February snow storm

We got 10" over night, and it's been snowing steadily all day since. They say it will let up soon, which is fine by me. The temperature's around 30, so it's a heavy wet snow. Still, quite beautiful.

While I was snowblowing the driveway Susan and Sam came out to play and work in the snow. Susan even took a turn at snowblowing.

Not much else to say. Just thought you'd enjoy the photos!

Note after the fact: The official tally Friday night was 17" in Penfield. We got another few inches the rest of the weekend.

Last night before dinner we all went out to play in the snow while I cleared the pile left by the plow. (The function of the plow, when there's this much snow, is to move snow from the street to the driveways.) We rollicked around in the snow, throwing snowballs at one another. Sam was giddy with enjoyment, flopping down in the drifts and having a great time. :-)

Corbett's Glen

Went on a hike yesterday to a nearby park we'd never been to before, called Corbett's Glen. The trails aren't terribly long, but it's pleasant, and at the far end is a little river (or wide creek) which tumbles down a small waterfall after winding through a tunnel and under a bridge or two.

Sam and I had a great time there. There are some gullies to be traversed, and given how slippery the snow was Sam decided just to slide down on his rear end.

On the way in to the park Sam ran most of the way. He's big enough that I can't keep up just by walking fast, so we both got some good exercise.

This park has a couple of house within its borders. I think at least one of them belongs to a caretaker. Several years ago I had a summer student, Brandon Corbett, who lived in one of these houses. He had two dads and one mom, because the mom was unable to make up her mind---so they all lived together. They couldn't figure out what to name Brandon, so they named him after the park. Weird people.

A good weekend was had by all. Great to have mommy back. She was supposed to fly in to Rochester at 12:35 pm Saturday. She called Sat morning to say that they'd overbooked the flight and would put her on a later one, giving her a voucher. Without trace of shame, they also told her there weren't any more Rochester flights on Saturday!

Susan persisted and got them to fly her to Buffalo. So Sam and I quickly hopped in the car and raced 1.25 hrs to Buffalo, picking her up at 1:25. Could have been worse!

And Susan's discovered she can keep Sam busy just by printing out a stack of mazes from the internet. It's a great way to keep him occupied. :-)

On a different note, Sam continues to enjoy Mary Cok's Sunday school class. She is great with the kids. Even at this young age, they are memorizing Scripture (something I didn't do til I fell in with those Xenos extremists in high school!). The passage he's currently working on is Ps 100:1-3:

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.
² Worship the Lord with gladness;
come into his presence with singing.

Know that the Lord is God.
It is he that made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

He really does have a good memory. He just rattles it off; I can't remember it all!

In other news, Sam successfully multiplied 5x2 the other day. And, for the first time, he didn't just count fingers to do it!

Now we just need to hide the tape he got from the library of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Sigh.

The bug jar

You just never know what God's going to give you to pass the time. I've said before that Sam's favorite "toy" was probably a big cardboard box we called the "spaceship."

Tonight's entertainment was a potato bug which somehow found its way into our living room on a dark winter's evening.

Sam didn't want me to kill it, so I put it in a little glass bowl. I added a grape in case it wanted the feast of its life. It crawled around exploring its new world. Didn't show much interest in the grape, but we enjoyed the show of watching it moved its antennae around, "praying," as Sam said.

I don't mean to say we aren't having a good time--we are--but let's say we are both looking forward to Susan's return! Had a quiet couple of days. Play date yesterday afternoon, and this afternoon a quick trip to the Brighton library before groceries, and home to the lasagna Susan pre-made for us. Right now Sam's been down for a couple of hours, and I am trying not to let himself stay up late watching The Hurt Locker.

Sam impressed me in two little ways today, if that's not a contradiction in terms. First, when Menselssohn's famous violin concerto came on the radio he said to me, halfway through, "Daddy, that sounds like your cell phone!" For those who don't know, that happens to be my ring tone. Kid has an ear! Also has directional sense, as he seems to have quite a good idea of how to get from here to the library, a few miles away.

That's all I got. Must sleep to save up my energy for the nocturnal interruptions, and for pancakes in the morning. Or waffles! Definitely waffles.


p.s.--I hope potato bugs can handle 20-deg temperatures and snow.

Ice skating!

Susan should really be the one to write this, since I wasn't present... but these are fun photos, and I'd like to share them.

Susan went on an ice skating trip with Liz and Lexy earlier this week to a downtown outdoor rink in Rochester's Manhattan Park. Amazingly, Sam loved it! Susan expected him to balk at the skates and wouldn't have been surprised if he hadn't wanted to even get on the ice. But he was quite happy to. He even managed to go it alone for a little bit, and wasn't at all deterred by falling on the ice from time to time.

There were there for several hours, believe it or not! Sam and Susan did some ice dancing together, and enjoyed watching the Zamboni smooth the ice.

Susan is even now on the plane to Minneapolis to see her friend Xochitl. Keep her in your prayers, for healing from her bad accident. Sam didn't fuss when she left, though he said several times he wanted to go with her on the plane. And both at dinner and at bedtime he insisted on praying, and prayed for Mommy's trip. Fortunately, no tears as yet. Of course, it's only been a few hours...

Travel Report

A quick note from lovely Pleasanton, California, where I am away on business travel. My friend Ed advised me to get a pair of web cams and use them to video phone back to Susan and Sam. (Two other families we know used this to stay in touch with family overseas.)

What a great idea! At four a child doesn't quite get what Friday means when it's Monday. This makes it all just a little more real for him. (Note: The video quality is low because Susan and Sam were sitting in a darkened room at the time.)

In the middle of the night last night he called out for Daddy and when Susan came in told her, "I said Daddy!" When she reminded him I was in California he said matter-of-factly, "I forgot."

So we each have web cams, and he got to see my hotel room and see that I was still alive. He was very curious about the hotel, and especially how big the tv is.

Susan and I have also enjoyed being able to stay in touch visually as well as verbally--as the last snapshot demonstrates.

This convinces me we should get webcams for Columbus and, especially--since we make it out there less frequently--South Dakota! Sam doesn't yet have much patience for sitting in front of the monitor (after maybe ten minutes he wanted to go back to the Andy Griffith episode Susan was letting him watch), but just giving him the chance to see his kin in far-away places would help with continuity of relationships for him. And it was extremely easy to pick one up and get it going. Took mere minutes.

Other Sam news: At Montessori they've had him making little booklets where he writes a different word on each page and staples the booklet together with a colored-paper cover. He loves it! So much that if he makes one of these booklets at the start of class, he is sure to carry it with him the rest of the morning. His teacher, Ms. Mulvaney, made a point of telling Susan's he's entering what they call a writing explosion--so it sounds like things are going to change quickly. Fun to watch!

January Thaw

Has it been just a week since Aunt Amy's visit? It's all a blur now, as I get ready for a week away.

AA's visit was in many ways a typical weekend, except for the pleasure of her company, which, even if we are spoiled with it happening often, is still somehow a rare treat.

The photos show AA and Susan in front of the roaring fire, and Sam in the bathtub. It's a little hard to see in the latter, but he is wearing a mustache and beard of soap suds. He was quite proud of that. :-)

Okay, one other note about that weekend. While driving Sam to the Play Museum we just happened to drive by two large snow monsters on a side street. Sam was thrilled! There was a thaw that weekend, and the snow was disappearing everywhere, but these two were hanging on admirably. Thought you'd be amused. Sam sure was.

* * *

This weekend we made it to the Play Museum again, for the opening of a Lego exhibit. It included various games, huge tables for the kids to build at, and many, many Lego sculptures. Shown are the Castle Neuschwanstein, and Sam nose to nose with a giant Lego dragon. Very impressive!

Another Snowy Day

This is a leftover from several weeks ago. We'd had a large snowfall. Nothing record-breaking, but quite pleasant. Sam loved trudging around in the snow, so while we were doing that, I took a snapshot or two.