Mild weather continues here, but at least we can read about the white stuff.  One of my favorite books as a child was Snow by P.D. Eastman (a protoge of Dr. Seuss) and illustrated by Roy McKie.

It helped that the children in it are a little blond boy and girl, so my mom used to pretend it was me and my brother.  It's a playful, easy to read story of a brother, sister, and their dog and their adventures outside in the snow.  To this day we always name our snowmen Ned and when you read the book you will see why.  Haven't read it?  Check it out!

Yesterday we dropped off some skis at a friend's house who is going to try skiing for the first time.  Hopefully we will join her on the slopes soon!  While we were there the boys played with a whole group of kids from the neighborhood, including a couple of older girls who were great at organizing games for the little ones.  Lots of spontaneous outdoor fun.

It's Super Bowl Sunday in New England and Patriots fans are gearing up for the game.  The upcoming game takes me down memory lane: 10 years ago my husband and I got engaged while skiing on the mountain where I spent my time as a child.  We celebrated the news with my extended family apres ski, dancing singing at the bar in the lodge, and the next day the Patriots won the Super Bowl.  It was a great weekend.

The other day I was flipping through a slideshow on boston.com that was a collection of readers' photos showing their Patriots pride.  One reader sent in a picture of them tailgating outside their house watching the football game in the yard and the caption said that they watch every game OUTSIDE with their family and neighbors.  Genius.  I love it.  I think we need to try this next season.

This is New England.  You have to be hard core to tailgate!

This is a random picture of Pats fans tailgating, but you get the idea!

It's been too long since we've updated on our winter adventures.  We've been through some sickness and injuries, but we've still managed to get outside almost every day.  The weather here is up and down- no coats one day and bundled up in snow gear the next.  We are trying to take it in stride, go with the flow and do what we can given the weather.  Sledding while it's snowing and then riding bikes at our favorite state park by the ocean in the same week?  Why not?  Here's what we've been up to.  What have you been doing this winter?  Have you had weather like us?

First time skiing down from the top of the mountain:

We went on a "Quest" (similar to letterboxing) at the local nature center where we found some bunny tracks in the remaining snow:

Sledding at our local hill while it was actually snowing!  Many people were out sledding:

Chasing after birds on a "warm" day in the city:

Exploring a new playground with a "real" zip line! :

And we got our bikes and scooters out to some of the local parks after the recent snow melted.  We got a new fire pit so the kids are itching to try that out.  Do you have a fire pit in your yard?  We're thinking of making s'mores.  Do you use it to make snacks?

Happy Friday, everyone!  And go Patriots!

It's been too long since we've updated on our winter adventures.  We've been through some sickness and injuries, but we've still managed to get outside almost every day.  The weather here is up and down- no coats one day and bundled up in snow gear the next.  We are trying to take it in stride, go with the flow and do what we can given the weather.  Sledding while it's snowing and then riding bikes at our favorite state park by the ocean in the same week?  Why not?  Here's what we've been up to.  What have you been doing this winter?  Have you had weather like us?

First time skiing down from the top of the mountain:

We went on a "Quest" (similar to letterboxing) at the local nature center where we found some bunny tracks in the remaining snow:

Sledding at our local hill while it was actually snowing!  Many people were out sledding:

Chasing after birds on a "warm" day in the city:

Explored a new playground with a "real" zip line! :

And we got our bikes and scooters out to some of the local parks after the recent snow melted.  We got a new fire pit so the kids are itching to try that out.  Do you have a fire pit in your yard?  We're thinking of making s'mores.  Do you use it to make snacks?

Happy Friday, everyone!  And go Patriots!

We finally got a few inches of snow enough to make it outside for some sledding and a picnic at the local park.  Fun pictures from today:

Heading to the hill.

The trek back up.

The basketball court was good for perfectly smooth snow angels.

And we capped it off with a lunch of hot tortellini and tea.

Well, we attempt to get outside every day, but then you have days like today.  And it's okay.

My son had a high fever last night so I toted both of the kids to the doctor.  Well, he has a virus, but it was my other son who was diagnosed with a pneumonia that's been going around and presenting itself without a fever.  I guess I know why he's been overly emotional lately (see my post from yesterday about him crying over the fact that we had no snow!).

So, what to do with two sick children on a cold, rainy, blustery day?  I let them do whatever they wanted.  We watched movies, we snacked, we built with Mega Bloks, we pulled out the couch bed.  We had a lazy, sick day.  And that's okay, because most other days we are on the go, getting outside, meeting with friends.  I'm the kind of person who likes to monitor what my kids do with their time- juggling playing outside, seeing friends, and reading with television watching and that darn video game that once he turns on it's really hard to get him to turn it off.  Today I completely let go of that in the name of my sick kids.  And it felt good.  We hope to be recovered enough to enjoy some fun family activities during the upcoming long weekend.

We met with our outdoor playgroup today at a local science center.  They have a new "quest" trail that is similar to something like letterboxing, but you find clues along the way to make a message.  Well, the kids just wanted to explore, so we nixed that, but after exploring one of the larger trails we went to a smaller "storybook" trail where you follow signs that have laminated pages of a book on it to read the book.  The book they have up now is one that is about animals leaving traces of things in the snow and you have to figure out what animal it is.  Had a great time with everyone!