In Which Spring May Never Come

The snow won't stop falling. We had one brief, beautiful attempt at a spring day, and then the snow returned with a vengeance.

The first day of spring dawned with a foot of fresh-fallen snow.

The snow has not stopped falling since the first day of spring. It compresses over time, but we have not had a single day without snowfall.

My cute little dwarf irises have been completely buried now, and not a petal is showing.

The extended forecast shows nothing but snow for a long time to come. The only one happy about the unending snowfall is the dog, who really loves playing in the white stuff.

The boys are going stir crazy, and as soon as Matt is recovered from his tonsillectomy, I will get them both outside to run off some energy. I'm trying to see the bright side of being able to sled on Easter. I really am...

At least snow pictures are cute!

Sidewalk Paint and Signs of Spring

The temperature soared into the high 50's today. The sun came out, and we all rushed outside to breathe in the fresh air. I went back inside to make some sidewalk paint, which the boys love. Crayola sells this stuff for a lot of money, but it is ridiculously easy to make for pennies on the dollar. It doesn't keep, of course, but my kids use it up very quickly.

This recipe for sidewalk paint doesn't use cornstarch, so you can make more of it for less money. The recipe is very simple: add equal parts flour and water, mix thoroughly, and add food coloring. To make this batch of sidewalk paint, I used:

• 6 cups flour
• 6 cups water
• food coloring

I split the paint into three food storage containers and added the food coloring. The boys had a great time painting the trees and driveway.

After they were done painting, they all took a ride out onto the road. The snow is completely gone from the main street and is nearly gone from the driveway.

I am going to ignore the fact that the weather will soon drop to 30 degrees with more snow. I am living in the moment, and enjoying the marvel of the most wonderful thing in the world: open windows.

9 days 'till spring and counting!

Ready for Spring

In shocking news, we actually saw the sun the other day. The sky turned blue. We all ran outside to celebrate in the bright, cold snow.

The boys built a small snowman. The weather has been very cold, so he is still standing in the front yard.

Spring will be coming soon, and I can't wait. The snow is very pretty, but I am ready for flowers and chirping birds.

The dog, however, is going to be very sad to see the snow disappear. I think winter is his favorite time of year.

Tubing at Peek N Peak

The snow had been falling at a good clip, so we decided to take the kids tubing. They haven't done this in our area before, though they did go tubing when we took a trip to Park City a couple of years ago. Neither boy could remember having done it, though, so it was a "new" and exciting thing to do.

Unfortunately, we forgot the simple fact that it was President's Day weekend. Apparently, everyone in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Western New York goes snow tubing on this holiday. The line to get a lift ticket was impressive. In actuality, they oversold the hill.

We were lucky enough to get onto the tubing hill before they had sold too many tickets. Soon, there were far more people on the hill than there were tubes. The staff was extremely unhelpful and told people to take tubes from those who already had tubes as they came down the hill.

You can imagine how popular this was: an adult taking a tube away from a little 5 year old child, or harassing other adults to get a tube for a run down the hill.

Large groups of people began leaving and asking for a refund. Some of them had driven hours to go snow tubing. We tried trading off tubes, but once you let your tube go, it was nearly impossible to get one back. Fortunately, the crowds thinned considerably as people left and demanded refunds. We had gotten to the hill in the nick of time, and were ahead of the insane rush.

We did have a great time, but the stress and people begging/bullying/pleading for tubes was awful (especially after paying $54 for two hours of sledding time). Next time, we'll go to Holiday Valley or to a new little tubing hill in Warren, PA. The staff at Peek N Peak was completely apathetic and did nothing to facilitate the exchange of snow tubes as people came down the hill.

The kids absolutely loved sliding down the hill, so the hassle was worth it in the end. They laughed and yelled and shouted for a full two hours of sliding time. When our time was up, we headed back to our car and took two happy (and tired) boys home.

A Second Trip to Holiday Valley

We decided to take a second ski trip to Holiday Valley on February 10. It was 9 degrees (Fahrenheit) when we left Jamestown, and the temperature dropped as we headed toward Ellicottville. Thank goodness for Gortex and long underwear!

The ski school area was packed, and we couldn't get Nolan into the morning session of "Little Troopers." He is under the age of 6, so he can only take a half day lesson in a small group - we managed to get him into an afternoon class, but this meant Dennis and I couldn't ski in the morning. Matt made it into his class with no problem, since the group sizes are bigger as the kids get older.

We dropped Matt off with his ski school class and took Nolan over to the tow rope area to practice turning. Nolan was born without any sense of danger, so his idea of skiing involves rocketing down the hill at the highest speed possible. His motto is, "Let's ski in the trees! Or off a cliff!" Fortunately, we have convinced him to control his speed and he is getting better at using the tow rope without assistance.

Nolan skied for quite some time on this small hill. I love Holiday Valley for the variety of terrain for little kids: there is the magic carpet for very small kids, the tow rope slope, and the bunny hill (School Haus run) with a chair lift.

Soon it was time for Nolan's class, and Dennis and I took off to ski for a couple of hours. Unfortunately, my skis had been sharpened and waxed just before this trip. This is usually a wonderful thing, but they waxed my skis with "high performance" wax, which meant I was flying down the slopes at an incredible rate of speed. I went past Dennis, which is saying something since he normally is ahead of me by quite some distance. I far prefer a more leisurely pace (my thoughts while skiing were something along the lines of "I'm going to die -I'm going to die"). It was a bit much for me and I was ready to quite skiing by the time Nolan's class was ready to let out. I picked both kids up from ski school while Dennis enjoyed a few more runs.

Matt's ski instructor said he was ready to move up to the Trail Blazers group, which means Matt is ready to "explore the mountain." The Trail Blazers group does the blue and black runs. Apparently, every time the instructor turned around, Matt was on her heels. He skied several greens and an easy blue run with her.

There is a kiddie terrain park on the side of the School Haus run area, and the kids loved this. I took them there while waiting for Dennis. Matt liked the jumps and Nolan liked the flat rails to skid across.

Dennis arrived from his jaunt down a few different runs and we went to the coffee house to share a cinnamon roll. Matt showed me the runs he did on his trail map.

Since Matt is now able to ride a chair lift independently and can ski green and blue runs, he went with Daddy to explore the resort a bit. They went down Mardi Gras a few times, which Matt enjoyed.

In the meantime, Nolan and I waited and played in the snow until they returned.

Once Dennis and Matt returned from their trip down the ski hill, we all headed over to School Haus so Nolan could take a ride on the chair lift. Matt and I skied together, and I could hardly keep up with him!

After skiing down the bunny hill a few times, the kids wanted to return to the terrain park. They played on the features there, and I decided this is one of the best new additions at Holiday Valley for kids. It is just the right size for little kids who want to practice new tricks!

The kids didn't want to leave. They love skiing so much! The sun started to set, however, and we were all tired. We took one last look at the lights on the trails, turned in the kids' rental skis, and bid farewell!

Ski School: Holiday Valley Trip

The snow was flying fast and there were no major tasks planned for the weekend, so we bundled up the family and headed to Holiday Valley. The boys were really excited to ski, so we booked Matt into a full-day ski lesson and Nolan into the "Li'l Troopers" half day lesson (at the age of 5, he isn't old enough to qualify for the full day session).

We checked them into their classes and they seemed quite happy to go out on the slopes with their teachers.

Once the kids were happily settled into their classes, Dennis and I hit the slopes. The trails at Holiday Valley are really beautiful - we took pictures at the top of Tannenbaum, where the trees were coated in snow.

Soon it was time for lunch (and Nolan's pick-up time). Nolan was upset that he only had a half-day session, but I promised to take him back out on the slopes after lunch.

We ran into Matt's class while we were on the tow rope ski slope. Nolan had a lot of difficulty managing the tow rope, as it takes a lot of strength to keep your skis straight ahead!

Dennis stopped by and helped Nolan manage the tow rope.

I had a great deal of fun watching Matt ski - he was having a great time and had no trouble navigating the course (slalom poles) set up by the instructors. He was able to turn and stop easily, so he moved on to the chair lift.

Nolan was desperate to ride the chair lift, so Dennis and I promised him a ride. We picked up Matt from ski school and headed to the top of the beginner chair lift run.

Nolan was beyond thrilled to ride the chair lift. I think this was almost as much fun as skiing for him!

A nice skier offered to take a picture of our entire family at the top of the School Haus run.

Matt enjoyed skiing, too, and didn't want to leave. He is a more experienced chair-lift rider, and was cool as a cucumber. Of course, Daddy had to hone in on his picture! This shot still makes me laugh.

I only wish skiing were not such an expensive sport. We enjoy it so much, but this was probably our only trip for the season. With lift tickets and ski school (still a necessity for the boys), it was an expensive day! Judging by the smiles all around, the money spent was well worth it.

Peppermint Marshmallows

I saw a recipe on Pinterest for peppermint marshmallows. I'm not good at making candy, but I thought I'd give it a try. As it turns out, marshmallows are a fairly easy recipe to make!

The original recipe is here, from Betty Crocker. A stand mixer helps with the process - I put the gelatin and cold water in the mixer while I made the syrup. Once the candy thermometer (finally) registered 240 degrees Fahrenheit, I poured the syrup into the gelatin as the mixer was stirring. The marshmallow fluff formed very quickly. I added the peppermint extract, poured it into a buttered dish, and added some red food coloring (swirling with a butter knife).

Once the marshmallows were set, I cut them into cubes and dusted them with powdered sugar. They look like little, fluffy candy canes and are excellent in hot cocoa.

I'm definitely adding this recipe to our annual Christmas bake-a-thon!