Goodbye Winter

Goodbye Winter!  A few weeks ago, we enjoyed some of our favorite winter activities.  We went skiing again at Christie Mountain with our cousins.  After 6 hours of skiing, we mastered a few new tricks including riding up on a t-bar instead of a chairlift or tow rope and we decided that catching air in the snowboard park was the coolest thing ever.  The snowboarders were getting a huge kick of the "little dudes" on the jumps.

We look forward to many years ahead on the slopes; our parents are just thrilled for our love for downhill skiing.

My school doesn't have spring break, they have a winter break (dumb, I know).  Thankfully, Mommy had a short week of teaching and Daddy took off a day as well, so we did something fun everyday... Paddington movie, library, children's museum, lunch date, rollerskating rink, and lots of playtime.

We had a lot of fun at the Children's Museum. Since we are in school most days, it is a place we don't get to as often.  They remodeled a year or so ago, and now have an interactive farming exhibit.  Cooper and I are amazed with the realistic milking station.  Mom was a little embarrassed by our obsession with Bessie.

 I thought this bench was the coolest ever.  Daddy should build one of these for our house.  It is made from old waterskis, downhill skis, and cross country skis.  Awesome!

 Cooper the Builder

 The body slide is silly- it farts and burps as you go through it.  As I went down the slide, I told Mom, "This is embarrassing"... she is not sure if that was because she took a lot of pictures that day or because I landed in the toilet afterwards.

 Waterworks.  We were soaking wet thanks to our exploration.

Cooper is one of those kids who makes lots of noises and silly expressions when he is deep in play.  Mommy loves his amazement and wonder.

Our other fun stop at the museum was the shadow room.  You basically make silly poses while a bulb flashes brightly and freezes your motions.  Mommy gave Cooper a kiss (ah, sweet) above, but mostly we danced and jumped around.

Hockey Update- We were pleasantly surprised and excited to be invited to Menomonie's Jamboree.  We were only planning on the one tournament in Chippewa, but we ended up being able to have another full Saturday of games.  We were very excited to put our fundamentals/practice skills into game situations.

Cooper and I were on the same team because they mixed the Mighty Mites to create a varied group of skaters.  Mommy was thrilled to be able to watch one game at a time :)  

 This picture above makes her smile.  It will probably be High School when we both play together again on the same team.  We were sitting together on the pads before the games began.

 Games- we played 3 games, all had three, 10 minute periods, so we had lots of hockey!  We played Menomonie teams and Altoona teams.  Cooper was aggressive, always going hard to the puck.  He scored 4 goals in the tournament that day.

I am number 12 above and Cooper is number 5 (falling on the ice above and handling the puck below).  I ended up with 8 goals that day in the tournament.  I am a good position player- I am in the right place at the right time to knock them in.  Every time I scored, I looked to the stands for Mommy and raised my stick in the air.  She would jump up, cheer and clap loudly for me.  She hopes I do this forever.

By the end of the tournament, we were doing pillow talk, aka... lying down on the ice, just visiting with others.  Here is Cooper (above) visiting with an Altoona player.  Don't you wish you could hear their conversation?

We received another awesome hockey medal.  I think it is time to get a medal display for our rooms :)

After our tourney, we went to Kid's Hair (hence my green mohawk) for haircuts and we did some serious shopping for upcoming trips.  Mom/Dad had a fun baby shower at a Hibachi restaurant with family that night for baby girl Lindell who will arrive in 2 weeks or less!  All 5 littles were babysat by Lexi- how crazy that our cousin can babysit us now?  What a fun weekend we had!

In daycare news, Cooper's class had one last hurrah in the snow.  It is now all melted thanks to 50 degree temps. We found a few last patches of snow in our yard for the Kitty Cat, but have now put it away (knock on wood).  Hello Spring and John Deere Gator.

Cooper's class had Dr. Seuss day.  They dressed up as their favorite character (minus the blue hair), he wanted to be Thing 2.  I wore a Thing 1 shirt to school that same day and Mom forgot to take our picture together.  Cooper also made a Cat in the Hat mask, which he said he didn't want to wear since he was Thing 2.  Mom questioned his behavior and he said they had the choice.  So, he is the random kid without the mask below (well besides the kid with face paint).  Ugh Cooper, he is one independent kid.

 Mom geeked out on Pinterest ideas for 4K snacks that week in honor of Dr. Seuss.

Mom news... and finally, we share some unfortunate news.  Here is Mommy's soccer team a few weeks ago celebrating yet another championship win.  She has played soccer since she was 3 years old (you can do the math).  She has loved the physical demands, the technique and competition, and the awesome teammates she has played with.  Besides a concussion in high school and a broken hand in college, she has had a healthy soccer career.  On Monday night, she briefly was playing defense (which she majorly dislikes) and collided with her goalie as they both were defending the goal.  She heard a huge "Pop, crackling... Pop" and down she went.  Her teammates carried her off the field.  She knew something was really wrong and she feared the worst.  After a doctor's appointment and MRI, it confirmed what she feared- a torn ACL in her right knee, a transient dislocation (the bones in her knee slide on top of each other, causing the rupture) and she has lots of swelling and fluid.  This means surgery and rehab... adding up to about 9 months of recovery time. So, it is with sadness she says goodbye to the sport she loves and prepares for a major physical and mental battle.  We will post more as the weeks unfold ahead.  At this point, we will enjoy our vacations coming up and will cherish some family/friends time.  Wish her luck!