Today was a fun day. We went over to Firestone Metro Park, where we were able to hike the entire park in about an hour, which included another round of feeding the birds. I had two land on my hand today, and we saw a huge number of cardinals. The cardinals would not land in anyone’s hand, but they were very happy to pick up seed from the ground (as long as we stood a few feet off). The shorter hike allowed us time to break out the sleds and hit Firestone’s excellent sledding hill. Since it has been over a week since it snowed, the snow on the hill was packed and very fast. The middle of the hill features mini-moguls, which were responsible for dumping many people, including me and my boss Jim when we took our first tandem ride. The edges of the hill were much smoother, and Jim and I had a more successful ride down the smooth section, although the dismount was a bit rough. After two rides down the hill, I took two students back to feed the birds while everyone else kept sliding. With just three of us there, we commanded a lot of attention from the chickadees and even a few small woodpeckers, and we all had a large number of birds land in our hands and take seeds. It seemed as if it was a fun day for everyone, and no one got (very) hurt on the sliding hill.

Mer used today to teach about Italian art and architecture and food, and she also had the students compare Italian and American versions of Nutella (a chocolate-hazelnut spread) plastered on Italian bread. In general, the students could tell which was which (the American version is sweeter, not too surprisingly, but the chocolate and hazelnut flavors are stronger in the Italian version). She also taught a little about Italian soccer, which went over well with the class.