Racing Stripes and Ice Skating

It is 10:30 at night. The snow has been coming down for quite a few hours now. Right at this moment Jason is at our other house trying to unclog a backed-up drain, which is causing nasty water to come up in the shower. And he's trying to fix it before our tenant's parents get into town tonight. And he is out in the cold snowy darkness working on it. And he is also in the middle of a shift right now. What a man. Why do these things happen at such awful times? Fortunately, he's pretty good at dealing with these kinds of issues, but I know he doesn't enjoy it. At least he got to relax earlier today and get pampered by his wife and daughter.

They are calypso coral with black racing stripes on the big toes. What a sport he is for letting Addie and I beautify him and kill an hour on a cold and windy day. Also, I learned that masking tape works well for ensuring straight paint lines.

Last Saturday we took Addie ice skating. Since I can't actually ice skate in my current pregnant condition, I instead took hundreds of photos and videos.

There is a little outdoor rink by the library we go to, and every time we see it Addie wants to stop and watch the kids. Then she asks me if she can do it, too. I always have to tell her no and explain why not. So she was pretty excited Saturday morning when we told her where we were going, and that it was an even bigger rink than the one by the library. They even had skates in her size, which really is pretty awesome.

For some reason, Addie felt that having stiff-straight legs was the way to ice skate. J kept telling her to bend her knees, but I guess she felt she knew better than him.

Jason thought they would go around the rink (which really was pretty big) twice and be done. Oh no, this kid LOVED it and wanted to go around again, and again, and again...

...stop for a snack and then...

...go again and again ten more times. Jason's back was killing him to have to skate bent over, but he kept taking her around the rink. They must have skated for an hour or more. Jason got pretty tricky and did some spins and lifts with her, which was pretty spectacular.

We all had grips of fun. So much so, in fact, that we couldn't just quit having fun cold-turkey. So...

...we went to the next best place for a good time: the cemetery. There are approximately 30 head of deer in this particular place of long-term rest, and they are not too bothered by human presence. We drove through and admired them. Respectfully, of course. I did witness one doe eating from the hand of a guy who was sitting in his truck having lunch. I think he shared some fries. I hope he offered her some ketchup, too.

We followed this visit up with a quick trip to the Wonder Bread Thrift Store (oh yes, it exists). I had never been there before, but it fit my idea of what a bread thrift store should look like, right down to the cart with bread for ducks in it. We bought some buns. For humans.

Then we went to Tucci's for dinner since that's where Elder Bednar and his wife choose to dine. Alright, we didn't know he was going to be there, but we did have the both behind his. Pappa Tucci himself was our waiter and the food was delicious. They cover the tables with butcher paper there and provide crayons for waiting patrons. Addie set a goal to color the entire table top red, and made it to nearly half of the table before we left.

It was a very much a good day.