Our Own Private Skating Rink

We have had enough cold weather days strung together to make the pond safe to skate on. We hauled all our skates out and changed on an improvised bench I made on the bank of the pond. The weather today was pretty warm so by the time we were done, there was a layer of water on the ice. We had a blast! Tomorrow is supposed to reach 60 degrees but when the weather does turn cold again, I think this will be one of our favorite past times.

What to do when there are no "hills"?

Two Farmers in the Making

This is the setting we chose for our Christmas picture. After we were done taking pictures, I snapped this photo of Sam and Hannah "driving" on the tractor.

Decorating the Christmas Tree

Sam and Hannah sure were excited about decorating the tree. Ranger even got into the Christmas spirit and helped out too. It's all up now and looks great. The only thing missing is the presents. We hope Santa brings a few this year. We'll see......

Mom's Birthday Party

Tathiana decided she wanted to go skating for her birthday. We loaded up and drove to the only place we know of that rents skates....Crown Center. This was probably Tathiana's second time skating and it certainly was the kids' first time. It wasn't my first time skating, but it was my first time skating with figure skates on. :o)

We had a really fun time! Sam and Hannah were a little shaky at the start. Hannah hung on my arm and wouldn't let go. By the end of the evening, she didn't want any help and was doing great. Sam picked it up right away and just kept getting faster. As you can see from the photos, and how wet their pants are, they were doing their best to help sweep the ice and keep it clean.

Soon after these pictures were taken, we headed north to MN to spend Thanksgiving with my family. While we were there, we stopped in at Play-it-Again Sports and picked up skates for the whole family (Sam and I went with hockey skates this time). When the weather stays cold long enough, we plan to get out on our pond and do some skating. Maybe over Christmas vacation.

Happy Birthday Honey!
Love you XO