8 July

We took a trip to Porters Pass to play in the snow. It was very much a family trip this time, my sister and her family came as well as mum & of course the four of us.

It was very snowy and icey so just after Springfield they had Ministry of Works people stopping everyone to check that they had chains on. Luckily 4wd were able to go through without chains, although we were carrying them. It was a winter wonderland with the sun really sparkling off the snow.

We went to Lake Lyndon first. The Lake isn't frozen over yet but Scott & Brent both had a little twirl on a part that was quite solidly frozen. We then decided to make snowmen but the snow was amazingly dry. It was like little peices of caster sugar & just like caster suger they would not stick together. I don't think I have ever seen snow like it, it just so fine & you could just see the little individual snow particles no wonder the sun was glinting of it & really making it sparkle.

However we did find that that type of snow is just perfect for making snow angels as it is easy to brush aside. All 3 of my boys made an angel so here's a photo of my 3 angels. That's James in the background.

It wasn't great snow to make snowballs either but it did make for nice snow showers over the top of people. In fact it was so fine that it drifted in the slight breeze.

After a bit of a play we had lunch. James & Scott had made meatballs the previous day, Brent & mum had made a quiche & Jo brought some bread & smoked chicken. We set up the picnic chairs & had a lunch out in the snow. It was a good chance to warm up any cold feet by sitting in the car in the sun.

After lunch it was time for some more fun this time going sleding. As usual our sleds were in Wanaka so we resorted to the plastic bag trick again. Even James got into it this year which is nice. He still just sledded down a little slope but Scott & Brent climbed up the hill numerous times for a go down the hill. Brent absolutely loved it & despite the fact he was complaining of cold feet at lunch time he was quite annoyed when we decided to pack up & leave for home.