not quite born with skis on her feet

It's a common idiom in Norway, that Norwegians are born with skis on their feet (meaning we're all naturals...at least that's what I've always assumed it meant...that's what it means, right?).

This is not the case with little miss E. Not that either of the girls have tried skiing yet, but if you love skiing then you love snow, and until a few days ago Eliana has refused to play with it, let alone walk around in it (the only time she was willing to play with it was when I brought it in the house in a bin for them to explore...something she would request every time she saw snow on the balcony after the first time we did it).

The other day it snowed again and we bundled the girls up and headed out our front door for some fun. First me and Leona rode the sled down the hill a few times, while Judge and Eliana sat on the steps and warmed their hands over a huge outdoor candle.

Then Judge wanted to ride the sled, and Leona was playing with the snow, and Eliana slowly ventured out onto the whiteness, stopped up sometimes, tentatively walked through the deeper parts, experiencing the sound of snow crunching under her feet and the surprise of stepping down through the surface snow.

She has previously refused to sit on the sled as well, but that day she was finally willing to give it a try - and loved it (of course).

[here the sled is totally still so I can get a picture...

wouldn't think so by Eliana's expression though, hehe]

We just pulled them back and forth on the flat bit of our drive-way right outside our front door, and then as Eliana got more comfortable on there, with Leona protecting her, she couldn't get enough of the speed and excitement, laughing her full-hearted chuckle or 'aaaahhhhhh'ing and requesting 'more....more....more' every time we had to take a break.



After Judge and I were exhausted, neither of them wanted to get off sled, until Eliana decided she would pull Leona. Tried, tried again a bit surprised as to why the sled and Leona weren't budging, Leona got off and Eliana tried again - same result, so they switched, Eliana got on and Leona tried to pull....same result, until Judge helped turn the sled around and give the sled a little boost, and then off Leona was pulling Eliana - happy as two clams.

.