Winter Pursuits

The lake-sized puddle at the bus stop, frozen over. 

There is so much beauty and life in the cold.

Sunsets seem more vivid when the landscape is greyscale.


We are so much more inclined to be homebodies living in the Pirate House than we ever were before. It's helpful, if your kid still needs to do this every day:


Still, we venture out when there's something really good (& cheap!) happening in Blacksburg. The first weekend of February was the Chocolate Party. This is our 4th Chocolate Party in a row! (My entry here on our first visit contains some reflections on our limited time in Blacksburg which I now find both humorous and touching) The kids are pretty much experts at the carnival games by now and won all the prizes they could want.

Including a manicure!

Adele's prize is her new best friend. Look out, Spot!

Inside, we're doing a lot of Wii based sports and dance games. Just Dance Disney, while you won't catch me at it (I prefer the pop songs on the regular Just Dance series), is the kids' favorite.

Here, they perform "Under the Sea."

They are each others best friends and most worthy opponents. 

We've had a couple of good-sized snows now. For the second time in one winter (amazingly!), Virginia Tech had to close this past Monday. 

I took a screenshot; it's that rare.

Less rare are the snow days for the public schools. Once again, we're on 3 snow days in a row right now. Here's hoping they let the kids go back to school tomorrow; Jon & the kids are getting a bit wild at home. 

It's melting fast. Even walking is easy now.

At home, Jon explores hair expressions with Miles: 

It's at a very awkward stage of growth at the moment...

The kids and I got in a quick sledding session the other day! I hope for at least one more chance. Sledding is a favorite past-time and I can never get quite enough of it. Especially since my opportunities to sled in Pueblo will likely be very few indeed, I hope for one more snow day.

Even the ice underfoot is beautiful, if treacherous.

May you all stay warm and be soothed by the beauty of winter, while it lasts.