Monkey see....monkey do!
We have proof now when we refer to Paige and Megan as monkeys.
The high light of last Friday's visit to the auto show was climbing the rock wall. There were about 6 or 7 sections to the wall and they were between 3 and 4 ft. tall panels. Megan climbed about 25 feet or so. The first time Megan climbed she had her Mary Jane strap shoes on. I told her "you should try it with just your socks on". So she kicked her shoes off and had another go at it. She went a lot farther and a lot faster. I bet Megan went about 24 feet up Paige went about 20 feet up. They had a great time and it was a huge confidence builder .

After the girls got home from school last Friday we headed to the Columbus International Car Show of 2008. The kids were not thrilled about going to the car show but I think they had a fun time, that or they were doing a good job of faking it.
While we waited for Mike to park the car we checked out the vintage cars in the lobby area. The girls got a kick out of this 1954 V.W. Happy Bus. We had one of those when I was a kid, don't think it was quite that old and it did not have the pop up camper on top. It did have a smooth raised area by the back window. I remember sitting back their with my cousins on the way to the Bay area and sliding around. This was "back in the day" before seat belts and kids booster seats of course.
The kids were standing around checking out this robot at the Ford display when it let out a rooster crow and then started talking to the audience. It was pretty funny.
Yep they are just like their dad...and mom. I had a little Honda XR-75 dirt bike when I was seven, again that was "back in the day". Mike keeps asking me if I want to get my motorcycle license and I tell him I got that all out of my system when I was a kid. It might be fun to have a scooter but I feel like the other drivers don't see me half the time and I drive a big blue minivan.




Paige and Megan had fun hopping in the little 2 seater electric car. It was just their size.
It's Mike in a Mini Cooper!
Megan giving me "the eyes" while sitting in a Honda.
Paige and Megan had fun turning the wheels at the V.W. display. Mike got in on the act too, but somehow I didn't get a picture of that.
Paige liked this colorful dipstick display at the Chevy area.
This was the highlight of the night. I don't know if it was because it was getting close to 10 and they were very tired or what but they loved the Dodge Caravan with the turn around seats and table. Paige said "if we had this we could do our homework in the car and play games". I wonder if Dodge knew they were trying to sale to the 10 year old market when they thought that one up?
Paige and Megan doing their best model poses in front of the "Super Bee".

Here are some more sledding pictures that were taken this past Sunday before lunch time. Paige and Megan had fun on their little sled hill. Not that it's really a hill, or at least it's not a hill like we used to sled down in Tahoe or Pollack Pines. Now those were hills, with pine trees and all sorts of obstacles to avoid. But these little mounds of snow were fun for the day. The sun is shining and it is in the forties today so maybe it will start feeling like Spring is getting closer.

Yesterday evening after the Nascar race Mike went out as promised and helped the girls fix up their sledding hill/ramp. It is not as late as it looks, I think I had the camera on the snow setting and it made the background seem darker as the sun was not bright. I had them inside by 7 for their baths. We had ate a big late lunch so we had a light snack for dinner. I had the kids in bed by 9 daylight savings time (which would have been 8 the day before). It didn't matter anyways since they ended up having a snow day today. I guess not all of the roads are cleared in all the subdivisions yet. So they get another day with their sled hill. It should all be gone by the weekend.

Megan attempting to do a headstand in the snow. Oh to be 6 again and not think anything of just smashing your head in the snow.



Can you tell she's yelling "Hi Mom"? I also took some video of them on their sleds.

Yesterday while Mike and I were clearing Linda's driveway the girls decided to take Rebel for a walk. I told them to just walk down the street since none of the sidewalks were shoveled. I don't normally let my kids walk in the street but under the circumstances I figured "oh well, there was not much traffic in the cul de sacs. I did advise them to step into a cleared driveway if a car or plow came by.
Rebel slept very well last night, he was ready for bed by 9, usually he is still playing and running around at that time.

Got Snow?We do!
For once the weather guys got it right. They said it would start snowing around 9 a.m. Friday morning...and it did. They said it would stop for a while in the evening and start back up around 2 a.m. and it did. They said the winds would gust up to 35 mph and boy did they, notice the drifts. They said it would snow until after 4 p.m. Saturday. Yep it did that too. I guess it just goes to show sometimes they get it right, good job weather guys now bring on Spring!
I snapped these photos Saturday morning around 6:30 a.m. when I came down stairs to let the dogs out. It looked so peaceful, like a post card. I was up early because I had to be to work by 8. I left the house in our all wheel drive Explorer around 7 and got there by 7:45. Not bad since it usually takes me about 20 to 25 minutes depending on how many traffic lights I have to stop for. The roads were not too bad getting out of our development, some of our neighbor guys have plows on the front of their work trucks so they plowed their way out of the development. The road that leads form our development to the main road was covered in snow, but I just took it slow and steady. Saw a truck and a car going the opposite direction. The plows had been in our county but at the county line they stopped. The worst part was turning off of the main road onto the little road that Anderson's sits off of , it was about 2 feet deep, but I just moseyed on in to work.
I am glad I went in, my supervisor was pleased to have me. I was the opening cashier, the only one until about 8:30 when Sharon came in. She lives less then a mile from Anderson's so we were the only cashiers until 3:30 when we got two more to replace us because we were off at 4.
Surprisingly as the day went on we had quite a few customers. We had folks that drove, folks that walked. We sold sleds, scoop shovels (the kind you use for grain or manure), we were sold out of snow shovels. We sold a lot of beer, wine and toilet paper. We also sold sub sandwiches, lunch meat and bread. I even saw one guy buy a bag of ice, that was sort of weird. At noon a guy from Lowe's came in and said don't send anyone to Lowe's they had closed their store early. We don't close our store unless it's a major holiday (Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas) or if there is a nuclear attack. If we glow we go...if it's just snow we stay! Everyone was in good spirits and didn't seem to mind that we only had two cashiers and very few folks in the departments.

Around 2 p.m. I went out and moved my car so it would not get blocked in by snow drifts out in the employee lot. I got off work at 4 and grabbed some groceries. I left the parking lot around 4:30 and got home by 5. The road from the store to the main road was even worse by then. There was a car stuck going the other direction, I don't know why you would drive your Lexus in snow that has drifted as high as your hood, but folks do. The main road had been plowed so it was smooth sailing. There were semi trucks stuck at the top of each of the freeway exits, and the police were trying to help them get unstuck, that was kind of comical. There was a police Suburban trying to tow a semi that had two large tractors on it's bed. Hmmmm I don't think they were having much luck with that.


After I got home and sat down for about 25 minutes I went up and changed my clothes. I grabbed the camera and went out to snap pictures. I ended up helping Mike clear our neighbors driveway for her. Miss. Linda is over at her daughters house but we wanted to get it cleaned up for her. I shoveled and Mike used the little Sunbeam electric snow blower that was given to us with 3 wheels (it now has 4, thanks to Mike). The gas snow blower had a break down Fri. night. The belt broke, Mike attempted to go find a replacement part but no luck. We will have to order it on line. No one really stocks replacement parts for snowblowers around here. I guess they figure people will buy a new one for five hundred bucks instead of fixing one for fifteen. That's how much the part and shipping will cost.


Out back we have drifts as high as the patio walls. Some how the way the wind was blowing there was a clear path for the dogs to walk off the patio so they could exit to the right, that did not stop Rebel from attempting to go off the back steps. After he got about chest deep he decided to do a u-turn and go the other direction. Guess he is not as dense as we think.