While December was not as cold or snowy as we had expected, January and February did not disappoint! I don’t think the temperature has been above freezing in over two months, and on a few occasions it has been below zero Fahrenheit. Since Eleanor started kindergarten on January 9, she has ridden a sled in the snow to school every day.

While it has been pretty cold out, we have found that our Latvian friends and neighbors still love to spend time outside. Two of their favorite activities are sledding and ice skating (ice hockey for the men and boys). We have had several opportunities to spend time with our church family, get to know our neighbors, and meet new friends, just by taking our sleds or skates outside. Our apartment building is located right at the edge of a lake that has been frozen over now for a couple of months. We have loved spending time out there and practicing our skating and hockey skills!

As for sledding, we have several small slopes around our apartment complex, but a few weeks ago one of our friends asked us if we wanted to spend the morning at “Bļodiņkalns” or “Bowl Hill.” While we didn’t have any idea what that was, it sounded pretty exciting, so of course we agreed. We ended up spending both Saturday and Sunday afternoon there with our church that weekend, and the girls have been back since with our next-door neighbors. It is a hill in the forest about 10 minutes drive from our apartment, where it was excavated at one point many years ago and the trees have all been cleared. Now it is a bowl shaped hill and you can sled down into it from several directions. Just make sure you don’t collide with anyone down in the bottom of it!