Sledding and Science

The big girls don't have school on Wednesdays, so it is our "wide open" day, when we're not worried about schedules. Sometimes we stay in our pjs till noon. Sometimes we leave the house early and stay out until late in the afternoon.

On this beautiful snowy Wednesday in November, we spend the morning sledding and the afternoon experimenting.

We woke up to the most snow we'd had yet, so the kids immediately requested to get bundled up and go out in it. The first thing Emily did when she got out there was to plop down and start a snow angel.

Elizabeth was super excited to be out in the snow, but she was not a big fan of being cold, so she didn't last long.

Addie wanted to get right on the sled.

After a few minutes of cold fingers, Elizabeth had had enough and went running for the door. Her reaction reminded me quite a lot of the last picture in this post.

The big girls REALLY wanted to bring the sled to the pool park hill, and on a day like this one, I just couldn't say no.

Emily was the first one to head up the hill. She was heading up practically at a run, she was so excited to zoom down.

Addie wasn't far behind.

The girls took several runs down before we decided it was time to head home for some hot cocoa.




After hot cocoa and lunch, we decided to have some science time. We started out using droppers to add vinegar to our colored baking soda, and we ooooed and ahhhhed over the fizzy results.

Then we decided to throw caution to the wind and we put aside our droppers and just began to POUR the vinegar. These results were giggle and squeal-inducing and we went through the entire bottle of vinegar in no time.

What a fun day with these three snow bunny scientists!

Backyard Sledding

February has brought record snows to Colorado, and we've spent some time in the backyard with tons of snow and a new sled. At the beginning of February, we took the girls out and they were a little unsure of riding in the sled. You can tell from their facial expressions, they're getting used to something new. We laid them down because if they were sitting while the sled was moving, they fell right over. There were a couple of faceplants in the snow that day, but both girls recovered well and after warming up to the snow, they had a lot of fun playing in it.

A little over two weeks later, we took them out for another sled ride, and their balance had improved enough (they are changing so fast these days!!) that they both sat up for the ride. (The fact that there wasn't any fresh snow and the track was a little less bumpy probably helped, too!)