How cold is it?

It's cold enough to drive a tractor on a pond.

Paul has made it his special mission to turn our pond into a skating rink.  Secretly I kept hoping that it would just warm up because I was scared to death that the kids would fall through the ice so while Paul made his ice rink plans and I started making my plans: attaching a life saver circle thing to a tree down there and making everyone ice skate with life jackets on... and even then only under my full supervision.  I was busy creating a list of rules that all had to be followed before any one of my children would step onto that frozen water.

Then we saw two snowmobiles racing in circles on it.  Oh, guess the pond is frozen enough.

Paul took the tractor out and plowed most of the snow off the top of the ice and he's going to spray some water on top of it tonight to help smooth it out and melt the top layer of snow so it can refreeze as smoother ice.

Andrea was surprisingly excited to try out her ice skates so Sierra and I took her out there.  Even though I saw the tractor and two snowmobiles on the ice I still wasn't convinced about the ice's thickness so I had to assess it myself.  The pond was TOTALLY FROZEN!  It was super thick ...I'm guessing because it's not like I really measured it, but it really was like solid ground.  Very cool and I wasn't scared a little bit.  I guess my kids won't be the dorky new kids ice skating in life jackets after all.  :)

Maybe I should stick a bike helmet on them though...

Andrea finally gets to wear the pair of training wheel skates I have had forever!  It's a skate with two blades on the bottom so you aren't as wobbly.  :)  How cute is that!  Andrea did pretty good and the snow dust on the top actually helped it be less slippery for her.  :)  She liked skating... but she liked it for about 30 minutes which was good, because then we simply just walked back inside.

Skating on a pond is really bumpy.  We've only skated on a pond one other time while in Calgary, Canada.  We were visiting some of Paul's friends and I remember watching the mom wrestle a snowsuit on her pink cheeked two year old and thinking how hard it must be to live somewhere THAT cold.  It was -3C and I was appalled that we would even consider going outside when it was that cold.  HA!

True, it is a lot of extra work when it's cold; snow suits, gloves, hats, snow melting off boots, muddy floors, plowing snow, salt on your cars, filling wood pellet stoves, preheating cars, buying winter things like skates and skis and sleds and snowball makers...  However, there are some benefits...  if you go grocery shopping the food stays cold in your ice box of a car so you can stop to run another errand.  Another However,  if you leave your food too long you will end up with frozen milk and black bananas.

...and about the bike helmet.  I'm not going to do it, I think people are a little over sensitive about things now...  Maybe if my kids were skating crazy fast or doing jumps I'd make them wear a helmet...and maybe if Andrea was doing skating without holding my hand ...because that ice is pretty hard; one wrong fall and your head isn't going to be very happy.  Hmmm...  Nevermind.  Bike Helmets are a new rule too.  Maybe even the hockey ones with the cage in front.  No need for busted teeth.  I guess we will see how much skating we really do.  Sorry kids, turns out you will be the dorky ones.  :)



Scotty didn't go skating yet because he stayed after school for the writing club, but just so he doesn't feel left out here is a picture of him at the bus stop.  Yes, it's at the end of our driveway, but it's still a long walk.  :)  I usually wrap a scarf around his face and when we see the bus pull up I unwrap him and he runs on.  That's the secret reason why he likes Mommy to walk him to the bus stop instead of Daddy.  :)

While we were skating Michaela was home.  She's been home early all week because of mid-terms, but she was too buys studying to skate with is.  HA! yeah right.  She was too busy playing on her phone to come out.  :)  Here is Michaela in the forest ....a week ago, before I cut three inches off her hair.  :)