Marshmallow World

 Our first Christmas with Matt's family I learned about the Snow Dance tradition.  This was something Matt's younger sisters had created after he'd moved out of the house because they wanted a white Christmas every year, so they would do a snow dance.  I'm not sure if they started some secret alliance, but if so, could you please stop dancing?  We have more snow than we need. Here's an example of what it first looked like when it snowed just before Christmas (it doesn't look much different now because it hasn't warmed up since the second snowfall to melt):

I believe that winter means you have to have snow, and I love how pretty everything is covered in white, except for the streets and my driveway.  I do not like driving in snow at all.

On the up side of things, we LOVE to go sledding every year.  There's a local place where you have to pay, but really only $2 a person ($10 a family) is a great price.  They groom the hill, pack the snow, and make walking paths.  It's fantastic.  The best part is Jackson loves it.  He'll even sled down the hill by himself.

On Christmas Eve we took Matt's brothers and their wives sledding.  Of course, this wasn't the greatest experience because it was 40 degrees outside and all the snow was melting.  We did find a hill nearby that was still "working" for us.  Our usual place was closed because the snow was too soft.  We even tried a few "tricks."  (FYI, that really loud -almost annoying- giggly laugh is me. . .every time I hear it, I swear I'm listening to my younger brother.  We have the exact giggle/laugh thing going on.)

We had fun, but Jackson was definitely disappointed, and we realized we needed a better sled than the ones we owned (the green one in the top picture that Matt is sitting on - didn't go anywhere.).  We promised him that we'd go sledding as soon as it snowed again.

He didn't have to wait long.  A week later, the snow dumped again (and it's still here, by the way).  Matt had the day off (the day before New Year's Eve), and Matt and I decided to surprise Jackson.  We secretly packed up all of our snow stuff in the car and told Jackson we were going to run errands.  He announced, "After we get home, I want to play in the snow."  Matt and I smiled and winked at each other.

We stopped at a Sporting Goods store to find the sled we wanted.  Jackson asked "Where are we?"  As we started looking at the sleds, he asked, "Mom, can we get a sled?"  When the answer was that this is why we're here, he shrieked, pointed to a sled, and said, "I love that one!"  We directed him to a slightly better one, and he had to try it out immediately.  Yes, right there in the store.  "Let's see it works," he announced as he took the sled and dived on the store floor as if he were going to sled down the hill.  Yes, we spent more money than we probably needed, but we picked a sled that would be great. (Rob and Kristin, we had to get one like yours.)

As we stood in line, checking out, Jackson declared in his best two-year old tone (remember he's almost seven), "I want to go change clothes right now!" (Meaning he wanted to play in the snow immediately.)  Matt and I just laughed as we told him that's what we're doing.  Score one for the parents!

We drove to the usual place, paid our money, rented a sled (so we'd have two), and had a blast for the next two hours sledding down and trekking back up the hill.  I'm proud to say that I didn't wipe out once, although I can't say the same for my boys.  Jackson toppled several times and even had an AFV moment when a tube with a couple of kids came right his way and he stood like a deer in the headlights staring.  At that point, I laughed hysterically and wished we'd brought our camera.  (Yeah, I know, I'm a real sympathetic mom.)  The next time a tube headed his way, he knew to run out of the way.

Matt's last run was definitely AFV worthy.  He sped down on the sled head first, alone. A couple of teenage girls had come to a dead stop halfway down the run in their tube; Jackson and I had just missed them on our run.  They couldn't move fast enough, and Matt couldn't steer out of the way, and so he flipped completely over them.  I laughed more than I should have.

Sledding is a blast for us.  When we finally got home, we noticed that Matt had called four times.  Confused, we listened to the message he'd left -- a nice long one.  Apparently, while going on his stomach once, his phone dialed home.  We could hear him going down the hill and walking back up and getting ready to go again.  Hilarious!