Fun in the Snow

There just aren't enough hours in the day.  We'll leave it at that.

With all the snow that we've had, getting roughly 6 feet so far this winter, we've had to find a way to have some fun with it.  Eventually I dug out our Steeler gnome.  He was really well buried!  I haven't even attempted find the Red Sox gnome.  Frankly, I was more concerned about the Steeler gnome, since Pittsburgh's in the Super Bowl (more on that later). 

Anyway, Dave and I decided to make a snowman.  Unfortunately, we decided to do it after a fluffy snow storm, so the snow worked against us. 

This bummed Dave out more than it probably should have. But, ever the problem-solver, he got a spray bottle (typically used for spraying the plants with plant food) and filled it with water.  Slowly but surely, we were able to create the three big, bigger, biggest snowballs for our snowman's body. I think we ended up refilling the "snowman juice" bottle two more times.  It really worked.  We were able to make the balls, attached them, and sculpt his body.  Can't say Dave had a bad idea when he broke out the snowman juice.

We finished him off using our snowman kit.  He looks pretty awesome.  He looked even better when I put an old Steelers practice jersey on him.  He looks less awesome with the additional 12 inches of snow he got covered in over the last couple of days.

Other fun snow things include another afternoon of cross country skiing.  We decided to take the scenic route (and the cheap route) by heading onto some trails in the nearby state park.  It was the first time I'd even been on an ungroomed trail, but we weren't the only ones who had that idea.  We didn't see anyone out, but there had been snowshoers and other nordic skiers around lately and some tracks all around.  Dave did cut fresh tracks in a few areas for us. 

It was so nice to be out again.  The snow was very fluffy and being in the middle of the wood with it all over was really pretty and calming.  Since no one else was around, it was like our own private trail.  The best part (for me) is that since we travelled ungroomed trails, the snowbanks prevented me from falling (or I'm getting better).  I did fall once, sort of, but only leaned forward and ended up with my knees in the snow.  Otherwise,whenever I lost control, my skis made their way under 6 inches of snow and slowed me down.  Hey, whatever works.

Of course, I'm only excited about this because Dave did fall and it was glorious.  Yes, he was standing still.  We had stopped and taken off our skis to cross a brook.  After we hopped over to the other side, we worked on getting the snow off our boots to click back into the skis.  As Dave balanced on his right leg to poke the snow out of his left boot, I watched as he caught himself, but was still leaning to the right.  And then, practically in slow motion, he fell over on his right side.  In the same position when he was standing up. 

Ok, so I may be a little mean because I made him stay there while I took a picture, but it was hilarious.  I couldn't stop laughing.  And he has the benefit of watching me fall all the time, so I had to take advantage of this opportunity.