in which we venture out

Last weekend we met up with a few families from church to walk a snowy trail in a large conservation park in Quebec. Shane pulled the girls on a sled, with Laura getting off on occasion to join the other kids as they adventured off the beaten trail, down snowy slopes and back up again. Kate kept her spot on the sled secure by basically never getting off, except for one short stretch of the legs. It was a nice time to be together and help manage all of the little ones and cheer on the exploits of the older ones. And when we got back home and had eaten lunch, Shane went down to the ice with Seth and Laura to get some river skating done. This was Laura' first time on skates so Shane gave her lots of support.

By the next day, the sun was back out and Laura was making her way up and down the shoveled rink.

And then Shane reenacted his jump from the previous day getting some serious air under him as he landed firmly on the other side.

And here he is being what Seth calls the "zamboni man".

 And here's proof that even I can still skate after all these years and staying inside with the babies. Well, actually this is only proof that I can stand upright without falling over. You'll have to take my word for it that I actually skated around without falling down. Laura wanted to know why my skates looked different than everyone else's. I told her they were figuring skating skates. She spent the rest of the time calling them "figure-eight" skates. It was good to get out there and take some strides, even though I'm very rusty and can't even do a cross-over, somehow they still gave me Canadian citizenship last year; good thing the test didn't include skating!