Winter Fun

This winter has been the longest winter if all time. Too cold to even play outside and a total of 13 or 14 school cancellations!  There was day after day when school got cancelled for below zero temperatures or slick icy roads that the boys got to stay home from school. We tried to keep busy and played in the snow if the temperatures were warm enough.

When we could play outside and the temperatures were decently warm enough, we did. Dawson loved the snow. He loved to eat it. So much so that he'd eat the snow that fell off the joys boots when they would come in from school!  The boys loved to play in the frozen woods and even discovered that there was a giant layer of ice in the woods.  They went "ice skating" on that ice and had a blast!  Then they'd try to melt it and break holes in it by carrying buckets of warm water back and forth from the house. They would stomp and beak holes in the ice.  There is so much to explore outside in the winter!!

One day we froze bowls of water in the front porch. It only took a couple of hours for the water to turn frozen solid.  Then we put salt over the ice and small amounts of paint and watched the paint run through little tunnels.  The salt had created tunnels as it melted the ice.  It turned out to be a fascinating ice experiment. 

 Another day, since it was too cold to play outside, we brought snow inside!  I brought buckets and buckets of snow into my shower and let the kids stomp around and build stuff in there, complete with their snow pants and boots and gloves!  They had a blast throwing snowballs at one another, and Kaylee is getting so big that she could hold her own in that snowball fight so well!

Nate and I had a fun time going ice skating on one of our date nights with some friends.  Fort Wayne has an outdoor pavilion downtown that they convert into an outdoor ice rink in the winter.  Super fun!  It was something we had not done for a very long time.  Fun times!