Winter Carnival

Last weekend was the Winter Carnival at the local nature center so we went for a little family outing for Daddy's birthday. We haven't been since Calvin was 8 months old so things were a little different this time. 

 Like last time, Chip was there. 

 Unlike last time, Calvin got to decorate his own mitten cookie. 

 We did snowshoeing again but had much more snow this time. 

 Calvin and Chip got to make noisemakers to play along with some live music. 

 They got to play in the preschool that is there. 

 And then we took them sledding. 

 Calvin tried going by himself

 and with Daddy. 

 But he loved racing Chip down the hill. 

 Much more then walking his sled back up the hill. 

 After a few more races down the hill, 

 we let them try going down together. 

 They loved it!

 The boys didn't want the fun to end. 

And somehow he didn't nap after all that excitement. Sigh. 

Train Table

So Calvin's love of trains has escalated greatly lately. 

 So we turned the box we were using as a boat into a train table.

 Calvin has enjoyed it for it many reasons. 

 And then we watched one of his little friends for his mommy and Calvin was thrilled when he arrived with his own trains and travel track. 

 Calvin showed Henry his track. 

 They would "chug" together and apart. 

 Calvin seemed happy to have someone who shared his love of trains to play with. 

 So we decided to retire the cardboard box and got a train table with a bunch of track from Craigslist. 

Calvin played it for HOURS straight after it was set up. 

It's been a great addition to our toys. 

Outdoors

After being stuck indoors in the bitter cold, Calvin and I went over to the nature center to enjoy the fact the weather was tolerable. 

 He loved finding and throwing snowballs 

 I brought the sled because Calvin is all talk when it comes to going for a walk and I didn't feel like carrying him through the forest. 

 To get down the hill to the lake I had to hold on to the rope of the sled and slowly guide him down the hill, praying I didn't drop the rope and send him flying down the hill. 

 The frozen beach was pretty but quite windy and cold. 

Then it was back up the big hill.  

Nice to enjoy the outdoors when we can. 

Indoor Activities

We did other activities to keep busy indoors while it was so cold outside. 

We went to storytime yoga with the neighbors. (William is in this picture. Calvin was busy begging me for food.)

 We played with Millie. 

 We made train tracks on the paper the basement drywall workers put down. 

 Clickity-clack down the track!

 Then I thoroughly lost my mind and gave Calvin bowls and dry rice to play with. 

 He played nicely for a bit. 

Then he thought making a mess and a lot of noise would be better. 

We were ready for warmer weather by then. And by warmer, I mean anything above 0 degrees. 

Cold Weather Crazy

Last week we experienced the coldest weather of my life. 

 We didn't leave the house because it never got above -15. 

We did our best to keep busy. 

So we spent a lot of time in the unfinished basement. 

Here Calvin is cutting up old cards. 

 Calvin found interesting places for his toys. 

 Can you find Calvin in his "boat"?

 Boo!

 He made me get in the boat with him. 

 I showed him the ancient device called a tape recorder and he loved recording us singing and listening to it.

 He did some fishing from his boat. 

I managed to not lose my mind. That was the next day.