Flying Furball Productions: Fun in the snow

Sam loved sledding

After Christmas this year, we decided that we were actually going to let the kids experience snow. Mason and Spencer hadn't seen snow in four years, and Spencer was so young that he didn't even remember the experience. Sam, of course, had never even seen snow. He had read about it in some books, but he didn't really have a clue. We decided to go to Cloudcroft, New Mexico. Cloudcroft is a village in New Mexico nestled high in the mountains. We had gotten to know Cloudcroft while I was in El Paso for my internship. Unfortunately, Cloudcroft was snow-free that winter, but we decided to try again.

The drive across Texas is a long one, but we made good time. It helped to have Teressa's brother Berlin and his family along because we could foist one of our kids off on them. I just seem to make better time when I'm not having to reach around into the back seat to break up a fight. When we got to the southern New Mexico mountains, we were on the lookout for snow. At first there was nothing. We were starting to get worried that we might see a repeat of our last Cloudcroft winter. But as we went higher, we started to see faint traces of snow remaining in the shadows. The higher we went the more expansive the snow became. Now we knew we had snow, but it still didn't look deep enough to go sledding or skiing.

Finally, a few miles before we reached Cloudcroft it became clear that the snow was plenty deep enough to play in. What a difference a few thousand feet in elevation can make. So we were able to spend our next days outside in the cold.

Spencer started off the day wanting some help with sledding

Since our children had spent next to no time in the snow, we weren't quite sure how the boys would react. We made sure to pack plenty of warm clothes since the surest way to misery in the winter is to get wet and cold. I was worried that sledding would be a little too fast and exciting for the boys. I thought that perhaps Mason and Spencer would want continual help and that Sam might want to avoid sledding entirely. My concerns were entirely overwrought. Mason and Spencer were continually up and down the hill on their own. Sam went down on the sled with me, and every time we reached the bottom, he would exclaim, "Do it again, Dad." So we did it again. And again. And again.

It didn't take long before Spencer hit the slopes on his own

Mason was perfectly happy to be doing his own thing, too

Spencer was excited to go out on the morning of the snowstorm to check the windows of the van

Sam quickly warmed to the idea of skating

The boys have progressed with their skating. Mason required no help at all. He even says that he is the fastest skater in the family. (This may actually be true, but the way.) Spencer started out wanting help, but before we were done, he was skating all on his own. Sam didn't want his skates to touch the ice at first and preferred to be carried around the rink, but it didn't take long before he was skating, with a significant amount of assistance, of course.