Occom Pond Party

One of the first things we did last year in our new home here in Vermont was go to the Occom Pond party. We had so much fun we made sure to put it on our calender for this year too. But it is amazing how different it was this year! The pond was frozen (luckily...it took a long time for it to freeze and it has had to close several times because of the warm temperatures we've had) but there was no snow! Very different from the 2 1/2 feet we had last year! So no sledding and no sleigh rides. (and also...no camera! I brought my camera but forgot the memory card! oops! So we're stuck with only phone pictures!)

Here is Clara trying to stay warm...she really wasn't a fan of the fleece suit!

penguin bowling

ice fishing

the castle slide. The kids can be kind of shy about things and Ryan led them up to the slide but then it took a while for them to come down because they kept letting kids go in front of them. Finally Sawyer sat up there and right as he was about to go down he turned around...either to say something to Kate or to look at her for encouragement...and he ended up sliding down backwards! He wasn't a fan and didn't go down again.

This year Ryan, Sawyer and Kate all have their own ice skates so we didn't have to stand in the big long line to rent. Which was nice because the ice skating only lasted a few minutes...

Sawyer in action

They had a place to roast marshmallows but it was basically just a pit of warm coals...who was in charge of this fire?

Clara ended up staying warm and taking a snooze

What a different winter we have had this year! Its amazing how scared I was to have a full winter here but now I wouldn't mind seeing some snow!