Valentine

Roo's valentine shows clearly what has been our families frequent seasonal recreation, ice skating.

In this depiction, Roo is wearing his hockey helmet with the cage, Daddy is helmetless, and I am wearing a white helmet. Daddy is holding my hand because he's teaching me how to skate.

Snow Day II

Today is another snow day; Roo is home from school. By 10:30am he was out enjoying the powder.

Exhausted from shoveling to create a sledding hill down the steps of the deck, I convinced Roo to have a go on cross country skiis in the backyard. He and Ryan went last weekend for the first time. Get this...Roo is wearing my ski boots! He's destined to have big feet like his Dad.

No prepared path made skiing a bit difficult. We both agreed Daddy needs to make a path with his skiis once he's home from work. There is plenty enough snow!

MLK Day

After viewing this video to help explain why Roo was off of school Monday,

we kept busy for most of the day. He painted an alligator that he received from a Florida friend many months ago.

And he constructed penalty boxes for his hockey guys.

In the afternoon we met friends for ice skating. And of course, no day home from school is complete without a movie, and yesterday it was Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, for about the fifth time. Today school is two hours late due to the sleety ice and snow that fell from the sky last night. Needless to say, Roo is happy for some extra time off of school.

Antarctica

This story came home from school yesterday:

Your Trip to Antarctica

1. Why do you want to go to Antarctica?

Roo's response:

"I wont to go becuse I wont to see en pegwin."

Translation:

I want to go because I want to see a penguin.

2. Who will go with you?

"I wont Callum and Lucy and my thamlee."

I want Callum and Lucy and my family.

3. What will you eat when you are there?

"I wid eat snow and fish."

I would eat snow and fish.

4. Where will you stay when you are there?

"I wil stay in a sintist lavtoree."

I will stay in a scientist laboratory.

5. How will you get there?

"I will get there in a eyrplane."

I will get there in an airplane.

6. What will you see? And what will you do?

"I wil see sum pegwin and have a snowbolfit with my Dad."

I will see some penguins and have a snow ball fight with my Dad.

Snow Day

It's a snow day here, and Roo is off of school enjoying a lazy day at home. His friend in Connecticut is also home from school because of the snow, so what better activity than a Skype playdate! Both fans of Star Wars, they had fun catching up on a bonanza of all things Star Wars from Santa.

Ice skating

The outside is white here, calling us to the ice for a little winter fun. For Roo's second time on skates (the first being when he was 2 1/2 at the Minneapolis Depot rink) he did well, making progress in just 1 hour of skating.

I on the other hand think I may be suffering from a concussion due to my head slamming into the ice on one unfortunate attempt to stray from the side board. Thank you to the two kind young men, whoever you are, for helping me off the ice and retrieving my glasses. Next time I'm wearing a helmet!

MIM

Ryan and I enjoyed a visit to the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix. Yes, Roo was with us but I'm hesitant to include him in the "enjoyed" category since this was his position for most of the exhibits featuring sound through the headsets:

Of course we sought out the section on Japan,

and Tajikistan for Uncle Brant,

and I took a photo of the bagpipes for Aunt Bonnie.

Roo was more engaged once we made our way to the experiment lab,

but to be truthful, there was little he hadn't seen or played before. While I thought the focus was heavy on the indigenous, and the hip hop and country sections were pathetically small, all in all, it's a lovely museum for adults and children old enough to have an interest in musical history. While Roo likes moving and grooving and sings often, including his own compositions, watching an African tribal dance to the sounds of the djembe do not yet hold his attentions.