Back to the grind.....

2013 has begun.  We celebrated in what seems to be our family tradition.  We have a variety of snacks for dinner, watch movies together as a family, and then I go to bed while the the older kids bring in the new year with Sean.  This year I was still wake at midnight and went downstairs to wish Aiden, Caileigh and Sean a happy new year.  Mikayla had fallen asleep around 11.

{The view from our morning run}

New years day, my friend and I met for an early morning run in the cold, crisp, -17 snow.  It seemed we were the only ones around and it was so invigorating.

It was so cold that my eyes kept watering and then the water formed icicles on my eyelashes.  A few clumps were so large that I had trouble seeing.
{Can you see all the icicles on my chin and eyelashes?}

My goal over the winter, has been to maintain my fitness so that when spring arrives, I'm not having to start from scratch.  The days are so short that I can only manage to run twice a week.  The conditions have also been challenging so I don't focus on anything but enjoying my time outdoors.  

I recently obtained a pair of cleats and it has made running a lot easier than it was before.

Today we went sledding as a family.  We had such a great time!  Flying quickly down the hills and then trudging back up to the top.  We stayed over nearly two hours and it was a great way to enjoy the outdoors.

Sean's been working hard putting in an ice rink.  We have a few more nights of him filling the area with water, but we're hoping to have it up and running soon.  We managed to pick up the older three ice skates and are hoping that they can all learn how to skate this year.

I'll post more pictures when it is finished.

Tomorrow we are going to start transitioning back into our regular routine.  We have more family coming to visit and I would like to be back into the swing of things before they arrive.

As they say, we're back to the grind...........