alpine Valley.

Our boy continues to enjoy his "ski club" and we don't see the boys for hours at a time as they head to the terrain park or the woods. Grateful for these pics of our little crew, captured by another parent when we met to celebrate one of the boys' birthday.  Jack is the tall one in the back.  He's becoming a confident and elegant skiier, tackling any terrain with confidence and absolute control, and starting to try a little bit of jumping.  He'll hit the obstacles in the park when he's ready, and never fall once, I'm sure of it.  He's always so absolutely himself.  On the rare occasions we get to ride up the lift with him, its a treat to see his sparkly eyes as he talks about skiing.   I'm just so proud of this family of skiiers!

Now, why I had to choose the most expensive sport on earth to drag them all into....??  There is definitely no going back to life without a season pass after this year! 

Other news (though there's not a whole lot going on in our lives besides work and skiing right now!)...

My baby sister is 30!  What???  No idea how that happened.  We celebrated with a Henderson Happy Hour on Zoom and it was great to spend time with family.  These special days are when it its me just how far away my sweet sister lives.  I wish we could spend more time together.  

I've joined my local "Buy Nothing" group and I really love the vibe of it-- more about building community than just getting free stuff.  The most fun moment so far was meeting a young woman who wanted to find the "Monster Ballads" CD for her fiance, who'd lost his copy in 1999 and was still sad about it.  She was hoping for a Valentine's Miracle-- and I was thrilled to find a home for my beloved (but unused since the advent of itunes) copy.  Social Media really can be wonderful. 

Fun activity last weekend:  Ivy has been watching a lot of anime (recent favorite was a show called My Hero Academia) and she has been intruiged by images of Asian food.  So off to the Asian Market we went for a culinary tour. We procured meat buns, soba noodles, ramen and fish (things she wanted to try) and she helped cook an Asian feast.  WHile she expressed great enthusiasm for the food in the moment, most of her plate went uneaten... I think her desire to become an adventurous eater may be a bit ahead of her tastebuds! :)  But I am thrilled to see the desire and I will take her shopping and cook with her any day-- she was a delight for this whole experience. 

You know its February in Cleveland when...  Its been cloudy for so long that the first sunny day you run off to the lake for sunset, with absolutely no regard for the 20 degree temperatures and frigid lake breezes.  We were very very cold humans on this outing, but it was so worth it.  It was almost unreal, it was so beautiful. The light, the shadows, the crispness of it all.  The waves were huge and because the water was so cold and the wind so gusty, the waves seemed to flow in slow motion and the mist from their crashing on the breakwalls stayed suspended so that it seemed time was standing still.  Could've stayed for an hour watching it all except the air hurt our faces...

Big news as of yesterday-  Our little doggo is a mama!  Winter had three tiny pups on February 4th.  She is by all reports doing well with them, nursing them and keeping them warm.  Sadly one pup was still born, and another was very small at birth (like Win herself!) but as of today she's got three little ones doing well with her.  We are proud of her, and can't wait to go visit her and the babies while they are tiny.  We have made the decision to not take one of the puppies, as we seem to do well as a one-dog household.  But they are SO cute!  I know they will be wonderful dogs for their new owners, with a mom like Winnie girl. 

Since Win has been away, this cat has been happy to take top mammal spot.  Also the rabbit has been venturing out of his room more with the dog gone.  Our pet dynamics are always interesting.

And this view-- Ivy in the yellow chair with her phone-- which is a near constant in our home (pretty much at all times that shes NOT in her room or being forced to do something else) -- is going to change, at least a little, in the next few weeks.  CH-UH is reopening schools for hybrid in person learning the week of the 15th and we've signed up for the kids to go back to the fullest extent possible.  Which is not much (4 half days for Ivy, 2 full days a week for Jack), but it is so much better than what's going on right now.  Ivy's been learning about the middle school transition this week  (and it's BIG in her heart right now, wow) and even she has said, wisely, "I think going back a little in person is really going to help me get ready for 6th grade."  I'm hopeful that this tiny step towards normalcy will help our little screen-beans perk up and find some motivation.  Please....