Hibernating

When I took the kids to the library last week, they had a cute bulletin board up showing a big bear (in a scarf and hat...) with the word HIBERNATE defined and emphasized.

HIBERNATE: \ˈhī-bər-ˌnāt\ to pass the winter in a resting state

Then, they had a lot of book suggestions for kids.

That's my kind of winter activity. Even though the NYTimes just reported that exercising in the cold is not detrimental to your health, I don't like going out in the cold. I prefer the gym. And I love to snuggle up with a book.

Last weekend, the weather forecasters said that the temperature wouldn't go above zero for the whole weekend. We decided to make an adventure of it with the kids and planned to stay inside almost the entire weekend. We picked up some pizza for dinner on Friday, and then ate, played games, read books, had some ice cream, and then AJ and the kids camped out in the front room in the tent. Because of my Advanced State, I got a reprieve from sleeping on the floor and spent the rest of the evening blogging and reading. AJ, I think, fell asleep before the kids.

On Saturday, after breakfast, we went to the gym for some exercise, and then just enjoyed the rest of the afternoon at home. We did a few chores, played some more games, and then watched the worst movie ever: Shirley Temple's Stand Up and Cheer. I happily had a book to distract me from giving it my complete attention, but the plot was weird, the characters were weird. The only good thing about it was a few songs with Shirley. We had sushi and dumplings for dinner and the kids went to bed early because they hadn't quite gotten their full allotment of sleep the night before on the floor.

We might make this a tradition every year when it's super cold. It reminded me a little bit of the August before MJ was born when AJ and I decided to take a vacation at home. We turned off the phone and spent the weekend doing fun things at home and around our area. We went to a different ward (and only to sacrament meeting at that). I am trying to remember specific things we did, and I can only recall playing Myst. We probably got take out at the awesome Indian place right by our house. Wow, it's hard to remember what it was like before we had kids.

Oh, and today on the way home from church, the van registered the outside temperature as 37 degrees. The kids threw off their coats, and MJ changed into capris and a t-shirt as soon as we got home. Then, AJ took them outside to play ball. MJ insisted that he put on "spring wear" since it's so warm.