Sledding, Big Horn style

Mark and I went on a father and son retreat Friday 5pm to Saturday 4pm.  Having only been to the Baptist church once, we didn't know what to expect other than a lot of sledding was in the list of activities.  They really know how to sled!  The sledding hill is a large bowl where the kids slide down and snowmobiles pick them up at the bottom and bring them back up.  It was great fun!  Mark was on the sled and I ran a snowmobile picking up people.  Mark and I took the sled on a short run by ourselves once and saw a moose!  We also did night sledding on a smaller lighted hill within Camp Bethel where we stayed.  Sorry for the poor pictures.  All I had was the cell phone.

Cold? Not really.

Life In Sheridan:

One area where there are no Absolute Truths is in personal temperature measurement. When the thermometer says 35 degrees we think, "Great! It isn't cold and we can go outside and play." We'd go swimming in the river if it wasn't covered with ice.

The nice thing about going for a walk in the evening this time of year is you have a 1/2 mile warning when a car is coming up behind you because of the headlights.

Walking on white fluffy snow is the only sure footing in the winter. What looks like dry concrete may actually be black ice.

We don't stress out about the dog running away. He won't even go outside when it is cold and dark.

Snowmobiles are like motorcycles: Some are nice and quiet and elegant and smooth which indicates kind and considerate owners. Others are loud and smelly.

A warm hat is a blessing.

DWH

Move (me), and quick.

This is Peter.
I'm headed to South Carolina tomorrow. It will be nice to spend some time in the warm weather. Hopefully we're going to ride close to 200 miles over the weekend, though we might be tired (imagine that) and only ride 30-50 miles on Sunday.
I'm on auto-pilot right now; I want to be moved into who I was made to be and with great haste. If that means being fast on my bike, in order that others might be able to hear the truth, so be it. If that means achieving notoriety in business or academia, so be it. Paul considers those things are rubbish, and I think there's a freedom in that. I'd like to sew seeds that find fertile soil. Jesus spent the majority of his life as some sort of craftsman (Greek: Tekton (I'm not that educated I've just been reading)), I'm a little indifferent to the actual type of work Jesus did before his ministry, and I don't know if it was really important to Jesus either, none of the writers of the Bible wrote much about what kind of career Jesus had, they were focused on Jesus's message. Which is continually all about our relationships, first with the Father and also to our neighbors. Paul is telling us that our relationships are ALL that matter. (Philip. 3:7-14, Corinthians 4&13).  If I am to be made an example through what we see as failure and brokenness for the good of those who believe Him, then I'd like to rejoice in that and see my life as a grand success despite the world.

 

Also, Dad. Watch LifeCycles, we should probably buy it and have it around the house.

Here's a new section of my posts: Metrics

I've only read 3/4 of Scum of the Earth, and none of my other books.

My scale says I weigh 155lbs, but it's generally accepted to be 7-8lbs under.

I'm tossing up ideas almost continually.

I'm listening to Roper and Among Few.

Also, to my sibs; I miss my friends too. 

Sheridan rush hour

We went on a hike with Amos this afternoon up Red Grade which is very popular with snowmobiles. The kids took their sleds and had a 1/2 mile sled run to finish the day! It was very beautiful up there. We could see 30 miles. On the drive up and back we saw hundreds of deer, a dozen antelope, 3 pheasants, hawks, a bald eagle, and some little game birds (chukkars?) running across the road. Maybe 30 snowmobiles passed us while we were hiking.

Scanned a few photos

We just might take on the arduous task of scanning a lot of photos into the computer. Here's the first two.

Sad

Brother Peter and me snorkeling in the Florida Keys.

Hopefully soon,

Elaina

Hello from Banner Elk in bullets

• This is Peter.
• Yesterday was a sad day, we're all grieving here but it was good to get out on the bike for a few hours and talk with Sheeds.
• I'll be graduating next December and am looking forward to it daily.
• I've got a bunch of books to read including;
• Atlas Shrugged
• End the Fed
• Pure Scum: The Left-Out, the Right-Brained and the Grace of God
• The Pursuit of God
• Some textbooks or something...
• I drew a landscape with my watercolor crayons and it reminds me of Sheridan.
• The weathers been gracious, I haven't had to ride inside yet.
• I'm running a dorm meeting in a few hours.
• I'd like to go to the Florida Keys and snorkel around for a week.

UPDATE:

Mom just told me to set my hands on fire.

Don't worry,

Elaina

Yeeeah.

Don't know who did this. (Mark? Caroline?) But it's GREAT.

Dad in the Eco-friendly gangster/assassin/stealthy car.

Have a good day,

Elaina

Fun day sledding in Sheridan!

My Mona Lisa

Mona Lisa

Elaina, 2011

Questions about her that civilians will ask when I'm famous:

Why is she frowning?

Because she's sad.

Why does she have such large eyes?   

All the better to see you with, my dears...

Her hair looks like it was drawn in crayon, doesn't it?

Well, it was.

Do you wish you had a shirt like that?

Yes! and it was drawn in something called a "Bloopy Pen".

No, seriously.

Is she floating? In nothingness? Kind of sideways-ish?  

..........

  

Have fun with your adventures in life,

Elaina 

Elaina at school: a lonely and somewhat terrifying experience

My day mostly begins like this:

Elaina: (thinking) Where is my dang locker?!

Everybody else: BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH

Choir:

This is how I feel. It's not really exciting here.

Miss you guys,

Elaina

Settling in

All of the kids say they are ahead of their peers in school, especially Elaina.  Most of Elaina's classes are sophomore level.  She may essentially be done with HS by the end of her junior year and use the senior year to take classes at Sheridan Community College for free.

We finally went to Ole's for dinner last night.  The kids really like the taco pizza.  I think it is weird and looks like a giant tostada.  Hopefully we'll find time tonight to visit the YMCA for an hour or more.  We went last night but found the front desk closes at 7pm so we couldn't get our family pass and sign up for swim classes.  I think the kids will be signing up for a Swim Camp that starts next Monday 4:35pm to 5:20pm and includes many different activities including all the basic swim strokes and a little bit of scuba discovery.  $40 for 6 weeks per kid = approximately $1.75/day.  Not bad!

Moved in!

A few photos for you.  One photo of the front, one of the backyard, and one of the back of the house.

House Photos