Snow Fun

Snow was a little slow coming this year to Anchorage. On Halloween we only had a sprinkling on the ground. Then it started snowing. And thawing. And snowing. And freezing. And snowing. We now have a beautiful white winter wonderland...that's a little deadly. There is a layer of fluffy white snow over a layer of sheer ice.

The neighbor who plows our driveway for us slid on the ice in his truck and bumped into our perennial bed's retaining wall. (I easily fixed the damage.) Then he went back home and slid into his retaining wall. Not good driving conditions. Not even good walking conditions. I know because I took the kidlets out for a short walk to see the tree that had fallen across the street that leads to our cul-de-sac.

First, of course, we had to properly dress for our little adventure. Bentley got on his snow pants, hat, coat, and boots without any help! Now to get Viva and Jake trained likewise. (Maybe I could bribe B with a monster truck if he can teach them how to do it?) First I had to convince the trio to use the bathroom. Meanwhile I tracked down all the snow gear. Then I had to get Viva to change from a dress into a pants and to put on socks. Then I had to help VivaJake put on their snow pants, hats, coats, boots--pulling the snow pants over the boots, and finally mittens--tucking them carefully into the coat sleeves.

Once outside the boys grabbed a snow shovel and started moving snow from one area to another. Viva claimed she could not hold a shovel with her mittens on. I'm not sure it was the mittens so much as the coat and snow pants which were voluminous. The girl looked like a huge pink marshmallow.


After letting the boys shovel for a while, I convinced them to walk down to see the tree. We slip-slided down the driveway with all the children falling at least twice. Fortunately they were well padded. While walking to the fallen tree, I showed the boys how to make a snow ball. The snow was perfect for nice snow balls. It would compact enough to hold together, but it wouldn't make an ice ball, so it didn't hurt when you got hit with it.

Well, it didn't physically hurt! It turns out it can be quite emotionally traumatic if your grandmother hits you with a snowball and it lands just below your chin and explodes upwards into your face with some of the snow escaping down the opening of your coat and sliding down your tummy.

I had to work really hard to come back from that mistake. B wanted to go inside IMMEDIATELY. He finally calmed down and we spent another hour outside throwing snowballs (not at each other!) and playing in the snow. Jake and Viva asked to make snow angels, so I helped them make a couple, but it's hard to see an imprint in dazzling white snow at mid-day. The children had great fun going down their slide. Snow pants are very slippery on a slide.

I was the one who called a halt to the fun. We wouldn't want to miss nap time!!!