Monroeplanet: Embracing the Cold

Shortly after Christmas, the weather turned brutally cold here. The temperature has not risen above freezing during the day or night since New Year's Eve. While it is easy to fall into the trap of focusing on the dry skin and high heating bills that accompany these extended cold spells, living in Michigan taught us that it is better to go out and embrace the cold.

In 2005, we bought the boys ice skates for Christmas. We lived in a neighborhood in Michigan with several small ponds that routinely freeze each winter and thought the ice skates would provide a great outlet for the kids during the long Michigan winters. Unfortunately, the winter of 2005-2006 was a mild winter and the ponds never froze again after Christmas. In the spring of 2006, we moved to southern Indiana and hung up our ice skates.

We live less than a mile from a small park with a great little pond. Needless to say, as the weather continued to remain below freezing I became optomistic that we might get some use out of the ice skates after all. Of course, the skates no longer fit Tanner and Kaden, but they were perfect for Trevor and Devon. When I announced my plan to hit the ice, Trevor was a little hesitant to say the least, but with a little parental encouragement he was persuaded to give it a try. Devon on the other hand needed very little encouragement and was anxious to get outside.

Like most new endeavors, once we arrived at the pond, put on our skates and stepped onto the ice, all of the hesitation disappeared. Trevor and Devon both had a great time learning to skate. Devon skates were more "slippery" than Trevor's so he spent most of his time on the ice holding hands with Mom and Dad. It took Trevor all of about five minutes to learn to skate and he was gliding across the whole pond in no time. I asked him if he was born with ice skates on his feet a big smile appeared on his face.