Winter Carnival Weekend

New London's Winter Carnival was last weekend.  This event is only a few years old, and the Rec Department is doing a great job with it.  The best part is the Dinner with Jack Frost on Friday night, when there are big bonfires on the snow-covered green, and local restaurants serve cups of warming stews and hot desserts... all while the kids find friends and run wild, climbing snowbanks and slipping on the ice skating rink.  If the weather is nice, it's magical, and this year was perfect.  A tiny bit chilly, but clear starry skies and not much wind.  Another big hit (this is hearsay, since I didn't attend) was the dodgeball tournament.  The team Andy was on won the "championship" though he claims they felt like the jerks in a bad 80s movie since their team was the only one with no women on it, and none of their kids were there to cheer them on.  Oops.  At the time, Aiden and Haley both had friends over for playdates... and then we went to the fireworks- the third best thing about Winter Carnival- I don't know if it's the novelty of watching fireworks over snow, but I thought it was an awesome pyrotechnics show for a small town.

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The Frying Pan Toss (mostly Aiden and Andy)

Ski Joring

A couple of things they tried at the Winter Carnival this year were flops- I think they're still testing some things out.  The parade down Main Street, which anyone was invited to march or drive or prepare a 'float' for, consisted of one police car, Aiden's karate class marching (minus Aiden, since he had Sammy over), the town's 2 fire trucks, and a final police car.  It passed us from start to finish in the time it would take 2 subarus and a chevy to drive by behind a school bus.  No one cared, though... I'm just not sure anyone wants to watch or be in a parade in the dead of winter!  Hard to dress up when you've got to wear that snowsuit with 7 layers underneath.  The Ski Joring competition was definitely of more interest.  Ski Joring basically involves being pulled on skis behind something, which in this case was a horse, but could also be dogs, a snowmobile, or even a reindeer, apparently.  It originated in Norway, and it's a bit nuts.  Contestants get pulled around a course and they have to control their movement enough to grab little colored rings off of hooks along the way.  Every missed ring is a 5 second deduction, and the fastest around the course (including deductions) wins.  In talking with the spectators, people generally have one of two reactions as to whether they'd try it:  "I'd loooove to!" or "Oh, HELL no.."   I'm in the second camp.

Amazing Sunset on Saturday

On Sunday we ventured south to Kezar Lake to watch a bit of Musterfield Farm's annual ice harvest.  This is definitely a cool piece of New England history in action, watching how people used to (and still do, in this case) saw big blocks of ice out of the lake and haul them up out of the water.  Their destination is Musterfield Farm's ice house, which is packed with sawdust once the ice blocks are in, and the ice lasts all summer and is used for different events at the farm.  Pretty cool.  It was FREEZING on Kezar Lake that morning, though... just about 10 degrees above zero to begin with, and with a brisk northwest wind blowing across the lake.  Haley wanted to try out her new XC skis, but it was really too much for her under those conditions.  Andy stayed with her near the ice harvest while Aiden and I headed out for a quick ski.  I wanted to turn back after about 10 yards, but Aiden was determined to get to the island in the middle of Kezar (a favorite winter destination of ours, whether on skis, skates, snowshoes, or just boots) so we toughed it out with our hoods drawn tight.  Our reward on the way back was being blown by the wind so hard we barely had to ski.

This is our car in winter

Crusty Old Ice Harvesters?

Doesn't this look super cold?  It was!

After lunch at the new Salt Hill Pub at the base of Mt. Sunapee, we went downhill skiing with the Gloucester Deans in the afternoon.  After our arctic XC experience on Kezar, I was worried it would be unbearable at Sunapee, but it wasn't.  Actually it wasn't that windy, and the sun actually felt a bit warming.  We had some good runs and then called it a (tiring) day, heading home for soup and pizza with Phoebe, Fisher and Finna. That is a weekend the way I like them best- full of outdoor activity, friends, and family.  

Grandma Sally's new house!

Little Fishy

Ice fishing is one of those winter activities we love to hate.  It seems like a fun idea.  Should be pretty simple.  Go out on a frozen lake, drill a hole, put down bait, wait around, pull up fish.  Except it never really works that way.

Last winter we had a busted auger, leading to lots of swearing and difficulty just getting through the ice.  And once we got holes drilled, people were hauling in giant bass and yard long pickerel within 20 feet on either side of us, but our holes.... Nothing.  This year we, seem to have made some baby steps in the right direction, but I still think we're solidly on the frustration side of the fish scale.  Last weekend we went to Gile Pond and Messer Pond- drilling the holes went fine, and we were able to catch some very small perch with our jigging rods, using wax worms for bait.  Still can't get the tip ups to do much of anything, or the minnows.  It was about 4 degrees out too, so that could have contributed to our limited patience!  But at least we caught something.  Baby steps.

We also went skiing and boarding at Ragged.  The conditions were icy, but both Haley and Aiden had a good time.  If we could get some natural snow, I know they'd be in heaven.

Into the Polar Vortex

Polar Vortex is such a buzz phrase around here lately... I don't claim know a thing about it, but we definitely have settled into the usual deep freeze of mid-winter.  Doesn't look like there will be a January thaw anytime soon either.  The other morning it was -12 degrees out, and school was delayed, and then cancelled because some part of the middle school froze solid.  Still, we get outside when we can, and we try to find ways to keep our weekends active and fun.  Aiden has started "winter activities" at school - he chose snowboarding, so every Friday afternoon he heads to Mt. Sunapee for a lesson.  If I can take the time off, I try to ski with him after that until closing.  We try to get to Ragged or Sunapee most weekends, too.

Recently we went ice skating at Messer Pond, about a half mile from our house, on a day where, I swear, I have never seen pond ice so smooth and beautiful.  Not a bump or a divit in sight- like skating on white glass, and we had the whole place to ourselves.  We were there only an hour or so (it was chilly) but I'll remember that ice forever.  You don't get too many days like that, and to prove my point, it was ruined the next day when we got an inch of slushy yuck on top of all the beautiful glassy ponds.  But there's always the town skating rink, and we've got plans for ice fishing, XC skiing, and some more paint bar fun too.  Embracing the polar vortex...

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Christmas Break - Part Two

The second week of school break was just as exciting for everyone as the first, since we had visits from the Hamm and Sieger families for most of the week.  At the same time, we were hosting play dates with a couple of Haley's school friends during the workdays, and Aiden was going back and forth  to winter break camp too.  The house seemed to be crawling with kids at most times, but our new place is so open and spacious it never felt tight at all.  The kids were often down in the basement playroom, watching movies or playing all sorts of imaginative games, and the adults were able to spend some quality time preparing meals and just talking in the great room.  It was a real treat to get that much time with my cousins, who I generally only get to see for a few hours during frenetic holiday visits to Long Island.

 The Hamms and Siegers went skiing at Sunapee all day on Tuesday, and then the kids and I joined them on New Years Eve to go snow tubing at Ragged.  The tubing was fast and fun (for everyone but Haley, who was not impressed) and we definitely got our money's worth in numbers of runs.  Then it was back home to host a small New Years gathering which did NOT last anywhere close to midnight.  Ha.  We are truly getting old, I guess.  Everyone was in bed by 10:30, except for James and Aiden, who (just barely) stayed awake to welcome 2015 into being.  My New Years resolution? To try not to plan every moment, every vacation day, every weekend down to the second this year, and leave some wiggle room for spontaneity... this wont at all be easy for me; I'm a planner.  But I have a suspicion that most of those perfect moments, when everyone you love is absorbed and engaged in life in the best ways possible, when you think, "yes, life is so good- right NOW"....come from the unexpected stops, the happy coincidences, those moments that you didn't already have an expectation for in your head.  So I hope to enjoy more of those moments in 2015.