Walking in snow is hard, especially when you're two.
Showing posts with label winter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label winter. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Farewell to Winter
This winter was particularly brutal to most of the country including us. I lived in New York for one winter and Fayetteville's winter has been rather comparable temperature wise but with more snow than I ever saw fall on Long Island. We had the most snow fall here in Fayetteville since 1918 and we were measuring it in feet, rather than the usual inches. It was fun to watch it fall and play in for a few days, but the cold air just kept blasting through with our lowest, low reaching -15 F. After living in Mexico last year where our daily weather forecast was ~75/45 with a 90% chance of sunshine, we are all ready for spring, including the dogs. They have had few chances to soak up the sun here. These are some photos from our historic snow of February 2011.
Walking in snow is hard, especially when you're two.
Walking in snow is hard, especially when you're two.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Devil's Den State Park
This past weekend was lovely and we decided to go on a family hike. We went to Devil's Den State Park. There are some trails easy enough for grandma (or pregnant women) and we hiked one of those.
Rowan was ready with his hiking stick in one hand and the other hand tucked in his pocket.
The guide that we had said the hike would take about 1.5 hours, but with Rowan stopping to pick up every leaf along the way we would have easily doubled that. We convinced him to hop in the pack and take a ride. Here are Rowan and Esten looking down into a cave.
Here is another cave. They were all closed due to white nose syndrome. It's a fungus that causes bats to come out of hibernation too early and since the insects they eat are not available yet, they starve. And I suppose that humans are spreading it from cave to cave and so we are not allowed in them now. Honestly, the caves were kind of scary and I probably wouldn't have gone in anyways.
We passed a wet weather waterfall and then took a break on a log bench at the bottom. Someone should enter this picture into a "Parents of the Year" contest for us. I promise the backpack is really stable and he wasn't going to fall, the look on Rowan's face tells a different story.
Me and Rowan taking a banana break.
He decided he would hike the rest of the trail himself and at this point was climbing onto things so that he could jump off of them. Esten put him on top of this tree that had fallen over and we tried to convince him to jump. Didn't happen.
Still trying to convince him. He didn't do it until I went and held his other hand.
Esten and Rowan crossing a little rock bridge. They were probably looking at a rock or piece of mud that Rowan found intriguing.
For the record, there were some parts on the trail that were not kid or grandma friendly. Narrow trails with steep drop-offs and muddy, slippery rocks. We enjoyed ourselves and maybe if you come and see us we'll take you there.
Rowan was ready with his hiking stick in one hand and the other hand tucked in his pocket.
The guide that we had said the hike would take about 1.5 hours, but with Rowan stopping to pick up every leaf along the way we would have easily doubled that. We convinced him to hop in the pack and take a ride. Here are Rowan and Esten looking down into a cave.
Here is another cave. They were all closed due to white nose syndrome. It's a fungus that causes bats to come out of hibernation too early and since the insects they eat are not available yet, they starve. And I suppose that humans are spreading it from cave to cave and so we are not allowed in them now. Honestly, the caves were kind of scary and I probably wouldn't have gone in anyways.
We passed a wet weather waterfall and then took a break on a log bench at the bottom. Someone should enter this picture into a "Parents of the Year" contest for us. I promise the backpack is really stable and he wasn't going to fall, the look on Rowan's face tells a different story.
Me and Rowan taking a banana break.
He decided he would hike the rest of the trail himself and at this point was climbing onto things so that he could jump off of them. Esten put him on top of this tree that had fallen over and we tried to convince him to jump. Didn't happen.
Still trying to convince him. He didn't do it until I went and held his other hand.
Esten and Rowan crossing a little rock bridge. They were probably looking at a rock or piece of mud that Rowan found intriguing.
For the record, there were some parts on the trail that were not kid or grandma friendly. Narrow trails with steep drop-offs and muddy, slippery rocks. We enjoyed ourselves and maybe if you come and see us we'll take you there.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Station #1
I took Rowan to visit Fire Station #1, which is the oldest and busiest station in Fayetteville, last week. He was so excited about getting to drive the truck and see the firefighters. He even grabbed his little fire truck, from the movie Cars, and took it with us. I mean he was pumped, right up until we walked into the station and they closed the garage door. He immediately made me pick him up, "Mama, scared."
I'm glad we went because what if we really had an emergency and this firefighter, dressed from head to toe in his gear, shows up at his window to help him and he runs from him? He listened to every word they said and we practiced a "fire drill" with a smoke alarm. I'm counting this trip as insurance, that in case of an emergency he has at least seen a firefighter in full gear before. He's that kind of kid, super cautious the first time and adventurous the next.
One of the firefighters finally convinced Rowan to give him five and then asked him if he would like to drive the truck. Rowan told him, "No, too big." I had our camera and was ready to get some really cute pictures, FAIL. I did manage to get him to stand with the other kids and take a few pictures at the end.
We are awaiting the next snow storm as I type this. It was 67 on Saturday and now we are not getting above freezing until next week and our lows at night keep getting lower every time I check. Negative 2 on Wednesday morning, let's just say Spring has not sprung. I predict six more weeks of winter. We'll see what Punxsutawney Phil says in a few days.
I'm glad we went because what if we really had an emergency and this firefighter, dressed from head to toe in his gear, shows up at his window to help him and he runs from him? He listened to every word they said and we practiced a "fire drill" with a smoke alarm. I'm counting this trip as insurance, that in case of an emergency he has at least seen a firefighter in full gear before. He's that kind of kid, super cautious the first time and adventurous the next.
One of the firefighters finally convinced Rowan to give him five and then asked him if he would like to drive the truck. Rowan told him, "No, too big." I had our camera and was ready to get some really cute pictures, FAIL. I did manage to get him to stand with the other kids and take a few pictures at the end.
We are awaiting the next snow storm as I type this. It was 67 on Saturday and now we are not getting above freezing until next week and our lows at night keep getting lower every time I check. Negative 2 on Wednesday morning, let's just say Spring has not sprung. I predict six more weeks of winter. We'll see what Punxsutawney Phil says in a few days.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Snowman
After the powdery, dry snow had a chance to melt for a few days, it was snowman time. Esten and Rowan, ok Esten, rolled this guy up.
And the old man, Ian, put up with the cold to be outside with them. The snowy, white background really brings out the white in his face.
Rowan really didn't care too much for the snow until he realized he could eat it. Five day old snow is still "lishous."
He seems to be saying, "Mom, it's just snow."
I'm hoping that our snow days are over for the year. It has been much colder here than we anticipated. Yesterday, it was 42 degrees, so we went to the park. It felt like Spring to the Arkansans, but to this Texan, it was the dead of winter out there.
And the old man, Ian, put up with the cold to be outside with them. The snowy, white background really brings out the white in his face.
Rowan really didn't care too much for the snow until he realized he could eat it. Five day old snow is still "lishous."
He seems to be saying, "Mom, it's just snow."
I'm hoping that our snow days are over for the year. It has been much colder here than we anticipated. Yesterday, it was 42 degrees, so we went to the park. It felt like Spring to the Arkansans, but to this Texan, it was the dead of winter out there.
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