Grandma Visits

Grandma and Grandpa Nick came to visit over the long weekend. They're not used to the "cold" weather and they must have thought they'd landed in the Arctic. Although there was still some ice on the river it actually got up to 50 degrees that day. We thought it was almost a tropical heat wave -- it rarely gets that warm in the middle of January -- but tell that to the snowbirds!


We simply couldn't waste such a beautiful day indoors so we took everyone out to Roosevelt Island. This is the marsh on the lower end of the island near the Interstate bridge. It looks so much different in the winter. Everything in the background is green at other times of the year including the tidal mudflats that are filled with cattails and swamp grasses. It looks barren and empty in January.

Grandma spent most of her time in a sweatshirt and under a blanket. Luckily Sean was there to snuggle up for extra warmth.


Nate couldn't let Sean get all the attention, though!

White Christmas

Well, no doubt about it, we had a White Christmas this year in the northland. We spent a week with Papa and Grams in Wisconsin, where it snowed nearly every day and got as cold as ten below zero with a wind-chill of minus thirty-five. It wasn't like that every day though. Some days it actually got up into the teens and then it became a winter wonderland. The kids were fine with a brisk, sunny day even though mom and dad preferred to huddle indoors. Nate and Sean both enjoyed sledding on the church hill down the road.

Papa built this cool fort and snow tunnel next to the driveway, combining two feet of natural snowfall already on the ground with the snow kicked up by the snowblower. When all was done, Sean could sneak among fortress walls that came up to his chin, throw a couple of snowballs and then back drop down to safety.


Here is Sean next to the tunnel entrance. His poor little cheeks are a bright red from the cold. Otherwise he was bundled from head-to-toe so the temperature never slowed him down.


Nate dressed up like he was ready for an expedition through the Arctic tundra, which if you think about it, probably wasn't much different from what he experienced that day.

Everyone had a fun week and we're now safely back at home, snug and warm.

Winter at the Beach

Most people go to the beach in the Summer. We go in the middle of winter when we can have the whole place to ourselves. Nate loved running up to the surf and pulling back before it could reach him. Eventually he lost. We had to buy him a new pair of shoes because the ones we brought were soaked.



Sean was less thrilled. He loved walking around the boardwalk and swimming at the indoor pool at the hotel, but he wasn't very happy with the beach itself. Mom and dad had to carry him around over the sand. When we asked him about the ocean his answer was "don't like!"



We walked along the boardwalk beside the ocean. Here, dad and Nate pose by some of the sea grasses that have been planted to prevent erosion. Narrow paths cut through the grass allowing access to the beach.


We also went to a shipwreck museum. Sean like this much more. Here he peers through a porthole at a pirate treasure. No, the little creature on the other side of the window isn't real.