Sledding and Skating!

On this snowy, we're off to go sledding and ice skating with Karl. (Ben has also packed a basket with hot chocolate and extra Christmas cookies....there aren't very many left.)

What are you doing during your holiday break?

Winter Outing

Ben says, "Jerry anD me took a wintur hike today."

"Wintur haz arrived in MinneSOHta" adds Jerry. You can see that the hiking paths are coated in snow.

The lakes are mostly frozen over, and so the ice skaters and hockey players are out enjoying a great day. 

"In thiz photo, we're aktually standing on a lake" says Jerry, "anD you kan see the big city in the bakground."

"Luckily" adds Ben, "we have a sled to help us kross the snow covured lake...  ... wait a minute, why am I pulling Jerry??" Happily for Jerry and Ben, the seKretaries are able to pull the sled so that both can enjoy the sled ride.

After a hike, there is nothing more fun than sledding down a snow covered hill!

Jerry wanted to make sure to add, "Of course, we insisted on a hot chocolate and cookie break after sledding...little bears do get quite hungry after an afternoon of sledding!"

Do you have any show where you live?

Honey Flyer 2...and a Winter Guest

Regular viewers of our blog will remember our adventure with our homemade Honey Flyer sled. Well, Santa brought us a REAL sled this year, and we named it the Honey Flyer 2. Finally, we got enough snow to try it out. We put on our winter hats and coats, and nagged our seKretaries to take us to a nearby town that was holding a special winter festival complete with a ice castle...and, we also had planned to meet a friend there, but more on the friend later.

Isn't the Honey Flyer 2 a great sled? We love the color (Hammie red) and it has a special Norwegian-design control band that we can use to steer the sled. Oh, for those blog pals who live in warm climates, behind us is the St. Croix river, and yes, it's completely frozen over.

So we set off to find a good hill to sled down. "Say..." asks Jerry, "after trying out the Honey Flyer 2, we are going to take a break for hot chocolate and cookies, aren't we?"

"Well of course" replied Ben, "all I have to do is to say the following to a seKretary: 'boy, a nice Starbucks coffee and pumpkin muffin sure would be good about now, don't you think?' ...and we're assured a stop for snacks! No seKretary can ignore the thought of coffee and a muffin."

After a little hike, Jerry and Ben reached the site of the winter festival, and viewed the tall walls of the big ice castle on a great sledding hill. It's not a castle constructed with blocks of ice, but rather the twenty-foot walls are made to look very natural. Aren't they great?

The hills were perfect for sledding! The Honey Flyer 2 is amazing!

Now, getting back to our friend. We had a special telegram that a friend of our was doing an internship at the winter festival; he was helping to construct the big ice castle. "So I wrote bacK and sed we'd meet him aftur our sledding" said Ben, "I wonder where he can be?...oh wait, I see him!!"

Do you recognize our pal? He can only visit us in the winter.

It's Karl!! All the way from Arctic! Karl is an exchange student who says with us during the winter term while he takes classes at the University of Minnesota. After his internship concludes next week, he's going to be taking Advanced Ice Castle Design, World History of Hot Chocolate, and Snowperson Survival Skills 1 (how to survive sudden warm temperatures, etc.)

It sure is great to have Karl back in town! "It sure is," adds Jerry, "and...um...say...em...what about some hot chocolate and cookies? My tummy is rumbling!" "That's a great idea," says Karl, "but I think I'd better stick to an iced latte...hot drinks are not so good for my health." (hehe)

Are you having any fun winter adventures?

Christmas Update

We woke up on Christmas morning to discover that Santa had visited our house! We received some yummy treats, a jar of honey, some packets of hot chocolate, and...

A new sled!!!!!!!!!! Isn't it great? Some of our regular visitors may remember our Honey Flyer sled post. That was a home-made sled, and, well, it doesn't work so well anymore. How did Santa know that we really wanted a new sled? Jerry says that this sled shall be Honey Flyer 2! We can't wait to try it out, but we don't have much snow left, so we'll have to make a new post about it in the near future.

We also received a special gift from Droopy!

Can you guess who these little figurines are? Aren't they great!

They look great with our other Christmas figurines! Thank you Droopy!

We also have received some wonderful cards lately. A great Happy 2017 card from Little Fox, a postcard from London from Sandy (sadly, no tea and crumpets with the Queen!), a beautiful postcard from the Red Mill Museum Village from Droopy and finally a homemade Christmas card from Droopy with fun holiday stickers! Thanks everyone.

The best part of the holidays is spending time at home with friends and family, good hot chocolate (and Ben's homemade cookies), and watching fun movies. Hope everyone has a wonderful New Year! Check back soon for our Honey Flyer 2 update!

Cards Update!

We received two more cards! A handmade card from Beanie and a holiday card from Ajdin. Thanks Beanie and Ajdin!

A Birthday Sledding Adventure

Today is Ben's birthday! To help celebrate this beary special day, Jerry and Ben decided to do some fun winter sledding. Papa made sure the boys put on their winter jackets, boots and hats in order to keep warm. Their dog Boo went along with them of course because Boo likes to sled also.

They all climbed aboard their sled, the HONEY FLYER, that Papa had made for them. Ben got to drive the sled first because it is his birthday today, so Jerry sat in back, stuck his boot into the snow and pushed off, and the sled was off!

The Honey Flyer flew down the side of the snow covered hill and Boo barked "Arf, arf" because he was happy to be going so fast with the wind in his face. Ben roared "Yeah!" while Jerry shouted "Weeeee!"

Near the bottom of the hill the sled hit a big pile of snow, and Jerry and Boo tumbled out of the sled, but they fell into a white, fluffy snow bank, so it was ok. Jerry and Ben laughed and giggled, and of course wiggled their toes (but no one could see because the were wearing their winter boots). Boo jumped around and licked their noses; he was having a great time too!

After many great sledding runs down the hill, Ben said he was cold and wanted something hot to drink, so he and Jerry decided to take a little break. While Ben gathered the sled and put Boo in it, Jerry noticed a blue ice fishing shack on nearby Lake Como. Lake Como is entirely frozen in the winter and you can walk across it! Can you spot the blue ice fishing shack?

Finally, it's nice to top off a great day of sledding, and to help a friend celebrate his birthday, by enjoying some beary delicious hot chocolate with a stick of peppermint candy to mix chocolate and hot milk. Yummy, yum, yum! Happy Birthday Ben!

P.S. We were traveling over Christmas and didn't get to thank our blog pals for their great cards and holiday greetings, so a beary big Thank You to our pals: Beanie Mouse (love the handmade card!), Sullivan McPig (cool postcard), Achille (the musée de la poupée looks cool!), Marlowe (awesome photo!), and Buttons (great photo!)!

Sledding

We sure received a lot of snow this weekend!  We love to go sledding down the snow banks, it is so fun.  Do you like to go sledding?  After many slides down the hill, Ben likes to have hot chocolate, and Jerry sometimes takes a run or two on the sled by himself before coming inside for some of his own hot chocolate.