Last weekend, after so many weeks at or below freezing, some of the local ponds and small lakes froze over enough to go out on. This included the moat around the walled city of Ieper (Ypres in french). With the youngest 2 boys at scouts, Kevin, Andrew, Cameron and I went up to Ieper and walked on the moat. There were lots of people out on the ice walking, ice skating, sledding and playing. It was such a festive atmosphere! And the sunset was beautiful. We talked to a man who was with his granddaughter. She was using a chair/sled her grandfather had made for her mom when her mom was little! She sat on the sled and had 2 poles with nails on the end that she used to propel herself along the ice. (You can see some photos at www.flickr.com/clarke-family. The girl on the home-made sled is the first photo.)
I also took the boys and some friends to one of the small lakes on the way to the boys' schools. The guys were in heaven sliding around and using a skateboard deck (just the wood) on the ice. By Monday morning a warm front had come and none of the water was safe to walk on anymore. It's good we went when we did.
We were jealous of all the snow in the NW (though we know it was a little much for some and hindered travel plans). But it looked like a lot of fun and the week off of school in LO had them lamenting that we weren't there this Christmas. We were thinking of all our family and friend in the NW!
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