Pictures right as I saw the first snowflakes
Fortunately the previous owners had a "cut out" made at the top of our property off the road where both our cars could fit so as long as we parked one car up there we would not be stuck in our house. It was nice to know we could leave our house (we had quite a few friends who were really stuck in their house) if we had to because we were really pretty worried about losing power and needing to be able to leave our house. We have talked about purchasing a generator many times (well in the 8 months we have lived here how has it already been 8 months?) but they are really expensive and I am not sure when we will get around to that. Fortunately for us we never lost power. It looked like Northern VA had way more power outages. Mark attempted to shovel our driveway and the area in the cut out where I parked the highlander Friday but there was just too much snow Friday night. By the time he finished shoveling Friday evening there were almost 3 more inches on the ground. It was amazing all the snow that fell. We attempted to sled down our side yard but it is not ***very safe because there are trees at the bottom. It works but you have to be really good at stopping (rolling off your sled) in time.
After the first few hours: (Friday January 22nd)
In between celebrating Lydia's birthday Saturday we drove over to Christ Greene Lake. We saw the snow plow go down our street and decided to follow it and enjoy a walk in the snow. This was during a pretty heavy snowfall. We live less than a mile from the lake so felt fine driving over to check it out. We had to park at the gate and then start our hike in. Many people had mentioned to us that they loved sledding at Chris Greene Lake so we walked in with our sleds. The snow was so deep we could not get our sleds to move. It is a steep incline but no luck. As we were
The snow stopped falling just before dinner Saturday. Jared and Lydia played on our back deck while Mark and I made dinner. It was crazy to see how much snow had fallen. It was especially deep for Lydia. I got out some spray bottles and filled them with colored water and they played with the sandbox toys. They walked around the deck knocking all the snow off the railing and had a great time together. It is amazing how much more fun snow is when you have the right clothes.
We woke up to clear, sunny skies Sunday (January 24th) and church being canceled. So many people were snowed in. I am sure the parking lot was untouched. The thing with this much snow is not just driving safely bit really where do you put it all? We went over to Chris Greene Lake again to try out some sledding and were not disappointed. I really do love sledding This time we actually made it to the sledding hill. The lake has a dam on one side and it is a steep hill. It also has a natural jump on it which some older kids took advantage of. They built the jump up some and had some cool (and pretty bad) jumps. We all had a great time and went back to do it again Monday (January 25th). I could sled all day long if possible but eventually you get wet enough and remember that you still have to hike up a big hill to get to your car.
That is some deep snow!
Love this cut out so much!!
We all had a great time sledding. Jared and Lydia (especially Lydia) ended up preferring to sled down the tracks as we called them on their bums which was actually really helpful as we broke 2 of our 3 sleds. I had driven to so many stores Thursday night before the storm searching for sleds and finally found them at the store closest to our house, go figure. Chris Greene Lake was an awesome place to sled and I can't wait to go again.
Bum sliding!
Older kids being crazy! Some got some really good air. We did too and we weren't even trying.
Monday January 25th
Early Monday afternoon we decided we should be responsible and shovel our driveway. Mark worked on that while I cleared snow from the cut out so preschool families could park there. As we were working our neighbor John (Kearns) from 2 houses down drove by. We chatted for a minute and then he continued home. A few minutes later he came up the street on his 4x4 with a snow plow attachment. He helped us shovel all the snow the plow had dropped at the driveway entrance and then cleared a majority of the driveway with his plow. It was so nice of him. We were so grateful. We then headed back over to Chris Greene Lake to sled some more.
We ended up with three tracks right by each other and had fun racing each other down.
Jared, April, Lydia
Lydia, Jared, Mark
Besides sledding we (mostly Mark) spent a good amount of time shoveling. We made snow ice cream and a snow cave. We made lots of snow angels and threw lots of snowballs. I put together some snowman for breakfast, made some truly awesome forts and we did some bowling too.
Find the cleanest snow!
She was so funny backing into the cave.
They didn't play in it much (it was kind of smelly) but we made it happen.
This was Jared's fort.
He did a great job to start it but I stepped in when he wanted more rooms. This was the 3 room version. Lydia had cool one too. We love our basement.
It was great fun, largely because we did not lose power and Mark is a teacher so we got to enjoy the snow days with him. I am ready for the snow to melt now and then for us to get some fresh snow again. It is supposed to be 61 tomorrow and 64 Monday with rain so I think it will mostly melt away. I do hope we can go sledding again though!
*A few days later Jared showed us how not safe it was by sledding right into a tree branch and getting a bad gash in his cheek. We had friends over and were out playing. Mark was throwing snowballs at the boys and Jared jumped onto his sled on his stomach and slid down the hill right into the branch. It was so sad. (Warning: Gross picture below.) We took this picture to send to our friend Ashely who is an ER doctor. We weren't sure if he would need stitches. She was so kind and came over to check it our and apply some medical tape on it. It was so sad for him. That was actually a really rough day for Jared. (Wednesday) First he he was not wearing his glasses and as he was climbing down from a tree branch a flake of bark got in his eye. Ensue crying and time inside trying to help him. Next he was using his sled to block snowballs that we were throwing at him (that he asked for) and the timing was off and he got hit right under his eye. Ensue crying round 2. Then this accident with the sled. It was really an unfortunate hour for him. And the next day school was back in session for the first day since last Thursday and I got called by the school nurse asking to see if I could come pick Jared up. At first they said he looked like he might be coming down with pink eye because he had a weepy eye. I wondered if it was just irritated from the day before but as I pulled into the parking lot I got a text from my friend Julie who had just seen Jared telling me that he really didn't look well. I chatted with her for a minute and she said that when she saw him that morning at drop off he looked like his normal chipper self but then when she saw him at lunch he looked really bad. He had his head down on the table and was shivering and not eating. She went to get him his coat and then talk to an aide about taking him to the nurse who then called me. I am so glad she was there to help him out/comfort him. Poor guy looked pretty bad when I saw him. As we got to our street he told me I needed to get him home quick because he was about to throw up. Luckily I always keep Ziploc bags on his side of the car and told him to grab one. He threw up and then after we cleaned him up laid down and slept for 2.5 hours. He did not eat much that afternoon and did not eat a real dinner. He dozed off and on on the couch until dinner time. We did get him to eat some applesauce which helped him but the poor kid was exhausted. I kept him home the next day and am so glad I did. He threw up Friday morning at 7:50 but that was the only time that day and spent most of the day sleeping. I was having a preschool make up day so I put on Return of the Jedi for him and then told him when it was over to try to sleep. He then slept from 11:30 - 3:10! It was crazy. He slowly ate more food and seemed mostly better by the time he went to bed Friday. I am so glad it was a quick bug but it sure came on fast!! He went to school fine Thursday and then just looked like death from lunchtime on. And a good part of Friday too.
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