Snow and Swimming in January!

SNOW!

One chilly and dreary Sunday, we were surprised by a light snow shower mid-morning! Lyla was oh-so-excited and ready to play outside immediately, as demonstrated by her half-naked visit to the backyard via the doggy door. Once properly clothed and Mommy armed with her camera, we ventured to the front yard to play in the fat, wet flakes dropping from the sky. All Lyla could recall from her previous snow experience was that it’s edible, however, it wasn’t accumulating quite as well as last year, so I had to pause her to explain that one should not eat snow that is acquired by scraping it off the sidewalk, car, muddy grass or mailbox. This was difficult to accept until I demonstrated how to try to catch snow as it fell. We didn’t last long out in the cold, and soon returned to the warmth of the house with some yummy hot chocolate.

SWIMMING AND SPLASHING!

For Christmas, Shannon and fam got a one-night stay at the Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, which included passes to the indoor waterpark for their check-in and check-out dates. We were invited to join in the fun at the waterpark for a little bit, and we took full advantage – even Flint, who went for his first swim ever in the middle of January! Lyla has a blast going down the slide in the kid zone (over and over and over again). She enjoyed wading in the security of only 2 feet of water, but also loved braving the waves in the wave pool. Mommy learned the hard way how very important it is to not take her eyes off the girl for even a fraction of a second. At one point in the wave pool, I exchanged a few words with my sister regarding a near-future concession purchase and when I glanced back at Lyla, well, there was no Lyla. In an almost-panic, I alerted the nearest lifeguard and bolted toward the kiddie slide area to find my girl happily (and Momlessly!) partaking in all the monotonous excitement the little yellow kiddie slide had to offer. Now, why no lifeguards in that area were alarmed at the acute lack-of-adult-with-child is beyond me, however, I managed well enough without their help. Lyla was not a fan of the discipline to follow, in which she took a time-out in a chair with a very clear view of all the fun she was missing and got a very stern talkin’-to regarding staying with Mommy. But apart from the one “incident,” we had a blast! We skedaddled around 8:00pm, starving and exhausted; I was totally shocked Lyla made it home awake.

She has talked about the water park ever since! By this summer, there will be a new waterpark out by Shannon’s house. I have a feeling we’re going to have a very wet summer!