CJ and Family

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Where's the shovel?

Monday morning opened with the following conversation as I led a just-awakened Peter to the window:

"What do you see, Peter?"

(BIG eyes, awed voice) "Snow everywhere ..."

"And Mommy has warm clothes for you so that you can go out and play in it!"

(desperate voice) "I don't want to play in it ... I want to dig in it!"

:::

Well, dig he did, but he also enjoyed playing in it. ;o) In fact, everybody, including Toby, had a blast in Monday's half-foot of freshly fallen snow. :o)

It's a little different trying to walk in snow ...

And yes, Peter had the shovel out within minutes of exiting the basement! :o)

Once Daddy finished the toboggan, adventures shifted to the hill where everybody had lots of fun sledding. (It actually worked even better on Tuesday after the snow had claimed a coating of ice ...)

Very thankful for warm gear from friends and grandparents!

And what's the point of sledding if you don't follow it up with hot chocolate? ;o)

We've certainly enjoyed the snow ... it's beautiful and fun to play in. However. I do miss snow plows. :o) Oh well. I'd rather have 2-3 days of snow without snowplows than 2-3 months of snow with them. :o)

Engineer At Play (umm, Work ...)

Peter may have wanted to dig, but Daddy wanted to go sledding. Unlike northern climates, sleds aren't a particularly high demand item around here. However, about once a year, you really wish you had one. And since everything else, including work, was closed, Chris set to work with parts and pieces left over from various projects (as if we have any lack of those!) to build a first-rate toboggan. :o) (He wasn't too disappointed to use his toys, umm, tools, either!) ;o)

A scrap lumber frame:

A sheet metal curve:

A vinyl flooring bottom:

And the inaugral run:

Nice job!

It was definitely a blessing to have the tools and pieces available to put it all together! :o)

:::

I would like to go on record to say that the vinyl flooring idea was my contribution to the project. I noticed it in the corner as I was getting the box of winter gear from the storage room. However, my idea was simply to cut a rectangle and use it like a floppy sled (I think I've seen things like that in the stores ...) My husband was definitely more creative. :o)

I am not an engineer.

I am far too practical for that. ;o)

I do however, appreciate engineers' contributions to our lives, especially one particular engineer ... :o)