Snow all around

I went to church this weekend and was able to log my first hours in the "Spiritual" category of my 2012 records.  After that, it all went uphill.  Or down, depending on how you want to look at it.

We sledded the junk out of Grand Mere that afternoon.  After getting anywhere between 4 and 10 inches of powdery cold fluff the night before depending on how far away you are from the Lake, the little dunes were just frigid with anticipation of our sleds.  A little group of us headed over, armed with new and old sleds, and even a couple of inner tubes.

I learned that rushing downhill in powdery snow into the wind is akin to getting up in the morning, pointing a high-powered fan toward your face, and pretty much slashing your cheeks and forehead with sandpaper you'd left in the freezer overnight.  Spectacular.  Needless to say, we took turns sharing a couple pairs of ski goggles and I was thankful for my beard.

iMoves aren't the best for iPhones, sorry.

I think I only said "I'm going to live somewhere where it snows like this someday" half a dozen times.  Even so, Emily got a little tired of reminding me... I already do.

The sunset turned all the snow pink and red for several minutes as we walked back to the cars.  We were cold and tired and super ready for game night.

After a few hours of popcorn I went to bed.  Okay just kidding.  We also played games, including Risk on Jeremiah's homemade "board," but sometimes I wonder if I could survive on a diet of popcorn alone.  Maybe flavored in crushed up vitamins now and then for a little bonus nutritional value.

Section of the Risk "board" (he made it on a sheep skin)

To round off a pretty stellar 24 hours, I dragged myself from the depths of slumber to witness Bjoerndalen* of Norway win his bajillion and third biathlon race.  He came from behind and this was the 17th year he's won a race.  King of Biathlon, they call him.  It was fantastic.  Another sighting of an historical sporting event randomly caught at a strange time checked off my list [of unknown items and length].

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*Quick description of this 2-minute clip of the race:  We see Svendsen (Norway;red) and Fourcade (France; black and yellow) shooting their fourth (and last) 5-shot round of shooting during the 12.5km race.  They are in the lead at the moment, both of this race and of the World Cup rankings, incidentally, so it's significant how this race turns out.  Fourcade ends up missing two shots, and Svendsen three, meaning they have to do two and three small penalty laps of 150 meters respectively.  This gives Bjoerndalen, who we see start shooting at about :35, a chance to catch up if he hits all his targets.  He does!  And for the rest of the 2.5 or so kilometers, Fourcade trails by just a few seconds (he trailed by only five at one point and ended 13 seconds behind), coming in second, and Svendsen ended up getting passed by a couple folks for fifth, I believe.  Thus, Bjoerndalen, at 38 years old, becomes the oldest to with a World Cup biathlon race (according to that YouTube description anyway), and I think sets (or maintains?) a record of winning at least one race for over a decade and a half.  Get it?  Awesome stuff.