Penn State Chics Dig Nerds

 Yes, it's the end of March, but I thought I should show a few highlights of January and February.  Between church activities, basketball teams, Boy Scouts, jazz band, and work... there was a lot to do. Amie sledding with friends Our washer suddenly became extremely loud. It was probably a bearing in it. It seemed more economical to get a new washer. Brady and Jesse ran with me in the SnowFest 5-miler at Greenwood Furnace State Park.  It was very cold this day.  When the race began at mid-day, it was 18 degrees.  Even though the whole trail was snow covered, we finished 18-19-20 (shortest to tallest) After we finished the race, we went to the lake to watch my cousin's wife participate in the Polar Bear Plunge. Brady went rabbit hunting with his Pap We tried to go sledding with the runner sleds on the mountain road.  It was too sticky, so we did not go very fast. Amie played for the Little Cats basketball team this winter.

 Instead of being glum about more snow and shoveling we chose to enjoy it.  After shoveling so many times this winter, it would have been easy to wish the snow away.  However, the past week, we have had a lot of snow fun (in addition to the hard work of shoveling). We have been on several snow hikes this winter.  Last Sunday, we hiked at Greenwood Furnace State Park on a trail that we had never explored before. We were dog sitting Solomon.  He enjoyed this outing a lot. When we got back to the lake, we decided to explore the ice.  It was completely frozen with at least 4 inches of ice.  Still, we only walked in the swimming area, not the deeper water area. Since we went on that trail at Greenwood, I discovered that they had groomed it for cross country skiing.  It did not have tracks, but at least it had a groomed path.  So, I found the need to get back out on my cross country skis again. It was beautiful and quiet on Brush Ridge.  Jesse...

 The children once again built an igloo.  This time, they finished it.  All three worked together on it with some assistance from a neighbor. They started Wednesday afternoon but were very disappointed when they had to stop because of darkness and youth group.  After zoom classes Thursday morning, they rushed back outside to finish it. They could all easily fit in.    After two straight afternoons of 40 degree temperatures and sunshine, the igloo collapsed this afternoon (Friday.)

Sunday afternoon, we took a short hike at Greenwood Furnace State Park on the Chestnut and Lakeside Trails.  The snow storm arrived in the early morning, but not much had accumulated at this point. The snow fell over 3 straight days, yet only accumulated around 12 inches.  Then, it blew and made a mess of things. It turned out the the children had a snow day Monday and the entire school was virtual Tuesday and Wednesday.  Since we are in a hybrid schedule, that meant that our children were doing work at home for the entire week.  Natalee and Brady have been zooming into 1-2 classes the entire time on the days that they are at home on the hybrid schedule.  (Unless the entire school is virtual, then they have every class via zoom).  For the past two weeks, Amie has been zooming in to her class several times a day during her at-home learning days.  While not ideal, I do appreciate the extra effort some of our teachers have put forth to continue student le...

 Here is the 2020 style igloo.  The children started to build an igloo after the snow softened slightly and was packable.  They used their round molds to make the bricks.  When they were building it, Natalee commented that the igloo was fitting for 2020 -- the bricks look like rolls of toilet paper! Unfortunately they ran out of daylight and time.  The children all had to leave for the Christmas play practice.  They never finished it that night and it caved in the next day. They built a big snowman, too:

 Today, we were invited to sled at our piano teacher's house.  Her house is on a giant, nearly unobstructed hill.  Of course, she spoiled us with hot cocoa, too.   Jesse and I went down together, too.

 We received more than a foot of snow on Wednesday afternoon and evening.  After many hours of shoveling and blowing snow, we got to enjoy the fluffy white stuff.  It really was a welcome reprieve from schooling and working at home (for 4/5 of us) and all of the pandemic things that we have to deal with.  We eagerly anticipated the snowstorms approach. As I went to bed the night before, I realized that Natalee did not have any snow boots whatsoever.  And, she is TWO sizes bigger than my average sized feet.  So, I went shopping before daylight for her boots. Unfortunately, since school is virtual today, we did not get the fun, highly anticipated snow day.  They still had school, although most teachers shortened their loads so that they could go outside.  We were out before school and after school.  Everyone was very tired after a day of shoveling and playing in snow.

This past weekend, we had a much overhyped snow/ice storm here.  It started off as nice snow, but ended in ice.  There really wasn't much, but it was plenty to have fun on. The children had a lot of fun ice sledding.  They were very glad that they did not have school on Monday so that they could play all day.  In fact Natalee said multiple times that it "was a very fun day" and it "was one of the best days ever."  Even though I could not slide on the ice (it didn't work for me- and I don't like ice bumps), it was a day I would like to bottle up.  They all truly enjoyed playing with one another and there were hardly any arguments! On day 1 they made a bump on the sledding hill.  Then, it iced on top of it and really solidified for the next two days. Sunday afternoon and Monday saw a lot of sledding.  Here is a classic crash sequence - Natalee and Amie are on the sled: 1. They went slightly to the right of the bump. 2. Uhoh!...

Around here, we are not not sure if it is still winter or if it is actually spring.  It is a gorgeous day!  I'm loving it.  Finally, enough snow to play decently in!  We were definitely wishing that some of the ski areas would still be open during the week.  As I write, this noreaster continues to swirl around us, dumping more snow.  There might be a foot out there.    (Unfortunately, this means that we no longer have the Monday after Easter off of school.)  I absolutely adore these three. They are so cute.  These children were REALLY WHIMPY.  They were not outside very long, maybe an hour.  I went to shovel a small path for the mailman.  When I got back to sled, everyone had disappeared!  Brady and Amie went inside.  I finally spotted Natalee (my true outdoor no matter the weather girl) wondering around.  Even she was ready to go in!  WHAT?  Sledding was slower than nor...