Snowy Sunday

Today was one of those magical days. First of all it was a Sunday and neither Amy nor I had to work. Church was great...the boys love their Sunday school classes and Amy and I can sit through a whole service without interruption. Our pastor hit another one out of the park speaking on 1 John 4:1-6 about discernment. Check out his sermon at http://www.churchcornerstone.com

Secondly, it snowed all day and we added about 5 more inches to our growing layer of the fun white stuff. The boys have really taken to cross country skiing. Luckily, we are one block away from the Campbell Creek trail and we can walk to a winter wonderland. We skiied for a total of 2 miles to a small hill that motivated the boys to keep going. They definitely love the hills. Both Amy and I last cross country skied in our highschool years, so we are both getting used to it again. The best part is that it motivates us as a family to get outside to see the beauty of the trees laden with snow, the ice formations along the creek, and the quiet hush that the snow creates. We love winter! We'll let you know how our attitudes are after four more months of it.

Winter wonderland

The temperatures have finally stabilized below freezing, and we have had our first significant snowfall (about 5 inches). The boys were really ramped up and couldn't be calmed until we were on a sled on a hill somewhere. So, we headed off to a city park called Russian Jack Springs that has sledding hills and lots of cross country ski trails. After about two hours they were tired and satisfied.

The snow actually fell while we were on a weekend trip to Fairbanks to check out Chena Hot Springs and North Pole, AK. The hot springs were almost too relaxing. We spend about three hours soaking in different hot tubs and swimming in the heated pool. It took about an hour to drive there from Fairbanks. The drive back found everyone (but me) passed out from experience. The sun set just before 4:00. We could hardly choose from the dinner menu once back in town!

North Pole, Alaska is a small, rural town with a hard to find, mostly gift-shop-based, attraction called the Santa Claus House. It is quite a gift shop, though. Santa and Mrs. Claus were there to hear the requests and endure photo flashes to the point of retinal damage. We did find an actual candy-striped pole in town at which we documented our northern progress.

Winter is proving to hold lots of exciting adventure. The boys start cross country ski and snow board lessons this week.