Waking Up in Iowa -- January 14

We left Laramie at about 7:45 PM.  Andrew drove most of the way across Nebraska, we switched just before Omaha at about 3:30 AM.  Hazel slept the whole way, except brief wake-ups when we stopped for gas.  We stopped at the official Iowa welcome center, right before the Minnesota border, for gas, breakfast, and a little wiggle time. 

 

She may not have her own pick-up truck just yet, but she had a good time practicing on the CR-V.  She almost honked the horn, but lacked the oomph to pull that off.

 

 

Box Climbing and Butter Churning -- January 13

Nana and Grandad kept an eye on Hazel while we were packing up our things to head back to St. Paul.  Nana helped Hazel with her box-climbing project.  Hazel found this box, and had a great time climbing up and trying to stand on it.  

 

Hazel took her first little steps this morning. She was playing with books, stood up to look at Grandad, and noticed that Sven was sitting in his lap.  She forgot herself for a moment, and took five little tiny steps before falling down and clapping heartily for herself.  She has taken a few tentative steps since then, but she still crawls as her primary mode of transportation.

 

Grandad did a little dance with Hazel that we called the "butter churn," which was guaranteed to send Hazel into a fit of giggles.  

Hazel and Nana -- January 12

 

Hazel and Nana spent a lot of time together.  Hazel was a big fan of Nana's jammie time song at bedtime.

 

Fresh Snow -- January 11

A bit of fresh snow got us out skiing one last time.  It was cold and blustery, but it was nice in the trees on the trails.  It was a perfect outing.  Hardly anyone else was out, and the snow was wonderful.

At the Window -- January 9

 

Hazel spent a fair bit of time during the day looking out the blinds at Nana and Grandad's house.  Sometimes, Sven the cat would join her.  There are no pictures of them together at the window largely because Hazel would get super excited, giggle, and crawl after the cat.

A Little Western -- January 9

Nellie's dad brought this rocking horse for Hazel to use.  Nellie loved it when she was littler, and Hazel had a great time rocking in it.

 

This afternoon, Hazel spent a good twenty minutes giggling as she rocked.  

 

All she needs is an old pickup truck, and she will be set.  She looked like she was resting her arm on the window on a nice sunny day, driving on a dirt road to nowhere in particular.

Epiphany-- January 6

 Hazel's Nana and Grandad celebrate Epiphany, so we had another night of holiday festivities in early January, complete with gift-giving and Epiphany Pie.

 

Hazel enjoyed reading Chicken, Chicken, Duck, which is a story about farm animals stacking themselves in a pyramid. 

 

Hazel really likes paper right now, so she was quite happy to help open presents.

 

She was not, however, particularly cooperative about having her picture taken!

Skiing with Sherril and Mike and Heidi -- January 6

 

We ventured out on a nice and reasonably warm day for another skiing experience with our friends Mike and Sherril, who came down from Casper for a day.  Their daughter, Heidi, just turned two in November.

 

Somehow, we ended up on a much longer trek than was originally intended.  We were out for roughly twice as long as we meant to be.  We wound up on a tour of the more difficult trails at Happy Jack.  We climbed very steep hills, and then we cautiously made our way down the other side.  Over and over again.  It was fun, but it was a little more intense than we had expected!  We stopped at the top of a hill about halfway through and had a snack.

Mike toted Heidi in this nifty contraption, which is something like a stroller on skis, except that you pull instead of push it.  It seemed to work fairly well, but we think that it's kind of beyond our skill level.  We'll have to try something different next year when Hazel is too big for the backpack, but too small to ski herself.  Like a bigger backpack.  

Blocks -- January 5

 Hazel really enjoyed playing with Nellie's giant bin of blocks.  She liked to push the crate around, she liked dumping blocks out one by one, and she appreciated the fine chewable qualities of the blocks as well. 

Sledding with Grammy and Nellie -- January 5

We braved the cold on a Saturday morning to go sledding at Pole Mountain, another Happy Jack area attraction.  This is the most amazing sledding hill ever.  It is a remnant from an old ski area.  The trees are cleared a long ways up the hill, making it possible to go really fast and get a lot of snow in your face, if that's what you're after.  Hazel prefers her sledding without snow in her face, so we start a little lower down and keep her face covered. 

 

Someday, however, it is likely she'll be racing us all down the hill like Nellie and Grammy.

Playing with the Froggy Kickball -- January 4

 

  Hazel found this kickball in her stocking (well, not exactly in the stocking) and really enjoyed playing with it, chasing it, and contemplating its frogliness.

Happy Jack -- January 4

We took every opportunity to make it up to Happy Jack, East of Laramie, for some cross-country skiing fun.  Minnesota has been cold this year, but there has not been a lot of snow.  And, of course, there are still no mountains in the midwest.  

 

It was pretty cold, so we made sure to bundle Hazel up as much as possible.  She always came home feeling warm and toasty, no matter how miserable the weather was.  Hazel mostly napped while we were skiing.  She had been having a hard time getting naps in, but skiing did the trick!

 

Using the self-timer on the camera is a little more difficult on skis than it is in the summer time, but we managed.