Hello, Winter! Ice Festival, Sledding, and Skiing

We always kick off the new year and the month of January with the annual Ice Festival in downtown Plymouth.  This year the weather was unfortunately horrible!  It rained and was mild so most of the sculptures melted Saturday.  We went on Sunday morning when it felt like winter again and they were already trying to remake several of them.  We were also pleasantly surprised to see that the throne was still up!

February also brought some snow!  I can't believe how unseasonably warm and dry it was for both December and January.  I was beginning to think we wouldn't get out again to sled or ski.  One evening after school and work, we surprised the boys by walking back to the sledding hill and having pizza for dinner.  The hill was ridiculously fast from the ice so we only lasted thirty minutes or so before I hit my head and needed to head back.  Oops!

We also decided to head out to Alpine Valley on a Saturday that Sean had an early basketball game and cancelled birthday party plans (his friend was sick).  It was like everything aligned.  Cancelled birthday party, Scott's doctor's appointment got cancelled and the weather was perfect (high 20's and snowy).  The boys did great!  We worked on turns all afternoon and enjoyed a hot chocolate and beer for a warm up in the lodge. 

We've been enjoying our winter and the fact that it's been relatively mild and dry has helped with the winter blues this year.  It's hard to believe in 3 weeks it will be March and we'll be in Arizona and not long after that, sunny Florida!  We're almost through the hard part of the year.