Winter's Ending

Well it's hard to believe that our first winter (well... half winter) in Ottawa is nearing an end. Alex and I built a cute little snowman in our front yard, but it didn't even last till Chris got home as the temperature starting rising and the snow changed to rain, so our pour little snowman became a lump by the time Chris finished work.

A few days later, it snowed again with nice wet snow that's perfect for making snowballs and snowmen, so Chris and Alex went out to the backyard to make a snowman with Strider running around like a lunatic, chasing snowballs and generally being a typical goofy lab. I was stuck working on the final stages of a big project, so Chris asked me for some suggestions about what to use for the eyes, nose and mouth on the snowman. I told him that Alex and I had used baby carrots for eyes and a small parsnip for a nose, and licorice for the mouth, so Chris raided our fridge and decided to use small baby red potatoes for the eyes and buttons, a parsnip for the nose and licorice for the mouth. They also put a hat on the snowman and gave him arms and had him holding up a broom - the snowman looked adorable and Chris and Alex had fun playing outdoors.




Once they came in to hot chocolate and a warm fire, they left Strider outside to play. That's where the plan derailed a bit. For anyone else with a Labrador retriever, you'll probably be able to guess what happened. These dogs are literally walking garbage disposals - cute, but they will eat just about anything you put before them. So just imagine what Strider did when faced with what he surely saw as his personal buffet in the form of a snowman... he very carefully ate every edible part of the snowman without disturbing anything else.

I looked out a few hours later and our poor snowman was still there, but without the parsnips, licorice and potatoes!

Lesson learned, I guess. *grins*

Another big winter activity we got Alex involved with is skating. It's a bigger deal here in Ottawa as it seems kids are fitted for skates before they can walk, so we're a little behind the typical schedule but Alex seemed to get the hang of skating very quickly. The first time out, he could barely keep his balance but within minutes he could stand up on his own. Now, after only about 4 short practice skates with us in Kingston and Ottawa, Alex went on a field trip with his class to the local arena and got to skate with his class. Chris and I went along to help out, as did many other parents from the class. At first, Alex held onto Chris' hand, but very quickly he was skating on his own towards Chris. It was fun to see him getting comfortable with this new sport, and I truly hope he enjoys it as it will be nice to skate on the canal next winter with him. We had hoped to do that this winter, but they closed all of the outdoor rinks earlier than usual due to the mild weather we've been having in Ottawa.

Here's a few pictures of Alex skating with his class trip.