Cabin Fever

Tis the custom in my home
that after holidays
snot shall roam.

Every damn year we are blessed with spending the first half of January nursing runny noses and nasty coughs. That combined with the usual frigid temps this time of year, has once again brought me to the brink of insanity. We NEED to get out of the house... and from what I can tell there are a lot of other parents in the same boat sinking into the frigid waters of stir crazy. But, there are a few life rafts out there.

• Get your Minnesota on! Forget Pond Hockey, THIS is what Minnesota winters are all about. The Sixth Annual Art Shanty Project on Medicine Lake in Plymouth brings creativity to the already rousing sport of ice-fishing. It's like Burning Man with snowsuits instead of nudity and PBR instead of LSD. This festival on ice runs from Jan. 17th to Feb. 14.
• Rock The Cradle. Sunday, Jan. 25th. Fun. Fun. Fun... despite it being as packed as the State Fair on a nice day... just fewer pro-wrestling t-shirts.
  
• If the kids are still sick and your actually giving a damn about the well-being of other children prevents you from venturing out into the public domain, might I suggest watching the new MAKE show on PBS with the kids then get out the tools and tinker the sniffles away.
  

I Say Goodby, Snow Says Hello

March 31 and 7.5 inches of snow!?! I know that's not totally unheard of here in Minnesota, but this is killing us. We need to get outside. I need to get outside. Q has started singing along to Target commercials. At least its a Beatles song.

R.I.P. Snowfort 11/07 - 03/08

I am afraid snowfort's days are over. So are Q's boots that he managed to fill with dirty water while splashing in the puddles all afternoon.



Snowfort will be missed.... Screw Snowfort! Spring is coming!

sniff HAPPY cough NEW cough YEAR ahhchoo

I knew I cursed us all to a sickly hell when I bragged to a friend that Q hasn't been sick for almost a year. Well now we're all coughing and hacking our way into the new year. Of course this little bug didn't slow Q down opening presents for his birthday but poor baby Ozzi is so stuffed up that he has to choose between feeding or breathing.

We'll probably miss out on ECFE this week too. Bummer. Social interaction has become pretty hard to come by now with the new baby, cold weather, and now our runny noses.

SNOWFORT 07

With the 6 or so inches of snow we got over the weekend we were able to get started on this years snow fort. Granted with only 6 in. of fluffy powder, I had to resort to shoveling the sidewalk, driveway, and neighbors sidewalk into a wheelbarrow to get enough of a hill going in the backyard. I was able to incorporate Q's little tyke toddler slide on top of the sandbox into the design creating a snow slide going into the tunnels. I also managed to start the first level of large snow blocks to make up the first stage of the castle.

Now with the snow we got last night I should be able to add a little more. It's a season long project that I will update with pictures from time to time.