Yesterday in Schwarzee

Yesterday we went to Schwarzee upon an invitation from our friends the Beat and Kathrin (and their daughter Saphira).  I almost didn’t go, in order to stay home with the littlest ones, but I finally decided to.  And I’m glad.  Because it was fun.

This was a building I saw on the way there.

 

Here we are having just arrived, eating our sandwiches for lunch.  Orrin is in the kangaroo pouch on Brett (wearing your hat, Jane! I’ll get a better picture of him in it soon).  (And I apologize for this and the other pictures in which the exposure is way off.  Snow is tricky.)

Then we grabbed our sleds and went onto the frozen lake.  We walked across it, pulling some of the kiddos along.  It was actually fairly warm, and so it was quite slushy.

  

Here we go, off into the wild blue yonder.

Talmage fell asleep in the car on the way there, and he pretty much cried and whined the ENTIRE time.  Brett was less than impressed—meaning, he was about ready to chuck him out the window.   (Maybe Talmage was just offended by our putting him in purple snow pants.)

After we got across the lake we kept walking to this waterfall.  Beat and Katrin told us that they’ve seen it before when the entire thing was frozen, but it’s been so warm that just a part of it was frozen yesterday.  But it was still nifty.

 

We rested for a bit, took in the view, and ate some snacks.

Jethro explored a bit.

And back we go again.

Brett put Talmage in the backpack and things went much smoother that way.

We saw a witch house.

 

 

And the sun came out!  That was really wonderful, since it had been very gray earlier.

Ethne ran out of fuel and suddenly I looked back and she was a ways back, collapsed in the snowdrift.  But we told her that she only had a little bit to go until she could get pulled on the sled again.

 

Back across the lake.

Talmage fell asleep while in the backpack, and stayed asleep in this sled all the way back across the lake.

This guy was skiing across the lake with this parachute-thingee.

These girls had a fantastic time.  And I’m so impressed with their toughness.  Hazel’s boots and socks were completely and utterly soaked when we got back to the van and there wasn’t a peep of whining from her the whole time.  They were just having the time of their lives.  They begged to get to play together afterwards, so Saphira got to come stay with us for the night, and Jethro went to the her house (because we don’t have room in our van for an extra).  Hazel’s giggle-shriek when we gave permission for the sleepover was sooooo adorable.  They had a really fun time too (except in the middle of the night when Saphira started crying and wanted her parents.  Luckily she was easily calmed.)  Cute cute cute.

The end.