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...