New Year's Fun

New Year's Eve 
On the last day of the year (a holiday for Dode), we took the kids ice skating.  Jacob didn't want to go so he stayed home with William (who doesn't yet have the coordination or balance for trying it) and played the Kinect with him.  At the rink, after the usual going back time and again to get the correct sized skates, we were ready.  I don't think we were ever all on the ice at the same time, the boys were in the search of the "perfect" pair of skates.  I think ice skating is one of those activities that sounds a lot more fun to the kids than it actually ends up being.  Searching for skates was a good excuse for staying off the ice. 

Miriam absolutely loved ice skating.  It was her first time on skates.  We'd brought a bucket she could push
around and balance against (we learned that trick from watching other families on previous ice skating trips) but after a few times around, she was ready to set the bucket aside.  She transitioned to mom holding one hand and dad the other.  She was living every kid's dream of being in the middle of her adoring parents.  She started going faster and when that wasn't enough, she started jumping up and down in her skates.  When we took a break for the ice resurfacing, she begged me to buy her ice skates so she could skate at home.  I explained that it just doesn't stay cold long enough around here for her to get to use them.  She was sure she could find somewhere to go.  Once they were done resurfacing the ice, Miriam didn't wait to see if mom and dad were with her, she squeezed her way through the crowd to get back to the ice.  The next morning when Dode said, "Guess what we're doing today?"  She happily replied, "Going ice skating!"  We had to disappoint her.

After skating, we took the kids to the Grand China Buffet where we stuffed ourselves so full we didn't need dinner.  I felt like we were a high class family as two of the kids excitedly told me at different times that they'd just put out a new pan of their favorite item.  You have to a buffet goer to know the joy of a fresh new pan of your favorite thing put out just as you are standing there.

New Year's Eve is the one night of the year when we let the kids stay up as late as they want, as long as they don't wake us up.  They look forward to it all year.  This year, Jared and Isaac Colson were over here and Elizabeth and Anastaya went to Grandma Sharon's.  In the middle of the night, the boys decided they were hungry and wanted pancakes.  I was so impressed because when I came down in the morning, there were only minor signs of the fact they'd cooked.  (And they'd even had to get out a new 25 pound bag of sugar to fill up the sugar container to make syrup).

New Year's Day

We did our Annual Polar Bear Plunge at noon at Lake Goodwin County Park.  We're guessing, but we think this is our 14th year.  We invited anyone who wanted to come from church and the produce co-op (about 250 families all together) but not surprisingly, only one family took us up on the offer.  Isaac Colson came because he plans to spend every New Year's eve with us for as many years as he can.  The cousins Jared, Allison, and Lainey came along for the second year in the row.  Two families from church did come to partake of the dip as a spectator sport!

It was a bit cold at the lake today (in the 20's) at the end of a cold spell that's lasted for days but the bright sun and lack of breeze made it a perfect day for a swim (if you're a polar bear or a crazy person like we are).

Here is Elizabeth walking on the ice on the lake shore

(in shorts, no coat, hat or gloves in 20 degree weather)

Jared and Isaac standing behind a piece of ice they'd lifted from the surface

bare foot on the ice frosted wood dock

the crowd

waiting to make the plunge

Lainey takes the plunge

Anastaya walking back up the dock after jumping in.  Once she warmed up, she ended up jumping in THREE more times with Allison and Lainey.  The boys had been bragging about being first in the water and going in three times.  The girls ended up beating the boys in the water and only Jared was able to get himself to jump in again and that was only twice.

On the way home, Dode was teasing the boys that they'd been outdone by the girls, Isaac said, "You mean out-dumbed".  It's all in the way you think about it!

This family, the Dayleys, came to watch us.  They'd told their small children they were going to watch some crazy people do a polar bear dip.  Nilla, the wife, is from Italy and has absolutely no interest in exposing her bare skin to the cold Washington winter.  Once at the park, one of their children asked, "Moma, where are the BEARS?"  Real polar bears would have made the plunge much more exciting for us!

Dode rigged up this warming hut with a pop up canopy, sheet of plastic, and a propane cooker left over from the deep fried turkey craze (it heated water for hot chocolate and warmed up the hut).  It had to be over 90 degrees inside (see how the walls are ballooning out because of the heat).

When we got home, the kids all jumped in the hot tub, there were so many kids that the water overflowed the sides.

I read they got over 1000 participants at Lake Washington in Seattle this year.  Our event isn't quite that big yet.  Want to join us next year?  We'll bring the hot chocolate and the warming hut, you supply the crazies!  Next year I'm wearing a grass skirt and a lei!

Along with inviting the ward (church) family to the polar bear dip, we invited them over for an afternoon potluck.  We must not be very popular because only one family and the missionaries came to the party.  Dode was happy though because the family who came had a husband who knows computer programing.  Dode has been trying to build me a database using visual basic to make my produce co-op information more automated.  He's learning as he goes and was happy to have the ear of an expert for a while.

In other news, they called a stage 2 burn ban today which means we can't burn the wood stoves.  Which means, we're using our electric radiant heat in the ceilings which showers heat down on us like a warm sun.  I don't like paying for it but it sure feels good when we're forced to use it.