Frigid fun

by RobinsFlight

Like many in the United States, last week left us with more snow and colder temps than this area has seen in quite a while.  I know some parts of the country were snowier and more frigid than here in the Detroit area, but our 6-8" of snow, on top of the 6" or so that were already on the ground, was more than my kids had ever seen!  And 30 below (*F) wind chills...well, that had me remembering days when Michigan State University closed classes for a day back twenty years ago, and farther back, remembering walking to school in Wisconsin with friends, all waddling like penguins, we were so bundled up!


Our extended Christmas break, thanks to 3 snow days, left us with some extra time around the house.  And since there's only so long that 2 kids and a mom can handle cooped up indoors, we did venture out a bit.  Before the heaviest of the snow hit, the kids had fun making a snowman, complete with hat, scarf and a carrot nose.  The next morning he had to be dug out, of course- don't want our snowman suffocating under a blanket of snow!





Then there's the general playing in the snow.  My kids are fond of building snow slides and doing their best of fall, flip, and push each other down.  And no snow day would be complete without a trip to the sledding hill.  Unfortunately, my camera didn't accompany us that day.

 














I think my favorite activity was blowing bubbles and watching them freeze.  Yes, I have to admit, the idea came from the now viral pictures by Angela Kelly that have been circulating on the internet.  But hey, what a great idea!  My photos aren't nearly as good as hers are, but it was fun.  



The temperature was -12*F, and there was a decent wind.  It probably would've been better if the wind had been lighter- it tended to blow the bubbles away with enough force that they'd just shatter when they hit something. 

They froze almost instantly, not a slow crystallization.  I actually had to blow pretty quickly to got any bubbles before the liquid froze on the wand.  And the smaller bubbles definitely lasted best.




I tried it again the next day.  The wind was less, and it was warmer- I think about 6 *F above this time.  The bubbles froze more slowly, but they didn't seem to hold their shape nearly as well.  A few held together though.




So what did you do to occupy yourself during the big freeze?