SNOWCANE!!!

We went to bed last night chuckling about the incoming "snowcane." Honestly, as if we've never seen snow before. Well, weren't we wrong. When we got our 6 am school cancellation call, we made an attempt to look out the windows to check it out - only to find this!

Then when I tried to let Anni out, I still couldn't see what was really going on.
This was the sight that greeted me upon opening the door. Ugh! A rather formidable obstacle even for a German Shepherd! (Those deck chairs are a stack of four.)

The snow came up to A's knees, and the kids had a great time playing in it. CoCo was a little upset that his snowboard kept sinking in the snow, but he soothed his disappointment by digging a tunnel.

SS joined in on the fun by taking pictures from the safety and warmth of kitchen. She did actually go outside in the snow during the afternoon to shovel a bit and even made a snowball. Though, she did state rather emphatically, "This doesn't mean I like snow!"

Those are the fun parts of our snowcane. The not so fun parts were the need to snow blow twice today, trying to get the minivan out of the driveway (not succeeding), having hubby come home from work to help me (He was got stuck in the parking lot at work.), driving 2 1/2 hours to get to a Dr.'s office that is 20 minutes away... Well, now that I am snuggled up with a warm drink and comfy pjs, even those things seem kind of like the adventures of a snowcane!

Just Plain, Old, Florida Fun

Though people always assume that when you go to FL for vacation, you will be going to all of the amusement parks in Orlando, our family really just spends most of the time having regular, outdoor fun. Danny got the chance to go fishing again this year. Ed took him out twice. The first time, it was so cold that even the fish didn't want to move; but as you can see, the second trip went better.

As you well know, the boys feel the need to find climbing trees wherever we go. The woods surrounding Mimi's house is full of great climbing trees, and it's always a bonus to have a fun uncle to climb with!

We've been studying WWI in history this month, so you can imagine the boys' delight in having the chance to dig a real trench which had been begun by Uncle NC a few years ago. The boys spent hours digging, and A was happy to recover some "artifacts" from Uncle NC's former pellet gun wars. Their trench was quite impressive and the boys had fun digging, wallowing, and jumping across it.

Gator Wrestling

The kids decided to wrestle this gator as a team.

KiKi decided this type of gator wrestling was more his style.

A, our Indiana Jones fan, decide that he needed to wrestle the real thing.

CoCo, of course, was actually the first one who volunteered for the alligator wrestling!

Beach Fun and the Fam

Headed to FL again this year for February break. We enjoyed lots of sunshine and lots of visiting with family. It was definitely tough to come back to snow and gray clouds!

Things We Wish We Didn't Know

She even had a fresh dish of water. Guess she prefers cold, flavored water. Ugh!

New Toys

Once in a while, Mommy gets new toys too. Last year, it was my new camera. Unfortunately, I got a lemon. Despite positive reviews, my camera would shut off after 6 pictures, sometimes not even shut off, and never focus on all the faces in even a small group shot. Despite troubleshooting efforts, we just couldn't get it fixed. So, today I took the plunge and got a Canon from a brick and mortar store so that I can return it if it is a lemon!

Here are three original, unedited pictures taken in low light with a flash.

CoCo's eyes with the zoom.

Feel free to offer any opinions before my 90 days are up. I'm not sure if the grainy issues are camera or user. I'll keep playing.