Beautiful Winter Weekend

Back in Pennsylvania, my grandmother was complaining about the temperature dropping to 28 degrees and freezing her car doors shut.  (I'm calling it - user error.)  I told her, if car doors generally freeze shut at just below the freezing mark, we'd never go anywhere over here in Minnesota.  At this point in the winter, 28 degrees would honestly feel AWESOME.  Especially if the sun is shining. The bummer about this winter is that it's been so cold that there have been fewer opportunities to get outside and enjoy Minnesota with snow on the ground.

That's why last weekend was so glorious.  It was a respite, get this, when temps topped 40 degrees. And it was sunny.  And that great weather fell on a weekend!  Sunday ended up being a rare day we got to spend primarily outdoors.  It was the kind of day where as long as you had warm layers over your core body, you could pull your hat and mittens off and bask in the sun.  That felt good after going up and down the sledding hill. 

Chris waxed the toboggan and it went much faster this time!

Oops!  Lost one!

We made it back outside after nap to watch the final games of the Pond Hockey Championship.  We parked the car near the lake and took the short-cut to the rinks - straight across the ice on a foot-beaten path.  The sun was so bright reflecting off the snow that I was happy we'd remembered to bring sunglasses for the kids.  

Walking across Lake Nokomis to reach the hockey games

After a stop in the warming hut to get the kids hot chocolate, we went back outside for the start of the finals.  Not wanting to push through the crowds to watch the Open Division final, we opted for the Rink Rat final.  We just wanted to see hockey and we got front-row seats.  Sometimes that meant being a little too close to the action.  With no protective glass and boards only knee-high, skirmishes over the puck happened an arm's length away. 

Despite the ideal weather conditions, Oliver declared he prefers watching hockey "in a building."  And that is the reason we dragged him out to a frozen lake in South Minneapolis, because pond hockey - played outdoors - is the purest form of the sport.  Obviously, that notion is still lost on him, but he's still young. 

Oliver was content to watch the game as long as he had a hot chocolate in hand.