Ice Skating in Downtown Raleigh

Raleigh puts up an outdoor ice skating rink downtown for a few months each winter. We hit it again this year and watched the girls carving through the ice with growing confidence.

Clara's Sprained Wrist

Clara's mean slip on one of those spiky Gum tree balls brought an evening of urgent care visits to the Dryden crew. We feared a wrist fracture (something Kate came to know all too well in her soccer playing days) and were relieved when the x-rays revealed it was just a bad sprain. Still, this stuff hurts! And its her left arm to boot!

Clara is confined to this brace for about two weeks. The upside? It has given her the chance to practice all sorts of activities with her right hand. This has introduced us to the term "ambidextrous." A week into it, Clara is showing some pretty fancy handwriting as a righty.

Davidson Visit - Basketball, JOB and the Morrisons

For a few years in a row now, we've gathered with Davidson friends over a January weekend to catch a basketball game and spend the night. This year we were with Auntie JOB, the Morrisons and the Kaufmans.

It's fun watching the kids get to know each while growing up.

After watching the mens basketball team play VCU, we headed to the Morrison's place on Lake Norman. We played football in the backyard and had dance parties inside.

Snow Day!

The first snow day of 2017 comes on a Saturday. No worries. School will be missed, too. But for today the whole neighborhood comes out for guilt-free sledding.

Hattie and Clara enjoy some snow activities in the driveway while the neighbors wake up and Mama gets geared up.

Then we do some sledding in the cul de sac, starting from the Acombs and seeing if we can make it all the way down the Williams' big hill.

Then it's time for serious business down the big hill on Dartmouth. Hattie declined to participate, but Clara and Mama were eager for the excitement.

It was such a good day that Clara wrote about it for school the next month:

New Years Day 2017 - Rock Climbing

It was a rainy New Years day, and we needed to get some energy out. Clara suggested we go back rock climbing. Hattie was hesitant at first, but the "Queen of the Monkey Bars" got into it in no time.