I would never be able to convey to you how excited A. was about this. SO EXCITED. He took multiple trips down to the beach to check on the conditions, and spent the rest of his time gazing out the front windows of the house at the lake.
And he took Charlie and Cubby down to see it. The MiL went too. I stayed in the house. Can you blame me?
That's . . . not appealing.
The children were thrilled with their ride down to the beach in A.'s utility sled (mostly used for pulling firewood and hay).
It also floats, I think, though that's not really something I would care to test in these conditions.
After this, A. tried to return straight to the house, but Cubby demanded that they all return via the gully. So A. hauled the sled and its contents up the frozen stream in the gully. And then up the gully bank. It was about five degrees below zero in the gully, and it didn't take long before Cubby was re-thinking his adventure.
Do I see a tinge of regret on his frozen face?
By the time they made it back to the house, Charlie had joined Cubby there in the bottom of the sled under A.'s coat. It was not a happy sled any longer. Both children had to be hauled bodily into the house, where they both proceeded to lose their damn minds.
The adventure started out exciting, and they did enjoy themselves, despite the aftermath looking like this:
Accusing glares from the safety of Mommy's lap directed at the architect of their misery: Daddy.
Unfortunately, the ice broke up the next day and is currently nothing but fifty feet of slush extending from the frozen shoreline. I know this because I hauled those children down to the beach myself this morning in that very same sled so they could see. We stayed all of ten minutes, at which point I hauled them back up, because it was about ten degrees with a stiff wind down there.
We did not come home via the gully, because Mommy ain't no fool. Plus, it's hard enough pulling the sled loaded with a combined 70 pounds of boy from the beach straight to the house. I call it my Supplemental Shred.
Anyway, in summary: It got cold. The lake almost froze (as did the children*, but never mind that) and A. was beside himself with joy.
Good things do happen in this world.
* Humorous hyperbole. My kids are unbelievably hardy. A lot more hardy than their mother, that's for sure.
Someday they'll talk about the winter that the lake almost froze and they almost froze their faces going to see it. I think it's a parenting requirement that they'll remember the part that attempts to pull the guilt strings.
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