Hi, Everyone!
Last year this time, when Karin-chan and Bill-kun were here, we had lots of snow on the ground. But up to last week, there wasn’t any snow this year that stayed more than a day. When Grandma and Grandpa took me out to Sodus last weekend, there was no snow and the bay wasn’t even completely frozen.There was a thin film of ice on the part south of us, but open water to the north. Last year by this time, the bay was so frozen that the ice fishermen could walk all over it. We’ve had so many warm days that the daffodils are confused about what time of year it is and are starting to sprout!
I’ve been helping Grandma finish up baking the Ground Hog Day cookies. Those are the cookies that Grandma sends to Uncle Bill’s squadron at the Air Force Academy and soldiers serving overseas. Every cookie has to be wrapped by itself to keep it fresh. That takes lots of little pieces of plastic wrap! I checked to make sure that the brownies were done and that the rest of the cookies were ready to be wrapped.
On Thursday night, it started snowing! On Friday, we had about 6 inches of snow on the ground and deck. Friday evening, the family that helps Grandma pack the Ground Hog Day cookies came to fill the boxes for this year. First, we had to set up the boxes, then Katie and Geoff sorted each kind of cookie into five piles, one for each box. Katie and Geoff and their mom and dad are really good at packing cookie boxes! I helped Grandma put the last cookies in the box she was packing. Look at the results of our hard work! When we got done, I had to take a rest on the packing peanuts.
The Young Families dinner group from church met on Saturday. My best buddies Joe-san and Nancy-san had planned sledding and cooking, but until Friday it looked like there wouldn’t be any sledding. But then we had snow! Moose-san and I went outside at church to see if the snow was deep enough for sledding. It was really cold out, and I fell down while I was checking out places to go sledding. So Grandma brought Moose-san and me inside to get ready for the party. We helped Grandma make the awards Joe-san planned to give to the cook-helpers. Moose-san made sure they were the right size. Then we checked out the special hats for the cook-helpers — just like real chefs wear!
When the young families arrived, it was good to see my friends from apple picking at Sodus. First we made the peach semifreddo — that’s sort of like ice cream. Then Kayla and Mina and Hannah and Lily went sledding. They had to dress up very warmly to go out! At first I just watched from inside, but sledding looked like a lot of fun. So I went out and Lily gave me a ride on her saucer. Then Kayla and her dad took me on their sled. We went down the hill and all the way to the trees! Look how far we went! It was a very long way back for a little lion, but Kayla gave me a ride.
When we came in, everybody had cocoa to warm up. Then we made pizzas and ate them up as soon as they were baked. Next Joe-san showed everybody how to make pasta dough. Grandma and Nancy-san helped Mina and Lily and Hannah roll out the pasta dough and cut it into spaghetti and fettucine. I got to crank the pasta machine handle for the very last batch.
It didn’t take long for the pasta to cook, then we all sat down to enjoy our dinner. Before everybody went home, Moose-san and I helped Joe-san give out the cook – helper awards.
Before we started eating dinner, everybody took turns saying what they were grateful for. I’m grateful for making lots of new friends and having so many adventures with Grandma and Grandpa — even if the snow is REALLY cold!
Love,
Lion-san
Those were fun projects! We still do not have any snow here. Only snow we’ve had was at Halloween time and all that is gone. We’ve only had rain. Strange winter.