Baby It's Cold Outside! A Sledding Tale

Most likely, the only reason for that title is because I just came in from outside and my fingers are still numb :)

Yup, here in Michigan, winter has truly arrived. Cold, cold cold. I always laugh because so many people complain ( present company included) about how cold it is, but it's not like we live somewhere where it's a surprise. You can't really say, "Wow, I can't believe it's actually below freezing outside!" It happens every year.

Yet, we still say it...time after time again. And yup, it's cold tonight.

I am a self proclaimed wimp when it comes to cold. I want to enjoy outside activities, but I still dread the thought of getting cold.

By the way, Happy New Year! We had planned to spend New Year's Eve with my brother's family in Illinois, but the morning of New Year's Eve arrived, and so did a walloping stomach flu. So rather than heading out for three fun days away, I spent the time in bed. When I wasn't running in and out of the bathroom, that is.

Thankfully, Steve had taken the day off for our little mini-vacation, so he was home with kids during my illness.

Now, how does Kristi intend to weave those two seemingly unrelated stories together?

Like this:

Steve HAD to get the kids out of the house after about three hours of listening to some nasty noises come out of Sick Mommy in the bathroom. So he bundled them up to go sledding. We had been sledding already that week, but Steve had heard of another hill nearby that was HUGE and decided to take the boys.

After about an hour, they came home. Noah wasn't feeling well by now and proceeded to throw up all over the front porch as they came inside, followed by another trip to the bathroom immediately afterward.

The next morning, I was starting to feel better and we thought about heading to my brother's. But since I had told them definitely we would wait until Saturday to come, we settled in for another day to find stuff to do around the house.

As I still wasn't feeling all that great, Aaron was begging, pleading, nagging, whining, DEMANDING that Steve take them to the "big hill" again.

So for day two in a row, Steve bundled up, bundled up the boys and headed out. I think he was a little annoyed that I didn't want to come with them but sub zero wind chills, plus a lingering stomach ache, didn't make it seem too appealing to this momma.

TWO HOURS LATER, I started worrying that something had happened to them, given the size of the hill and the freezing temps. Right about the same time, my phone rings. Steve tells me they're having the time of their life and they ended up staying for at least another hour. CRAZY!!

So comes Saturday morning, the coldest one yet. We bundled up the fam and finally headed out for the now abbreviated, but much anticipated trip to Illinois.

After a somewhat challenging but not too terrible drive, we arrived there and got settled. After a little while, my SIL put my youngest nephew down for a nap and we bundled up all of the cousins for YET ANOTHER trip outside. This time, to attack the sledding hill left over from construction crews making my brother's new house. It was sooooooo cold that I figured everyone would be in within ten minutes.

Noah immediately started trying to sled down the side of the house when my SIL told us that the kids had been sledding on the other side. So we headed over there. To their dismay, rather than snow, we found a great hill, but almost all sand rather than snow. So the boys, led by the biggest kid of all (my hubby) set forth trying to create other hills to sled down.

After awhile, Steve headed down to a more tree filled area to create a slide. And they finally succeeded.

Lots and lots and lots of trees took a beating in the name of fun, and after lots and lots of bumping, crashing, veering off course, laughter, and unfortunately pain, a very cold group of people headed inside to warm up.

So arrives Sunday morning. We are ready to pack up and head home. With Steve complaining about his painful buttocks from three straight days of sledding and my poor brother sitting on a heating pad from the trauma to his back from our sledding adventure, what are some of Aaron's first words?

Daddy, can we go sledding?

Sorry Baby, we need a day off.

Three more months of winter to go. I sit here with STILL freezing fingers and yet wonder if I could ever live a place where it never snowed.

I don't think so.