The First Day of 2013

We started 2013 off with sledding. We've had snow on the ground for weeks now. When we first moved here, people told us that winters here are fairly mild. Yes, compared to North Dakota. Compared to the South, no!




I love how close the clouds come to the mountains.



The view from our sledding hill:



Can you see the road?



My little snow bunny:



The sledding hill:



Suzy following Nate up the hill:



This is some personal drama that occurred when we first arrived. Suzy is leading the charge up the hill, followed by little Nathaniel. Nathaniel's sister Lyliannah is laying face-first in a snow bank crying. The snow is up to her knees and she can't keep up with the big kids.



Nate and Suzy heading back up after their first go:



I helped Lyliannah to the top of the hill, where she stopped crying long enough to tell me her problem was that she couldn't see anything because her headband was over her eyes. I tried to cheer her up by taking her on a sled with me. She learned the hard way that I cannot steer.



This was not a run I would do, though the dads did it several times. You look both ways to make sure there are no cars coming, then you go down hill, across the road, hopefully, and up the bank and off the other side.


If you look carefully at the top of this hill (the trucks parked at the bottom give you some perspective) you will see two black dots. That is my husband and his friend Chris, and Chris's six year old son, in an inflatable boat. They went down the slope, veered off to the right about halfway down, and went into a gully. Great fun was had by all, especially by the wives waiting in a nice warm van making fun of the men.



Later we went to our friends' house for dinner. Nate brought the ice: