Wisconsin Winter is Snow Great!

Wisconsin winters can be cold, snowy, dark and long. But, there's plenty to embrace with the right attitude. One tradition we started 4 years ago was a winter picnic. In past years, we've headed to my parents' farm for a day of tubing in my dad's amazing creation called The Beast and a picnic over a campfire in the woods. Some years, it's been bitterly cold, so the picnic was just long enough to cook and eat our food. Other years, it's been warm for Wisconsin winters, so we've spent the entire day tubing and playing in the snow. 

This year, we had a warm day predicted, but my parents had too much snow for a 4-wheeler to pull the Beast. My dad could have pulled the boys with the tractor, but that's much slower and not quite as entertaining. Plus, Teddy would want to ride the tractor instead of tubing behind it. So my dad suggested we meet at the land for the day, which worked perfectly since we wanted to get a few things done in the garage. 

The Beast fits two adults and two children still!

It meant a several hour drive for both us and my parents, but it was worth it. We were blessed with a nearly 50-degree day, which is incredibly rare. My folks brought the Beast in their pickup, and we have our Ranger down there to pull it.

We spent about an hour tubing, and then started a fire. We roasted hot dogs, and Teddy bit my finger instead of his hot dog. But he was hungry enough at least to stick around for his hot dog before he started wandering around with a shovel to dig in the snow. 

A winter picnic wouldn't be complete without a log as a seat.

Then the boys did some more tubing while Dave tried his hand at winter fishing and I threw some insulation in our back room of the garage. During some of the tubing times, we tried our hand at snowball fights. Teddy sampled quite a bit of snow as we went, and I flipped AJ off the tube only once for good measure. 

We're so blessed to have this land and to enjoy it on this beautiful day!

This was a perfect winter day! It was peaceful, fun and productive. We had so much laughter, along with peaceful moments on the tube, fun memories and a bit of work done at the land. I'm so grateful for this tradition, and it was awesome to bring it to our land this year.