The winter that never ends

Just like that "song that never ends" that elementary kids sing, this truly is the winter that never ends. February was freezing, snowy and full of ice storms.  It was much more severe than anyone expected. We are getting tired of snow days.  Church was cancelled two weeks in a row and just today we got 8 inches.  Though fun to play in, it is not fun to have our downstairs neighbor home all day (a whole story on its own).

So we are going to focus on the happy and good things in our lives.  Such as Benson enjoying his train track:

Or playing outside on his scooter (this was in January, before the ice/snow/freezing storms)

Cute, right?

Snow.  This was on Riley's birthday. We went bowling and Justin and Erin, Bennett and Elsie joined us outside for a sledding adventure. We don't own a sled so we used our boogie board. It worked perfectly.

He's 26! And Benson loved all the candles.

Last weekend, a friend and I made the journey to Asheville, North Carolina to visit the Biltmore mansion, featuring the downton abbey clothing exhibit, and see Greg and Becca.  It was a REALLY fun trip, except the drive home.  Ten hours in an ice storm.  But it was worth it.  We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the house, which is a shame because there were so many neat things I want to remember.

this is like a quarter of the house.

inside the conservatory.

a waterfall in their garden.

A bowling alley and indoor swimming pool in the basement. Remember that this house was built before most homes had indoor plumbing. An impressive feat.

The ice on the trees is my favorite. It is so cool, and humbling.  Nature can be pretty powerful.

This is from today. We went sledding and then Benson helped riley shovel the walks and around some cars.  The snow plow went by every two minutes and Benson was mesmerized.  He's such a helper. 

Well that's all we've been up to lately.  Snow and finding ways to survive.  Hopefully it lets up soon and we can move on with spring.  Afterall, we could really use cherry blossoms before July.