Baby It's COLD Outside!

 But we didn't let the cold temps keep us from a quick trip to the Dan Nicholas Park yesterday morning. We all bundled up as much as we could, and drove out to the park so that Ryder could play til his heart content on all of the slides. It was a bit colder than we'd bargained for though as we realized there was actual ice on all of the playground equipment. At least we had a one of Scot's ski neck protectors (I don't know the "official" name for it) for Ryder and he looked so little wearing it! It served its purpose for us to play outside for awhile to burn some energy and get some much needed fresh air.

 All aboard! Ryder was the train conductor and kept calling out to Scot and I to get on his train. He was so proud of himself for being able to say "all aboard" and I think he felt like a real train engineer! He had grown quite a bit since the last time we visited Dan Nicholas Park, where he could barely peek out of the train window. I think he must have remembered the train though because once he was done with the slides, he ran right up to the train like an old friend. This entertained him awhile until he was off running to the next venture.

 We walked towards the lake and noticed a swarm of ducks, geese, multi colored birds and squirrels lining up by the ticket booth. It was like a scene in Evan Almighty! Like trained dogs, they knew to come "beg" by the door of the ticket stand because they knew that it was feeding time. The ticket attendant to the paddle boats told us that in the spring and summer they are so used to being fed that when the winter gets here they are starving because the park isn't nearly as crowded with people to feed them. They were SO hungry but it was a great opportunity for Ryder to see them and he loved being close to them and we had a few crackers to hand them. At one point he got a little too close, and I think we scared him more than he was, when we yelled for him to back up. I just didn't want them to think his hand was food the way they were all gathered and pecking at the pellets of feed.

 Yes, baby it was COLD outside, especially by the lake. The paddle boat area looked extremely too cold to even think about going on, so we decided to just take in the view and walk around the rest of the park to get some excercise before heading back to our car. I think the breaking point for Scot and I was when it felt like our toes and legs were numb from the windchill! (and we wonder why we are sick- ha!)

 Not 10 minutes after getting home and unloading the car, the sun was covered by snow clouds and the wind started to pick up. It was really weird how fast things changed, and the next thing we knew, it was blowing SNOW! Maybe the weather forecast had been right for the weekend afterall. We really aren't supposed to get snow until tomorrow morning, but we still had fun running outside to catch it on our tongues. It wound Ryder all up and he kept running back and forth from the back door to the front door and then yelling out "SNOW SNOW!!!" He was so excited, and then the wind really started to pick up and the snow started sticking. I thought we were having a blizzard the way the snow was coming down so fast. It was crazy!

 Whats that you say?? It's SNOWING?

 Within minutes this was the snow that had dusted the back yard. Amongst the dead bushes and grass, the snow had created a base for the rest of the snow we were supposed to get. At the rate the snow was falling, I thought for sure we would get a few inches to play in! But sadly as fast as the snow had fallen, within the hour the sun came back out and the wind pushed the wintry mix away, melting the snow that had fallen. We tried getting Ryder settled in to take his MUCH needed nap. We tried for about 4 hours and during that 4 hours I was pushed to my limit of parenting and was starting to tread in shallow water. Scot and I were all but ready to kill Ryder when he finally went down about 5 that night, after fighting his nap for that long! I chalk it all up to being overtired and overstimulated from the snow, but I have never had such a fight to try to get Ryder to nap. I guess we are entering the "TERRIBLE TWO's" stage of our parenthood, but he's worth every minute of it! Luckily we finally got Ryder to nap and then he went down for bed that night as usual. Scot finished watching football and I got to catch up on my Millionaire Matchmaker Marathon that I had DVR'd in our bedroom and it was a match made in heaven. (no pun intended ha!) It was a very exhausting Saturday but I was happy to know that we still had Sunday to rest before going back to work. I'm still hoping for snow tomorrow like the forecast predicts, so we will see!

Happy Sunday Ya'll!