Baby, It's Cold Outside

Yes, it is January in Minnesota, but we've had an unusually cold start to the year. A very unpleasant cold start. The meteorologists refer to it as a "polar vortex" affecting our weather; I don't care what it's called, I just know we've been stuck inside for about 4 days. After the kids' two week Christmas vacation, school was called off yesterday and today due to the extreme cold. The first day was actually a little fun; we stayed in our pajamas all day, cuddled on the couch with the fireplace going, and watched a movie.

 We even got creative and made some ice luminaries:

 

The worst of the cold came overnight Sunday night into Monday morning, January 5/6. See that temp above? Yes, it was -26 degrees F here in Apple Valley. With the windchill factor added in it felt something like -45 or -50. I can't even begin to describe how painfully cold it was. Today reached about 3 degrees ABOVE zero, and it actually felt good. Luckily it's supposed to reach above freezing this weekend; we may have to don some shorts and go for a walk. ;)

As Minnesotans, our kids have an obligation to learn to ice skate. Dave and I have neglected our duties thus far in providing them instruction, so we figured it was time to enroll them in lessons. Their first lesson began last night- it was much warmer inside the indoor rink than outside. The kids were all pretty excited to get started, but quickly found out it was much harder than it looked.
Aidan and Maddie spent a lot of time on the ice, but they were so determined to keep going, they learned to get back up and try again, which was great to see. Aidan fell so many times that the instructor finally brought out a helmet to help protect his head, but he never gave up! Ellie fell a few times but seemed to have a little easier time keeping - or at least regaining - her balance.

Poor Zoe though, got really sad, really quickly. She just couldn't stay upright and only lasted about 5 minutes on the ice and made up her mind that she wasn't going to go back out there.

Thankfully, today Zoe said she'll give it another try next week.

Their lesson lasted 30 minutes, and then they had another 30 minutes to practice what they learned. Aidan was the first to come off the ice - enticed by candy and apple cider that was put out for the skaters, but we finally had to almost drag Maddie and Ellie off the ice when their practice time was up. 

Only seven more weeks to go! Next week we'll be smarter and bring helmets for their noggins, and snow pants for extra padding.