Biking in the Snow

It seems like last year every time the forecastors predicted snow it never happened, so this year when they said "storm total accumulation of 4-7 inches" we were skeptical. It was 60F and beautiful the day before and Tom never imagined the snow would accumulate and stick... he thought it would just melt away. Thinking it wouldn't be too bad he decided to ride his bike to work.
He left work about an hour early to ride home and it took him about an hour. Normally it takes him about 35 minutes. On a good day he can average about 16mph. In the snow the fastest he could pedal was 8 mph. As he was leaving work he noticed he was traveling faster than the cars on the Interstate Hwy. He rode the bike trail from Camp Douglas to Hustler. He said it was breathtakingly beautiful, but it took him 30 minutes just to get to Hustler. His feet were dragging through the snow. He said he was definitely not cold and got quite a workout. Once he made it to the plowed roads he said it felt like he was going downhill because the pedaling became incredibly easier.
Would he do it again????
DEFINITELY! :-)

Winter is here!

Yesterday it was 60F and beautiful...today it's 30F and snowing! Kyle got his cast off just in time to enjoy the first real snow. They were so excited to get there snow gear on and have fun in the snow.

The first thing they wanted to do was gather snow balls.

Kyle didn't even suspect what was about to come at him!

Not to worry... he soon caught on and the snowball fight continued.

I'm going to try to get outside with the camera before Tom comes home. He didn't believe the snow would really stick today and he rode his bike to work without the snow tires.

Kyle's cast comes off!

Kyle was soooo happy that he was going to get his cast off! He couldn't wait for them to saw it off this time. Last time they sawed the cast off he was very upset by it. He was really ready and didn't even flinch when the Physcian's Assistant sawed the cast. The P.A. was very impressed with Kyle's calm attitude.

Kyle was watching every thing very intently. The P.A. was excellent. He was very gentle, took his time, and the cast came off very easily. When he pulled the cast off one of the pins was stuck to the cast and that came out with the cast. That kind of freaked me out, but the P.A. said everything was fine.

His poor little arm was peeling and looked shriveled. They took him to the x-ray room before they removed the last pin. Kyle was very protective of his arm and was kind of alarmed by the way it looked. He was afraid to move it into position for the x-rays, so that took some convincing, and then he finally cooperated. He was really brave throughout the whole deal.

The doc showed us on his x-ray Kyle's new bone growth, and that was a REALLY GOOD thing to see! His said his arm was looking great. He took the last pin out and then we were all set to go. We go back in one month for a follow up.

Playdate at Laurie's

I have a friend who runs a small Day Care out of her house and she invited us over to play with the two girls she's watching. Reeve and Kyle know Emma and Heather from Library Story Time, so they were pretty excited about going over to Laurie's to play with them. It was a beautiful day outside and the kids had fun playing with playdoh, swinging on the swingset, playing tag, and hide-and-seek.



We finished the cat puzzle.

New Camera

We finally decided on a new digital camera... so many to choose from. We bought a Fujifilm FinePix F30 digital camera. I think it will suit our needs just right. We had a busy weekend working outside and didn't get a chance to take the family portrait, but we're going to try for this week.


This was the first picture I took... The kids were very rambunctious one night, so we broke out a 550 piece muppets puzzle for them to do. That worked for about 15 minutes :-). I think it took all of us (mainly R & K) about 2 days to complete. Now we've got a 1000 piece cat puzzle on the table. I've done most of the work there... it's a funky puzzle where some of the edge pieces are so tiny you don't even realize there an edge and other piece you think are edges are not. For that reason it's really hard for the kids to enjoy.


It was a beautiful weekend, so I decided to take some outdoor pictures. This is a view of the new fence Tom put up to protect the apple trees from the pesky deer and of the garden looking east. In the lower left corner I have a lot of volunteer cilantro, so that's why it looks unweeded and not as nice as the other parts of the garden.


Another view of the completed fence. The doorway out on this side is through the greenhouse frame.


Last view of the fence... this time looking west. Some day we hope to take those old farm buildings down, but we want to try to save the barn wood. Believe it or not, rustic barn wood is a hot commodity around here. Lots of folks use it for interior wall paneling, decor, etc... Anyway Tom brought the fence to the house, so now the yard is completely enclosed and we even have a gate. Yay :-).


Tom tried to teach the kids how to jump rope this weekend. We need to get them some size appropriate jump ropes. Reeve just didn't get it. The poor kid must learn how to jump rope. Tom also did some more work on the minivan and we think it is now road worthy again to take to Atlanta for Thanksgiving.