Thus far I have not posted a commercial here. But a review of the Super Bowl ads from Slate showed me one that I cannot resist. In fact I am sure that Isaac will someday do this exact thing. I am also sure that I will do exactly what the Dad in the commercial did. And finally, I am sure that Bianca will give me the same look that the Mom gives the Dad. Watch for the kid to wave off his Dad when he gets out of the car:
I just couldn't resist the powers of the Dark Side.
Sunday was a drier day than Saturday, both in and out of the house. After the foray onto the roof, we decided to take it easy a little. We went for a walk down to St. Bernard. Using the sled to carry Isaac we navigated a path almost entirely on ice from our house to the school. Once there we were greeted by two outstanding forts. Here is Isaac in one of them:
This one had 5 gallon drum castellations around the entrance and along the wall. Its twin, about twenty feet away, was just as big (large enough to fit about 10 boys inside all making and throwing snowballs), but had an escape tunnel and snowball stashes instead of castellations. I wanted to claim credit for building these, but there was a flag on the fort that said "Built by 6th grade Boys" with their names on it. So, the forts were made by St. Bernard's sixth grade boys. This made me think about the conversation in the teacher's lounge.
Teacher 1: We have got to figure out a way to get all the energy out of these kids. All they want to do is play in the snow. We can't have inside recess forever.
Teacher 2: I know. I am tired of telling them to stay off the snow. They are driving me crazy about the snow.
Teacher 1: I have an idea. Tell them to bring snow clothes to school tomorrow. We'll let them build a fort and call it PE (Catholic Schools are notoriously loose with their definition of "physical education").
Teacher 2: GREAT IDEA!
They even had dyes marking their bases, blue and red. It was pretty cool. And a great way to get the kids to stop bugging the teachers about the snow.
As we explored around the school we found a walkway covered in thick, slippery ice. It was so slippery that even with snow boots on it was hard to walk. The walkway was surrounded by the building on one side and a massive pile of snow on the other. It made the perfect little bobsled run. So we tried it out in Isaac's new sled:
It was a great day and a great weekend. All of the snow made the place look like a moonscape and come June these "weather created" places will be nothing but memories.
Well, this is the hardest part of the New England winter--after the frosted window pane goodness of Christmas, the silent pristine icy landscapes of January, comes the wet, tired, frozen, leaky muck of February.
We have received 50 inches of snow in 20 days. Add on to that two inches of rain last night, and everything, including the kitchen entryway is soaked. We have a leak from an ice dam (or ice, damn) over the kitchen and as I write this snow is falling onto the office roof. It is tough. Dad even climbed on the roof in hopes of chipping away the ice dam. It was an exceptionally dumb and dangerous idea. I quickly decided an intact spine was worth more than non-leaking roof.
All the snow means we have been cooped up for days. Other than work and the grocery store we are in Howard Hughes mode. We have, however, stayed in touch. iChat is a fantastic invention and yesterday when I booted up Isaac's cousins I realized that the "video phone" has surreptitiously arrived via the computer. I am not sure why we even have phones or cable boxes anymore. Why doesn't everything run through a computer? I would LOVE to have a buffet style cable package where I could pick my channels and my price (Let's see, 10 channels for $10: NESN, Fox, Discovery, CNN, NBC, HGTV, ESPN, and I don't care about the rest). It is possible and feasible right now, but the cable companies the FCC don't want it to happen.
iChat was awesome though. Isaac saw Colby and Myles (how many brothers do you know whose actual names, not nicknames, both have "y" in them? These are the only ones I know) wave and say hello. It was one of those "oh this is too cute moments". Myles has become very articulate and interactive. He told Isaac "I love you Isaac Anthony." We agree. Colby was pretty gabby, saying hello and yes and no to questions. He is a really sweet kid, even when his brother is elbowing him in the ribs to get out of his way (be careful Myles, Colby is built like an armored truck and one of these days those elbows are going to do nothing but anger him).
We also iChatted with the grandparents. Who would have thought that my Dad would don a puppet (a piggy puppet nonetheless)? It is downright hysterical. I wonder if all the people at his work could predict he would be this silly. We got a nice shipment of bibs and books from the grandparents as well. Just in the nick of time too, as we have just about worn out the Shapes book.
We have some pictures and video uploaded. Here is a sample:
Isaac and his new move, the Bail Out:
And here he is with his Momma doing some Itsy Bitsy Spider:
