Is it over yet?

On March 4 (almost sure that was the date), we got 9 inches of snow during the night. 

That pretty much pushed us to our limit with snow!

Tanner is dwarfed by the snow piles. Keep in mind this is the product of snow storms over the course of 3+ months.

Getting the mail. Can you see the top of that car driving by? Can you see Jeremy's head? But wait, where's the mailbox? Jeremy had to un-burry it. Our friends actually canceled their mail for a week because they couldn't find their mailbox.

Also, I learned that for streets and parking lots that don't have enough room to shovel the snow they get a giant truck that sucks up the snow and dumps it into another truck driving alongside it. Then they haul the snow to a discrete part of town. I saw the pile. It was massive, my guess is five stories high.

Our Backyard

 In this shot, I tried showing how over by the shed our garden and fence is completely buried. The garden fence is 3 feet tall and completely gone. That seemingly tiny brown gate next to the shed is on a 12 inch platform. Also notice the snow through the pillars of the patio deck. The deck is 1.5 feet off the ground. The bunnies that live under there had to dig tunnels to get out.

 Turns out, icicles are a sign of warmth, not cold. This is our first set of icicles for the winter. They formed because it got warm enough for the snow to start melting. The little ornament thing is a homemade bird-feeder. We've made lots of those. The birds kept devouring them so fast that I started just throwing bird seed all over the patio and driveway. The poor birds are so hungry!

Luckily, after this 9 inch dump hit, we've had really warm temps (35-45 degrees) during the days. The snow has been melting like crazy. All the roads were slushy, then puddly and now they are completely dry--first time since before Christmas! On Friday, in the car Tanner yelled out, "Mom! I can see the ground!!" It's kind of weird, we've gotten so much snow, but hardly any chance to really play in it because of the extreme cold. Jeremy and I wanted to go cross country skiing yesterday, but there is hardly any snow left to do it!

The hope of spring is in the air!

Day Trip to the National Eagle Center

On Saturday, March 1, we took a day trip north to a town called Wabasha, MN where they have the National Eagle Center. On the way, we stayed bundled up in the car. The drive took a little longer than anticipated due to a storm a couple days earlier, (ended up being 2 hours), but we were safe and the boys did great!

We first ate lunch in Rochester at a Greek restaurant. This brought back memories of all the great restaurants in So Cal. Then, we stopped at a place called Lark Toys. It's a really cool toy store with pretty much any toy you could think of, including the trademark handmade wooden toys that Lark Toys is famous for. We could have easily spent the whole day here!

They also had display cases of toys through the ages.

There was also a fudge shop, candystore, mini golf course and a handmade merry-go-round. Tanner is riding on what he thinks is a dragon. We went along with it and said "Oh ya, a brown dragon" even though it was actually an otter. When he got off, he took one last look at it and realized it wasn't a dragon. "Wait a minute. That's not a jwagon!" We just had to cover our laughs, and remind him how much fun he had on the ride.

Can you see me in the background?

Here's the view outside from the merry-go-round area. No sun, but it was a nice day since there wasn't too much wind.

After the toy store, we made it to the main attraction, the National Eagle Center. The place was beautiful!

Everywhere that we stood in the museum we could see the view of the river. This is close to the beginning of the Mississippi River, and since there is so much movement in the water, it doesn't freeze, even during all this cold we've had. The eagles know this, so hundreds of them migrate here every winter to hunt for fish and stay alive. 

We really enjoyed watching the eagles circle in the air, swoop down and grab stuff. We saw dozens  of them!

 Project station

Exhibits

There are four injured eagles that live at the center. We got to meet them face to face and watch them eat! 

Tanner is a smart kid. He obviously understood how dangerous these creatures are. The first thing he asked when we stepped in the room to meet the eagles was "Do they have arms to grab me?" And "Will they fly away?" Once we assured him that they can't hurt us, he was much more comfortable watching them.

Pretty awesome how these birds were almost extinct and now they are thriving! Pretty awesome how we got to enjoy watching them so close! Tanner especially loved it. For the past 2 weeks, he has been looking for eagles with his "noculars," and swears that every big bird we see outside is an "EEEEAGLE!!"

After the museum and eagle presentation/show, we went to a restaurant nearby. We sat by a cozy fireplace, eating yummy food while enjoying another awesome view of the river and eagles. It was a perfect way to end a perfect day!! 

 

Daddy's home!

When Jeremy comes home, the boys freak out. Tanner has an unusual ritual: He runs to the garage door, flings it open, yells out "Dada, you came back!!" and then SLAMS the door and LOCKS it. Then Tanner sits against the door and giggles while Jeremy unlocks it. (we gave up on teaching him to stop locking the door). Once the door is opened, Tanner acts all innocent, "Oh, hiiiii, Dada! Welcome to our house." Then he immediately tries to show Dada what he's been doing. Funny kid.

Here's a pic of Jeremy teaching Tanner letters with the puzzles.

Dallin's reaction to Jeremy coming home is more normal. When Jeremy walks in, Dallin flails his arms, smiles and squeals. He gets upset if Jeremy takes more than a minute to say hi to him. When Jeremy holds him, Dallin smothers his face into Jeremy's shirt and clings his fists to Jeremy's clothes and hair, giggling and cooing. 

One evening, I heard Jeremy and Tanner talking and planning on attacking something. So I came down to the basement to find this. I am so in love with this fabulous Daddy!

 And here's a couple of random pics.

 We've had several play dates with Tanner's friends from church. 

 And one of Tanner's favorite things to do lately is the dishes, which always ends with a flood in our kitchen.

 Our biggest hurdle with this "activity" is teaching Tanner the concept of wasting water.

Playin' in the snow

Jeremy took the day off in the middle of one week in February. It was so warm outside...30 degrees! We were really excited to be able to play in the snow.

 We took a walk to the park. Turns out they made an ice pod, which is a big patch of grass that they turn into ice for skating (in the foreground of the picture).

We dragged Dallin around on the ice in the sled. He fell asleep, and didn't like it if we stopped.

Tanner had a tough time walking in the snow. It was hard to tell how deep the snow would be because the wind has made drifts everywhere. You could be walking along just fine in a few inches of snow and then all of a sudden you sink into snow up to your thigh.

Here's a picnic table. The snow is up to the seat. We thought that was pretty deep... until it snowed  6 more inches the next day... and then 9 inches four days later.

Tanner has been asking to go to the playground all winter. So he was pretty stoked to be there.

Don't be deceived by these shallow footprints. The snow is about 2 feet deep here, but it's all frozen over and Tanner is too light to push it all down.

It was so warm, I had to unzip my coat!

As mentioned earlier, the next night, we got 6 inches of snow. It covered up all our tracks from playin.

If I remember correctly, this was the first wet snow we got this winter. It was really hard for Jeremy to shovel and snow-blow. Our path to the door looks like a snow canyon.

I took the boys on a pretend picnic. Tanner says "picmic," lol. We made our lunches, got a blankie, went for a walk around the house and found this sunny spot by the front door.

It was a great way to enjoy the new fallen snow.

Can you find our mailbox?