Balance

On the walk to go sledding yesterday, the kids liked to climb one neighbor's retaining wall and balance all the way across. Here's me serving as a safety net for A.

On the way back I did the same thing for Z.

"Dad," she asked. "Could you hold my hand?"

"No," I said, "But you can put your hand on my shoulder."

"So if I fall you'll know I'm falling?"

"That's right."

"And then you'll catch me?"

"No, then I'll know to look around for you on the ground."

Yes, I know. I'm a great Dad. You don't even have to tell me, I know already.

Santa Snowbound

The kids' gradeschool had to cancel the big Christmas party this year because of the weather. Santa comes to our school and gives actual gifts to all the children.

Kids were all wondering, "Why can't Santa get here just because of the snow?"

It's because Santa lives mostly in his second home in Florida. He sits on the lanai and smokes his cigar while watching the alligators eat birds. It takes a lot of effort for him to take off his Hawaiian shirt and pull on that big red coat.

Dodge Fail

If you look closely in this picture you can see how I used my head to protect the ground from getting hit by a snowball. My right hand, blurred in the lower right part of the picture, has just released a snowball that flew so fast that it caught on fire before knocking my daughter down and causing her to slide down a hill, through traffic, up a ramp and into a tree. Overall, I think I won.

Our children this morning

The kids immediately went out to tromp in the snow. It had a decent layer of ice on top, so they picked those up so they had something to eat. Yes, they pretended those were popsicles.

Our front yard this morning

Notice that even the paint on the cars has turned white.

Escapism

Walking Z to school today, we chatted about the weather.

Z: Do you think it will get hotter than it was last week, when it was SO HOT?

Me: Yes.

Z: It was so hot that day that G [Z's best friend] and I couldn't even run at recess. We just sat under a tree in the shade.

Me: Did you just sit there and talk?

Z: Yes.

Me: What did you talk about?

Z: We talked about how cold it would have to be for it to snow enough that school would be cancelled. Then the trees would be white, and the sidewalk, and the fields. And then G said, "That's not going to happen, it's way too hot today." And I said, "You never know, Nature is a mystery."