Well I must admit, that is an excellent question. What does one do in a virtual frozen wasteland (sorry, that’s wonderland)?

If you remember correctly, when last we were with our heros. They had just decided to spend the next 6 days in Muskegon with virtually nothing to do. I agreed to stay with one demand. Notice that most people would make a request, or perhaps ask for a small favor. Not Pat, Pat makes demands. Yes it’s true, I’m sure many of my kindergarten report cards came home with a nice bold check in the box marked “Does not play well with others.”

My demand was to have a desk in the basement so that I could work away from everyone. Erika’s father was kind enough to oblidge me with 2 saw horses and a half sheet of plywood. Oh, and to add the crowning finish to my backwoods office, he hung a caged in light (like mechanics use) from some of the plumbing in the ceiling. I had my desk and a light to work with. It probably sounds worse than it is. Their basement is actually warm, and dry and probably one of the nicer unfished basements I’ve ever seen. Nevermind all the ammunition and guns that Mark has down there. Cripes, you’d think this guy could start a war with all the stuff he’s got in his basement. He could sit down there and supply armies with all the gun powder and ammunition stores he has. But I digress.

Back to what do you do in Muskegon in the middle of the winter. Well, you should know that it’s cold there. And you should know that it snows a lot. How much? Well, here’s an example. Go look out your window. Is it snowing? Well, if you lived in Muskegon and you were looking out your window, it would definitely be snowing. That’s because it’s always snowing in Muskegon. ALWAYS!

So Mira found a new toy at the grand parents. It’s like a rocking horse, only it has springs attached to it and it looks as dangerous as all get out. Mira’s new past time became sitting on the horse and watching TV Christmas specials. Here’s view from behind of Mira:

Riding the horse and watching TV!

Of course she constantly wanted an apple which she tried to feed to the bouncing horse. Here’s a pic from the front. And yes, she got to wear her jammies as much as she wanted and she kept trying to feed the horse the apple.

See! That creepy horse even looks real!

Now, one can only watch tv for so long. At which time we headed outside for a little playtime. Most kids build snowmen in the winter. In Muskegon, there’s too much snow. So here’s what Mira did when she went outside:

Mira shoveling the driveway

You’d think that grandpa Mark would have a tractor or a snow blower. But oh no! Why waste money on that stuff when you have free child labor whenever you want it. Occansionally Mira would get to take a break and we’d put her on top of the snow bank. It was like 10 feet in the air, but she didn’t even get scared. See:

Mira on snow bank

Kids these days are just desensitized from all the danger they see on the TV. We figured she would hate the work and want to come back in to ride the horse and watch TV. But she just loved working outside:

Mira enjoying the work!

At some point we realized that there was snow everywhere and it would be a good idea to take Mira sledding for the first time. Here’s a nice short video of her sledding down the little hill behind the Steinberg home:

Ah yes, enjoying the lovely winter weather in Muskegon. This is pretty much how many of our last days played out. Mira and Erika toiling outside in the cold and snow. Whilst I worked tirelessly in the cave-like basement of the Steinberg home.

Don’t miss tomorrows installment of the Keefe’s return to Michigan and Mira’s successful attempt to “get the baby!”