COLD in Alaska

OK, when most people think of AK, they probably wonder why I would put such a title. Because right now, it's not just COLD in AK. It's REALLY COLD. The temp hovered around 20 below most of the day. Normal temp for this time of year is about 10 degrees. That would feel downright balmy right now. Regardless, we're hearty Alaskans. We don't let a little thing like bone-chilling cold stop us from our daily activities.
I picked up the grandkids around 11. They're like little frozen popsicles all lined up in their car seats. The car had been running for about 10 minutes, but the heater wasn't doing much to battle the cold plastic of those car seats. We back out of the driveway, and I hear 2 year old Joshy say "Grandma?" Yeah, Joshy? "Grandma....I cold. Will it be cold at Birch Tree?" I assured him that his favorite restaurant would be toasty. The cold must have made all 3 of them extremely hungry. It is our tradition to have breakfast every Saturday morning. Sometimes they eat most of it, but most of the time, we leave quite a bit behind. 15 minutes after getting 4 pancakes with a side of peanut butter, 3 scrambled eggs, 5 slices of bacon, and 3 sausage links, the plates were spotless. They even ate the orange slices that decorated the plates. And they were still hungry!
Mind you, this is a restaurant we have visited regularly for the last 3 years. When we decided to top it all off with apple pie, we received a HUGE piece of pie. There was 3 scoops of chocolate ice cream on the side. (They were out of vanilla.) Who knew apple pie could taste so good with chocolate ice cream? Jaycob got his own plate full of goodness, but I shared with the other 2 by feeding them from my spoon. When I would hold the spoon up to Josh, he would open his mouth and close his eyes. The boy is hilarious, and when he opens wide like that, it's amazing how big his mouth is! (Sorry, Joshy's mom, but it's true.) His sister is another matter all together. You tell her to open wide and you can barely squeeze the spoon in, but she doesn't put a lot of effort into it. Anyway......a good time was had by all, and I guess it occasionally pays off to be a "regular". When I tried to give the ticket back to our waitress to add the pie on, she just waved it off. She got a big tip!
We were headed to Barnes & Noble, but I've been suffering a rib fracture for a few weeks now. Putting on coats, carrying in little ones, taking off coats, and then doing it all again was taking it's toll, so I decided to take Joshy home and just take the older ones. Great idea, but when I pulled Jordy from the car at B&N, she dug her knees right into my ribs. I think I saw stars! We went in and played Thomas the train, read Thumbelina and The Gingerbread Man, and spent some time annoying the other patrons in the "echo" chamber. We know how to have a good time!
When I got home, there was Sadie, dancing around the living room, making googly eyes at me because she knows she gets what she wants because she's so cute. And what she wanted was a walk in the -20 weather. OK! OK! I pull on the snow clothes and head out the door. Forgot my scarf and by the time I hit the bottom of the stairs, I knew my nose would be black with frostbite in a short time, but I persevered. I was dragging Sadie down the long, snow-covered, wooden walkway, and she does what my neighbors complain about the most. She left a long, yellow trail as she walked. I've tried over and over to explain to her that you don't do that on the walkway, but for some reason, when it's covered in snow, she doesn't seem to know it's a walkway. She generally uses her manners and never goes on the sidewalk, but I can't seem to make my neighbors understand the working (or maybe lack of working) of a dog's mind. Oh well, I'll kick snow on it when I come back up.
Can you believe all of this took a full day? I ended the day nursing my sore rib on the couch while watching "The Happening". The movie wasn't great, and it was interrupted with constant texts from my friend Cary, 3 phone calls, and a popcorn break, but hey! It had Mark Wahlberg in it. You can't go wrong with that.
Good night all! Maybe tomorrow will actually offer some excitement..........