A Sweet Visit from a Snow Bunny

My brother David and my niece Ember came out to visit Ed and me for the weekend and we had a great time!

I accompanied David from the Bay Area to Denver to try to make the trip a little easier, as it was Ember's first flight. Since she's not two yet, she qualifies as a lap baby and so we didn't need an extra seat for her. I did quite a bit of research and polled friends with kids for tips so that we'd be prepared, even though the flight is a short one, just under two hours. Things got off to a dicey start because our flight was delayed, but David and I took turns running around the terminal with Ember, who had a great time. She was particularly fond of the moving sidewalk, and we did lots of laps on that. Passers-by made lots of comments about how cute she was in her cowboy boots.

On board the plane, Ember received a certificate, signed by the pilot, to commemorate her first flight. We fed her a steady stream of snacks as the plane took off to keep her ears popping. It was dark and we'd opted to take the middle and aisle seats, but Ember still pointed out the window as we took off; I guess she saw the lights falling away below us anyway. Her eyes got big as we rose into the air and she beamed. Between snacks, magazines, and a few minutes spent playing with iPhone apps, she was pretty content the whole flight, to everyone's relief. She eventually fell asleep. I offered to take her because David had gone to work really early that morning and was exhausted, but she did not want to be handed over, and I was rather glad when we discovered how much she had drooled on his shirt... In Denver, she perked back up and we let her out of the stroller at baggage claim to run around while we waited for the car seat.

The original plan had been to drive up to Rocky Moutain National Park on Saturday so Ember could play in snow for the first time, but that turned out not to be necessary because the snow came to us. It had started to snow by the time we landed and it did not stop until after I dropped David and Ember off at the Denver airport on Sunday. We had a few inches on the ground on Saturday morning, and after breakfast we bundled Ember up and went onto the porch.

 Ember is a big fan of stairs, and after walking around in the snow on the deck for a while she went up and down a few times, then settled into walking around the yard.

David wasn't quick enough; she was ready to go!

She seemed to really like the snow, though was a bit disconcerted when it stuck to her mitten and flapped her hand around trying to get it off. Then she took off down the street and David and I followed her for a lap around our neighborhood.

Again, the grown-ups are far too slow.

She particularly enjoyed stomping in puddles in her new boots. 

This was accompanied by a "rawr" sound.

We even explored the nearby community garden. As the wind picked up and the flakes got larger, however, it was clear that things were not as much fun as they had been. Ember is a good-natured baby and so did not cry, but she got a bit clingy and we hurried to get her inside, take off her wet mittens, and warm her up. (I was chilly myself after about half an hour outside and was ready for a reprieve, too.)

At North Boulder Community Garden

We were excited to take Ember sledding on Sunday and were pleased to find extra mittens and snow pants at Target, marked down for the end of the season, no less. We also bought a sled. After dinner downtown and an impromptu table-side dance party, we hit the hay, excited about the next day. Ember had a great time running around the house in her snow pants. Alas, she found sledding to be less enjoyable. We found the perfect hill in a park next to a shopping center but failed, run after run, to coax a smile out of her. David hypothesized that her feet may have been cold in her uninsulated galoshes, and it turned out that she needed to be changed, too. Or perhaps a few inches of snow had been fun but nine inches was too much. Whatever the reason, sledding was a bust, though the hot chocolate we bought her afterward was a huge hit.

After a hot bath for the baby, I helped David pack up and drove the two of them to the airport. He said the flight back wasn't as good as the flight out but that it still went well. I was sorry to see them leave and will miss seeing Ember toddling around the house. I'm already looking forward to having them back when the weather is a bit warmer so they can see more of Boulder.

This just in: New photographic evidence suggests that Ember enjoyed sledding more than she let on. See Exhibits A and B, below, where it if one looks very closely it may be concluded that the stern mug she showed as at the bottom of the hill was not a reflection of her enjoyment of sledding. Perhaps it was just retaliation for making her get up early?