A Blanket of Snow

This morning we woke up to find that, alas, winter is still upon us. But, oh, how beautiful it is! I am afraid my pictures don't do it justice. It just sparkles in the morning sunlight. Arnie and Malia were outside first, Arnie snow-blowing and Malia playing. The rest of us just couldn't resist joining them.

Our little family out in the snow

Bethany and Malia waiting for their bus

My "sugar-coated" house

The scene I woke up to this morning.

My Romeo and Juliet balcony iced over

Branches heavy with fresh snow.

Nature's best cake decorations

Slip Slidin' Away

Arnie took the girls out to slide down the hill next to our house. Princess Kaitlyn was the only one who refrained from venturing out in the cold, of course. They came in for hot cocoa afterwards.

Pretty in Purple

Jessi likes to tromp around in her purple boots while wearing dresses. This is the first time it was a purple dress and I thought it was very cute. She thought it was very fun to have a personal modeling session and certainly loved posing.

Winter Swimming

We went on vacation to the Wyndham resort in the Berkshires of Massachusetts. We did what anyone would do at a ski resort in the winter. We went swimming! Oh wait, that's not normal. In fact, it was pretty nuts as they had two pools, one indoor and one outdoor that were connected by a flap in the wall. We did it anyway because unlike skiing, it was free. They also had an indoor and an outdoor hot tub. Arnie was informing us of Finnish culture, where it is normal, according to him, to sit in a hot tub or sauna and then, to cool off, roll in the snow. He tried it out. I refrained. Bethany and Malia, however, seemed to have more Finnish blood in them as they would hop from the outside hot tub to the outside pool with no problem. I heard this was good for your heart. I don't know, I would think the drastic change in temps would cause a heart attack. Oh well. What would a girl from Hawaii know about the strange behavior of snow dwelling folk?

Arnie and Jessica in the outside pool, which is surrounded by snow.

Jessi, my little fish, loves to swim with her daddy.

My big fish.

Arnie, showing off his Finnish blood. Brrrr!

Arnie, Jessi and Bethany swimming in the winter sunshine.

Princess Kaitlyn lounges in the hot tub, showing no liking for the freezing cold pool water.

Bethany and Malia, learning what happens when you jump into shallow water. Ouch!

Jessi liked the hot tub too.

Cannon Mountain Race

Arnie participated in a small ski/snowboard race at Cannon Mountain in Franconia, NH. He took me to an Army function that was supporting some soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division out of Fort Drum. These soldiers are in a program called Warriors in Transition and are recovering from various injuries. The Association of the United States Army (AUSA) was sponsoring this event and Arnie was invited. I got to tag along too. I took pictures of the race to get out of racing in it :). Arnie did pretty well, only taking 41 seconds to complete the course. The winner was an old special forces guy that was also a former ski instructor, taking only 21 seconds or so to finish the course. Not faring, as my sister would say!