Sledding video

We got about a foot of combined snow in the last week --- 6" or so last night. Ava and I enjoyed some sledding time outside in the back yard. Dad's plowing has created a nice extra bank of snow that adds some height to our sledding hill. We were having so much fun, we didn't quite realize how cold it was until we got back inside...a whopping 8 degrees.

Below is a view from the other morning. The sun had risen just enough to showcase the white snow on the trees in the valley, and we hadn't seen the mountains in a few days. It was a nice change.
Below are some pink clouds that I've started calling "beehives". We've seen them a few times. They only appear in the mornings and are often pink like this. There must be some wind phenomena that causes it. The photo actually came out pretty blurry, but you get the idea.

The sledding video. It's from my camera so not great resolution, but it was clear she was having a good time. The last storm was very fluffy snow, so we both got pretty coated in it while sledding. Having the warm radiant floor in the mudroom here is such a great clothes-dryer. We simply toss our wet stuff on the floor and it's dry an hour later. A nice luxury!

Ice, ice, baby!

This was quite a storm last Friday morning...worst ice storm in this area in a decade. Some people in NH are still without power, and the governor there declared a state of emergency. I drove through NH on Saturday afternoon, and even after a full day of cleanup, everything there looked like a crystal palace. I wish I'd taken pictures during that drive.

Miraculously, we never lost power at home. Here's a photo of our back yard ("view" - ha ha). Alien-looking, isn't it?
Our cable rails handled the ice just fine...the loose ones at the bottom aren't broken - they just hadn't been attached yet (now they are).

Change of subject...on to my favorite photography girl, Ava. She's been pretty excited about Christmas and recently created a "Santa Throne" (her words) out of couch cushions and pretended she was Santa. She listened to her two stuffed teddy bears about what they wanted for Christmas (interestingly, they wanted the things SHE'S been asking for! :))

Ava tried on her new jumper from Auntie Michelle and immediately said, "let's pose for a picture!". I had to jump on it. Usually she's a pretty unwilling subject!

Ava (overtired) modeling her new favorite jammies. We call them the "meteor jammies" because, well...you can figure it out. The kid loves anything to do with space!