FROST BITTEN

OK..... I went back and forth about posting this or not. As a parent it's never fun to admit when you've done your child wrong, but I did Kyla wrong!!!
She got frost bite on her feet... She was standing on the front porch in 18 below zero weather bare footed... While I was chasing our new... as of yet... un-named dog down the street.
In my defense.... when I took off Kyla was inside the car.. but had taken her boots off. I never told her to get out and wait on the porch for me....She was only standing barefoot for 5 minutes!!
She only has a mild case that didn't need medical treatment, I just had to carry her around for 3 days. She wouldn't walk AT ALL..
So, note to all: Don't let your kid's go outside without shoes on... especially in sub-zero conditions.

Beezler

This is our new addition to the Cossaboon Family.... Is he a Hunting dog???? remains to be seen...Will he bite my kids??? I don't think so, but we didn't think Foster would either....All I can say is that he has a sweet calm personality and Hunney loves him already.
We asked for advice for a name, and We have chosen the name Beezler. Thanks Cindy....
Even though we picked a name we still call him various others that were in the running for a chance to be "the One".

Dog Sledding Fun

So... It's below zero, on Monday afternoon... Daddy is home and we wanted to do something fun together as a family.
So we drive to the local indoor climbing gym, to find that it is closed due to the pipes freezing because the heater went out...
So... we drive back home and decide to take the dogs for a walk.
I don't know exactly how, but
someone had the idea to tie the
sled to the dogs and let the
kids ride. (we were at the library last
week to listen to a Musher talk about
dog sledding, and met the head dog).
So... here we went. It
turned out to be such a fun time. And the dogs loved it too...

Our Korean Teacher... YouJin

So here is proof of the wonderful YouJin that we have had the honor of hosting in our home. She arrived in Cody from South Korea in September with many other Korean teachers to learn English. She took courses at the local college in Powell (20 miles north) then she came to stay with us January 3, and will be here until February 18th.

We have really enjoyed having her here. She has shared so much culture and experience with us. The kids have had lots of fun listening her speak her language when she contacts her family and friends through skype.

We have exchanged many recipes... Cooking something different every night. Bulgogi, a popular meat dish, Chop Che, a popular noodle dish, spinich salad, not what you think! and of course kimchi with every meal... they even eat it with breakfast in Korea. Yummy,yummy....

She has eaten beans and green chile, our famous curry vegetables, spagetti with elk burger... and many other American dishes. One of the things she wanted to learn was to make a lasana which we made together..

This past weekend I taught her to make strawberry-rhubarb jam... Something she enjoyed very much. She is taking what she made home... even though her bags will already be way over the 50 lb limit..

We have grown to be great friends, and will be sad to see her go. I think she is eager to get back to normal in Korea after having been here in the US for 6 months total by the time she gets home.

Archery Lessons







This past September Jonas finally started Archery lessons.It was a very big deal for both him and us.... He hasn't ever been interested in any organized sports in the past, so when he got a bow for his Birthday, we signed him up. He found his niche, and has enjoyed it very much.
Derek and Cindy gave him a sight for the bow for Christmas and ever since we had it mounted, he has gotten progressively better. He hits a bulls eye more times than not.
In March 4-H starts up, so we are planning to sign him up for that.... Very exciting.

New Jersey

Behind the Scenes at Denver Zoo

After Thanksgiving, we stayed with Derek and Cindy to visit and go to the zoo.
They gave us a special tour where we got to feed giraffes, get a kiss froma sea lion, and the most special thing that Jonas has been waiting for was to feed the rhinos... he wasn't aloud until he turned 7 years old.

I don't know how many of you know this, but giraffes have very long purple tongues. We fed them carrots and apples.
They do lots of training with the sea lions, I was impressed at how intelligent they are.
The rhino has a prehensal top lip that grabbed the apple and pushed it into his mouth. He was very gentle and also had training and followed directions given by the keeper.

We had a wonderful time.... Thank you Derek and Cindy for such a wonderful time.

Kyla loves Nini and Poppi's dog Keeya. While they were here I think the only time Kyla put Keeya down was at bedtime!!!

This is the Halloween costumes the kids chose this past Halloween. Jonas is a ninja and Kyla is a fairy princess with wings... Very fitting for both , don't you think???

One of the Joys of being a kid.... Acting silly and not caring what anyone else thinks.

This is Stormi, Taylor Jonas (dressed like a girl) and Kyla doing a dance for us... it was sooo much fun.

So I've Finally Done It

Well, I've dived into the world of blogging...

If you had asked me before I would have thought blogging was dredging through some sort of yucky muddy water.... Well, to be honest,

it is a little bit like that.

I am excited to be a part of this strange new place though.

We are here in Cody, Wyoming watching the wind blow... I don't know how many of you know how windy it gets here, but whew... It blows all winter long. Sometimes it gets up to 50-70mph gusts.

Kyla has finally caught the cold that my mom brought us as a New Year's gift. First it was me and Jonas, then Fawn. Dan has some how managed to stay healthy thus far.

Oh well.. It was the thought of the gift that counts, Mom...

We have a guest staying here with us... Her name is YouJin, she is a teacher from Korea that has come with 30 others to the US to learn English with a group called Incheon. They were looking for host families to house them until late February, so we volunteered. We felt it would be an enriching experience for all of us..

We have really enjoyed having YouJin.

I will post pics soon.