Torben

We went to pick up our first family pet after our trip to Arrowhead Provincial Park. Torben is a wire haired vizsla who is 7 weeks old. He was born in Burk's Falls so we decided to get a picture of him in his hometown :) He has adjusted quite well to a family full of crazy kids who all love him very much. He thrives on human interaction and prefers being with people to eating most of the time. He is already starting to potty train and learning to ring some bells when he needs to go out. He doesn't love his crate yet, but each night is getting a little easier. He has a bit of a nocturnal schedule though and prefers to be up playing at night and sleeps most of the day- particularly in the afternoon after he has burned off his pent up energy in the morning. He's a sweet little guy and we are so glad to have him!

 

Arrowhead Provincial Park

We went on a little trip to Arrowhead Provincial Park. I originally wanted to cross-country ski, but we decided with so many little ones, it might not really be worth all the money to rent the skis. We decided to just hike for awhile instead, have a picnic, then go ice skating on the skating trail through the woods. This was a lot more economical since we already own all the kids' skates.

The kids love being out and exploring and can usually handle the cold if we keep moving and have lots of interesting stuff to check out. I love just being outdoors and felt like it was a perfect day (after we got over the mess of Natalie throwing up in the car- she was better soon afterward except for the beginning of a cold).

After our hike, the kids played on this hill of snow while we waited for Austin to get the car with lunch and the ice skates in it. There were some picnic tables outside, so we just decided to eat out because no one was too cold.

The ice skating path was so cool. Its about a 1 kilometer loop through the trees. Austin and I only made it around once with Natalie and Trevor, but the older kids went around twice (racing each other most of the way) before they wore themselves out and slowed down to skate with the little ones. When we finished, Natalie insisted on going back on the ice, but I knew she couldn't manage another loop, so we just skated down a bit then came back.

It was such a fun day, and if it wasn't a two hour drive away from our house, I would be tempted to take the kids again before the winter is over, but we probably need to be at home more thanks to our new puppy (see next post)