Enjoying Winter

We've been spoiled this winter with the weather averaging in the 50's so far.  It has allowed us to continue to run outside, save on our energy bills, and run around comfortably when we were shopping for Christmas gifts.  It was weird with the warmer weather leading up to the holidays, although we still did the traditional winter activities.

Greg knew that he had to travel in the month of December in order to finish up a project.  He had the option of which week to travel since the schedule was flexible.  We were invited to go ice skating with our friends the week after Greg's brithday, so Greg wanted to go to that, so he had to travel the week before Christmas.

I bought Greg a pair of hockey skates from Good Will in college for $3.  I spent another $3 on new laces and another $5 to have the blades sharpened, and wha-la, Greg had a new pair of ice skates.  I used to take ice skating lessons as a child, so it's nice to get out every season and continue to skate.  I'm not that great by any means, but I'm not the person that is falling down or uncomfortable when they are making turns or trying to stop.  And, we all know how great Greg is at anything he does, so he is an expert skater just under the level of figure skating doing triple axles.  Just kidding, but he is a natural when it comes to ice skating.  So, Greg and I aren't the typical couple that is holding hands; one would find us competing for who can skate faster.  Does it even help a person's balance to hold hands?  I've always wondered this.

We went to Crown Plaza to go skating.  I have never been ice skating here.  It was gorgeous with all the lights. 

Greg worked over the following weekend to finish up his project, and then left on Sunday to go up to Michigan for the install.  They called for snow on Wednesday evening in Kansas City, but with the weather we had, it was hard to believe that it would actually stick.  Greg was supposed to fly back Wednesday, but he wasn't finish with his project quite yet, so he pushed back his flight until Thursday. 

Well... The snow did come.  And it went through the area very early in the morning, so it was still blowing hard when I had to leave for work, so visibility was horrible.  I didn't want to risk the drive with Greg being gone and us taking home my car for the holidays.  I watched the news and traffic was horrible, so I knew I made the right decision to stay home.  I went back to bed and Greg called around noon to tell me that all flights to Kansas City were cancelled for Thursday, and with Friday being the day before the holiday weekend, there weren't any options for him to fly to Kansas City, but he could get a late flight into St. Louis.  I didn't take that so well since I had several presents to pack up, laundry to do so I could pack both of our bags now, and a long drive home by myself.  Not to mention that Friday evening was Greg's work's holiday party that we now had to miss.  I think I was more upset over that than he was. 
 
So, Abby and I blew off some steam and went on a walk in the snow, which is another winter activity that I love to do.  She wanted to go outside all morning when I was sitting in the kitchen trying to work.  I would let her outside and she would practically get blown away by the wind.   It calmed down in the afternoon, so we had a nice walk and she ran and ran.  The sidewalks were all iced over, so we just plowed through the fields.

It was a great snow day, and I got a lot done.  The presents were all packed up in the car already, laundry was done, and our bags were half packed.  Greg was a little upset that he missed the snow, but he woke up in Michigan on Friday with a couple inches on the ground.  We went home for the holidays, and St. Louis didn't get any snow.  When we got back to Kansas City, we still had some ice and snow in our backyard.






The temperatures for the next week are in the 20's, and we're missing the warmer weather!