another evening assault on the sledding trail....

last night lisa was schedule to have a work dinner
which put me into the Mr. Mom scenario
left overs from Magiannos would help with the dinner preparation
but.... somewhere in the course of her day Lisa decided that she just was not in the mood...
not feeling up to it....
or just did not have the strength for a post work function
in any case she ran an errand on her way home
when Mommy Lisa arrived home Dean and Grant were content to be in my lap as we read various books
everyone was happy and whole enjoying the antics of Dr. Suess, Bob the Builder, and some Monster Truck story from Tonka.... up until Lisa appeared and tapped on the exterior of the glass from our front porch
Dean leaped to his feet and ran around through the hall to meet mommy at the front door
while Grant is a little less aware of his surroundings and crawled towards the window which was now vacant
He had seen her... now he was fixated on being with her... now she is gone
Grant climbed up as close as he could to the mommiless windown
crying and complaining
looking and yearning
Lisa entered the house and walked down the hall with Dean, Roscoe, and Brutus all gathered excitedly around her feet
quite a flurry of fluffy and not so fluffy activity
meanwhile Grant was still trying to get a better vantage point from which he could make contact with his mommy in the spot where she no longer stood
I called out to Lisa and asked her to call out to Grant
Lisa called Grant's name from the dinning room
Grant's expression changed from wanting, waiting, and alone to a wide smile
a smile from ear to ear
a smile that could be seen in his eyes
without hesitation Grant did a cross house crawling sprint
he covered that ground fast and furious not letting anything in his way slow his pace
no dog or child could hinder his momentum
lisa was home and so was Grant
Grant needed to make contact with mommy!

with Lisa home to help with Grant it was time to walk the dogs

with the ground still covered with snow it seemed that I could achieve several goals simultaneously
I asked Dean if he wanted to go sledding....
sure enough he did
so as I gathered my gear and the dog's leashes I had Dean suit up in his winter snow apparell
he pulled on his snowsuit (with some aid from mommy)
then put on his boots and jacket himself
we met at the door
dogs on leashes
Petzl headlamps on our heads
my Outdoor Research mittens on Dean's diminutive hands

across the heavily trafficked Park Road into the woods of Rock Creek
we took the long route to get to the sledding section of trail
a little hike for the dogs to run and Dean to stretch his legs
the dogs did their think and we did ours
it was not clear if Dean could appreciate the power of the headlamp or if he just liked wearing some cool gear
in an effort to show him the advantages of the headlamp I turned off our lights to show how dark it is without them
Dean did not seem to be impressed.... he is three and a half... perhaps such subtle things are not important to him
we got to the snow hill and Dean sat down for a rest and told me that he would meet me at the top
Dean was lying flat on his back
his breath was visible with aid of his headlamp
he was starring at the sky through the trees
I marched on towards the top of the hill with the dogs running wild
the snow and the cold always bring the volume of Roscoe and Brutus' CALL OF THE WILD game up to ELEVEN!
Dean eventually got to his feet and started up the hill
I waited as he stomped up
before he could slip I took his hand and walked up the hill with him
we ended up doing four runs down the icy hill in the woods
Dean wanted more..... so did I, but... my hunger for dinner outweighed my hunger for sledding
so we headed home
we took the long way home
I towed Dean behind me up and down the path over fallen trees and various obstacles
Roscoe and Brutus got to run around a little longer before they too were taken inside for the rest of the night

we got home and messed around with our Snowmen out front before going inside for the rest of the night

that was a long post
especially since all I wanted to say is that Dean and I went sledding last night with the Petzl's on
and that we had a good time