Our family only Easter celebration fell flat. Steve and Alex both have the hacking virus going around, Somehow the twins, Drew and I have avoided it. Even Steve's mom has been stricken, so our plans for a formal meal were scrapped in favor of a more casual buffet.
The grating sound of snow plows kept waking me up last night and a light snow fell until morning. Rather than continue my bitching and moaning about the weather, I announced to the twins at breakfast that we were going sledding after lunch, and taking the dogs with us. The temperature was 31-perfect for sliding. I was hesitant to take Clark, because he's packed on a bunch of weight over the winter. If I had to guess, I'd say he's running about a buck and a quarter right now. I figured he wouldn't push himself though, and I thought it would do him some good to be active for once.
So I loaded Mario, Annelise, Clark and Nori into the Sequoia and we went down the road to the Blue Cross headquarters. In the summer it's a soccer field, in the winter it's a sledding hill and dog run.
Unfortunately, these were the only shots I got before my batteries died. We had a great time together, sliding down the hill and trudging back up to do it all over again. We threw dozens of snowballs for the dogs to chase. Clark held his own, but soon enough he tuckered out and just rooted around in the snow, digging up grass to chew on. Just before we left I looked skyward and spotted a bald eagle headed our way. I pointed it out to the twins and soon, they spotted five more. Two adults with the easily recognizable plumage and four youngsters that hadn't begun to sport the white head and tail. It was one of those perfect moments. While I cursed myself for not bringing my camera case with extra batteries, I remembered something my friend Louise told me under similar circumstances years ago. "It's a picture you'll keep in your heart forever."
