Sledding

Here's a little post-holiday Rorschach test: what do you see in this image?

Those red squiggles represent 3 adults, 2 little boys, 4 sleds, a sunny winter day, and two-and-a-half hours of snowy fun! Chris, Cailan, and I went up to Grand Mesa with our friends Maria and Max to go sledding. Just for kicks, I wore my GPS watch to track our action. It's pretty funny to watch it in the player.

We got Cailan a blue sled for Christmas. He'd never been sledding before so he didn't really know what to expect. We weren't sure, either. Three winters ago, Cailan didn't want to even walk on snow, even with boots on. Last winter, we had to cut a snowshoeing trip short because just the act of putting on a stiff, puffy coat sent him into unstoppable tears. This year, we got new boots, snow bibs, and a nice coat that seems both warm and comfortable, plus some mittens with a really long cuff to minimize the gap between mitten and sleeve. He was all set, but would he like it?

The answer is: yes! He liked sledding, whether it was in a sled with Chris or me or Maria, or in a sled with both Maria and Max, or on a solo trip! He liked it when the sled stopped halfway down the hill, when it whizzed all the way to the trees, and even when it capsized!

He was less enthusiastic about trudging up the hill after each trip down. Sometimes he would have to stop and take a break, or eat some snow, or lie on his belly and wriggle like an eel.

All winter Cailan has been interested in building a snow cave or a snow tunnel. The snow yesterday wasn't quite deep enough for a good snow tunnel but Chris did manage to construct a pretty good cave, just the right size for a six-year-old boy, or a rare Blue-coated Snow Goby.

Merry Christmas!

It has been a fantastic Christmas day!

First, Cailan got to look in his stocking:

Then we had the traditional Christmas breakfast burritos (what? it takes more than one year to make a tradition?) and opened more presents. Cailan got some really cool stuff, like this dinosaur game from Jim and Emiko:

And these insect robots from Shaun, Cindy, Abbey, and Quinn:

And a huge bag of animals from all different time periods and places, from Grandma Bonnie and Grandpa Nick:

And some books from Grandma Bobbie:

Utah got a bright new collar from IMBA, partly made from recycled bicycle innertubes. We took off his old collar and put the new one on him. Utah promptly picked up the collar and shook it at Chris - his way of requesting that we go out for a bike ride. He kept following Chris around shaking the collar, so he ended up wearing both the old one and the new one.

Then it was time to play with all the new toys. Here's some insect-bots buzzing around in their habitat. We turned them loose inside Cailan's new blue toboggan too; they had lots of room to roam there.

Cailan made many different scenes from his new set of animals: a safari scene, a farm scene, an ocean scene, an above the water scene, a Cretaceous scene, and this Jurassic scene:

Cailan likes to zoom in on his scenes.

Now he's dominating the landscape:

After playing ourselves into a frenzy, we had a minor meltdown when Cailan realized his new Christmas money would give him enough to buy the Triops kit he'd been saving for but he wouldn't be able to go to the toy store TODAY to buy it. "But we HAVE to go today!" "I'm sorry, Cailan, the toy store is closed so all the employees can spend Christmas with their families." "But you have to call them and tell them that I need to buy those Triops!" The only remedy was the application of hugs followed by an emergency dose of lunch.

And then it was time to bundle up and go out for a bike ride at Rustler's Loop. Cailan wore his pajamas, snow bibs, and winter coat, with my balaclava under his helmet. Chris and I would actually be generating some body heat so we didn't have to dress quite so warmly.

It was a perfect December day.  There was a tiny bit of snow on the trail, just enough to look pretty but not so much as to interfere with traction.

The four of us rode one lap of the 3.75 mile loop, then Cailan and I played at the trailhead while Chris and Utah did a second loop.  We brought three of Cailan's new tyrannosaurs and made dino tracks in the snow and sand and took turns hiding them for the other to find.  We saw some friends at the trailhead, and they invited us over for some snacks after the ride.  We were happy to go - especially Cailan, who was excited to see their chickens again.  He even got to gather some eggs from the coop and feed the chickens.

Now we're at home, full of dinner, in our pajamas, playing some Endless Ocean.  Soon we'll head to Cailan's room to read a chapter of Harry Potter.  Merry Christmas, everyone!