Sledding

Yesterday afternoon was a whirlwind.

Edith had preschool until 3:30, then after party til 4 -after party is basically her and a few friends sharing snacks and running around after class is done.

Get home. Throw girls into snow pants, boots, hats, gloves, jackets and back out the door to go sledding.  It is something we haven’t done before, but wanted to.

We have snow, but the temperature has been so low (low teens to single digits or less) that we haven’t done it yet this year. 

Yesterday though it hovered near 30 degrees.  So I wanted them to have that experience, especially since today it is supposed to get near 40, melting much of what is on the ground.

But Marceline has Robotics club at 6. 

Thankfully everything is within ten minutes of our home. 

Preschool to home – 6 minutes or less. 

Sledding Hill – 12 minutes due to construction.

McDonald’s – 6 minutes from the sledding hill.

McDonald’s to home – 10 minutes.

Home to robotics club – 7 minutes.

Somehow we got in 30+ minutes of sledding. The girls went from timid to over the top joy in one ride down the hill.  We could’ve stayed for hours.  No one else was there, just us.  It was a perfect sledding experience.

The McDonald’s we stopped at got us through their drive thru line in under 5 minutes.  Crazy fast for after 5 pm. Bonus is that they got some cool little toys in their Happy Meals, they actually remind me of the toys we used to get from Happy Meals when I was a child. 

Anyways, made it back home with 15 minutes to scarf down our food before rushing back out the door torobotics club.

Despite my thoughts on how the robotics club is run and the lack of any sort of structure or instruction to the club, Marceline has had a blast playing around with the motors, remotes, and knock off technic pieces.

Without any real guidance she built a small windmill last week, and a remote control car last night. And she gets to keep all that even after the club is done so she can keep building on her own.

It falls over a lot due to being top heavy.  But it works and she was zipping it all over the room. She was so proud (I was too).

Felt like cramming a lot into 2 hours in the afternoon. But the girls had a blast.

And I’ll readily admit,I had a blast too. The girls happily screaming running up and sledding down the hill is one of those moments that makes me just feel lucky to be a dad.

2025

One of my favorite things about 2025 is that I have a “song” with Edith, that when it’s on Edith wants to dance and move and jump, specifically with me.

Which I love

The song is “Oh Lord” by Foxy Shazam, which I’ll readily admit I discovered by watching Peacemaker season 2. 

And Edith knows most of the words.  Except one. Because instead of the little one “touch fucking year” we shout/sing “rough rough year.”

It’s special, and the lyrics of the song are about, or rather I interpret the song as about, a father trying to raise his kid with both the reality of the world, but also with optimism and support. Like a parent should.

Olaf

Edith found an Olaf animated Christmas Decoration at Home Depot Friday.

We spent quite a bit of time pressing the button and watching him move and soak.

When we went to leave Edith grabbed the sides of his face and told him she loved him and would see her next year.

It was cute and enduring.

My own Coaster

Sam and I bought some cork coasters for our house a few years ago from IKEA.  The girls have broken more than a few of them as they’ve become playthings over time.

But in the late winter earlier this year Edith grabbed one to draw on.  It’s become my favorite for obvious reasons and I hide it on my desk so it can both be found and used by me, but also so that it doesn’t mix in with their toys like so many other coasters have.

I put the title on and dated it but the rest is her fantastic drawings from back when she was just 3 years old.

I think I’ll try to hold onto it for a long while.