Snow falls on Alabama

It snowed.

In Tuscaloosa.

Alabama.

It even stuck to the roads and the driveways.

Ask Dylan.

He licked it up.

There was enough to make a decent sized snowman.

That lasted until about 6:00 that evening.

 

Plenty enough to throw snowballs.

The boys threw snowballs at each other until we couldn't scoop any more up out of our yard.  There is a definite heirarchy to this thing.  The biggest brother attacks the big brother.

The big brother attacks the little brother.

I've tried to warn Joe that there may come a day when he's not the biggest anymore. 

But who listens to their mother when they're eight?

But then who asks to get buried in the snow?

An eight year old boy.

It was a fun afternoon.

 A nice surprise for the kids.

They have been asking when it would snow here.  We tried to warn them that it probably wouldn't snow here at all but that we could take a trip to the snow one day.  "Like to Georgia" Trek said.  Hmm.  Well, what do you know.  We got 6 whole hours of snow fun right in our backyard!

 

Happy winter, yall!

 

Sugar Bowl Birthday

We were able to take the fam up to Soda Springs for Joe's birthday!  The conditions were finally right.  Enough of a base but not too frigid.  The big kids have only been one other time but they picked it back up pretty quick.  Jono took them out in the morning and they totally conquered the bunny slopes.

I got to come out with them in the afternoon.  And since they were doing so well I decided we should step it up to the next level.  The Jerome Hill Express.  It took us up a little higher but it still had a green trail we could take all the way down.  Problem was you could only see blue and black slopes from the lift.

Abby was freaking out.  Just a bit.

Here's her "mom, i'm cute but you can't be serious" look

They did well

for the moment.

Joe's reaction to skiing and crashing was "this is awesome!"  Abby's was "help!!! i'm going to die!" which she said while laughing hysterically.  I guess laughter is her coping mechanism.  Good to know.  After almost skiing onto a black trail and almost giving herself a heart attack, she resorted to sliding down the rest of the way on her boodie.  Laughing and making pathetic jokes the whole time.

She was beyond relieved to get back to the good ol' White Pine lift.

For the last run of the day I challenged Joe to a race.  Somehow he jumped on the lift ahead of me. 

Not only did he have that little bit of head start but the lift mysteriously slowed down right before I got off.  That's my story anyway.  And I'm sticking to it.  Because he was down the mountain before I had even turned around.

While the big kids were skiing, the littles got to sled their hearts out at the lodge.

Sled.  Roll around in the snow.

Same kind of thing.

Fun times were had by all!

In the Snow

It snowed last week.  Finally.

I say finally only because this time last year we had snow coming out our ears and all of our perishables sitting on the front porch because the power had been out for days.

Sooo...

time to play!

We were a bit too ambitious with our snowman. 

Abby and I couldn't lift his middle so he got shorted a couple snowballs,

but thankfully he still got his carrot!

More snow and more snow.  Sorry we've been off the grid (literally).  The power goes out for a few days and then I try to get myself and the house back in order and then the power goes out again.  It put a little kink in my blogging schedule.

But we're back!

I only took a couple pics of the snow this time.  This snow was really too wet to go out and play in. 

This storm was a bit unique in the fact that it came in sideways.  Check out the six inches on the side of the power pole!

Thanks to the Stocks for letting us crash while the power was out!  Thanks to Jono for surprising me with a "get away from it all" weekend! (more on that later)  And thanks to PG&E for all that overtime.

Good bye, white stuff.  Hello, sunshine and chacos! 



Kickin' it Like Laura Ingall

So what do you do with no power?

#1 Watch the icicles grow.

 #2 Eat dinner by flashlight.  We tried candles the first night but they were just too messy and not nearly as effective.

 #3 Wash dishes the old fashioned way.  You can only store them in the dishwasher for so long before it starts to smell.  Fact.

#4  When the water doesn't work either, you melt snow on the stove to fill up the toilet.

#5 You watch movies on the portable DVD player.

#6 Play games.

#7 Paint, draw, do puzzles.

#8 Have icicles for a snack.

#9 MOST IMPORTANTLY try to stay SANE!



24 inches in 24 hours

When we moved out here, they told us that we would get a "few snows" but it is mostly rain.  The first winter we had several BIG snows and everyone told us how unusual that was for this area but once about every ten years we would get a really Big Storm.  Maybe because time moves slower up in the mountains people forget how long a year is.  We've had these Big Storms every year for four years now.

This time it was about 24 inches in 24 hours!  I don't really know how that compares to other places (this storm came down from Alaska so maybe my Alaska friends can tell me what real snow is like) but this was heavy duty for my tastes.

This is the back of the house and still snowing...

the Swagger Wagon...

this is one of the giant snowballs from last week's storm

this is what the snowballs look like now...and joe swimming in the snow

Abs thought it was super cool that she could get up to the roof...and little monkey thought he would follow...

Jono shoveled the path for us...

Bean couldn't walk in it at all.  But he loved getting thrown into it!

here's where Abs lost her boot.  they had to get the shovel and dig it out.



The power did go out.  and our phone line.  and our water on day 4.  But more on that tomorrow. 

Alaska, no more of your weather please.  Alabama, feel free to send us some of that 70 degree stuff you have!

The Pinestraw Hill

So that was just a couple weeks ago on The Pinestraw Hill (not very romantic or clever but that is what we seem to be calling the new playground area.  and some people around here seemed confused by the term 'pinestraw' which seems also to be called 'pine needles')

and this next one was last friday.

Most of that snow is still on the ground.  We still have three gigantic snowballs in the front of the house, not a snowman, mind you.  Although if you asked Joe he would probably tell you some horrific story about what happened to the snowman.  Maybe I should ask him.  Or spare you.  Hmmm.

We are supposed to have loads more snow coming in tomorrow.  yea.

Snow's Back

So we got some snow.  I don't know how it snows other places.  Being from Alabama, northern Cali is my only experience with the stuff unless you count the "blizzard of '93" when Bama got 6 whole inches.  The snow here comes in feet, granted it only happens a handful of times each winter, but it's the real thing. 

Usually I dread it.  It's cold, confining, wet clothes everywhere, and inevitably the power goes out.  But yesterday was a great day! 

I took the littles out in the morning.  It took me literally at least 30 minutes to get us all ready to go out.  I was thinking, this better be worth it, and it totally was!  We had a blast.  I asked Trek if he wanted to build a snowman or maybe go sled the back hill.  No, he wanted to 'fall in it'.  So we did.  Again and again.  Then we rolled a gigantic snow ball that we pretended was just like the one in the Backyardigans.

The big kids got out of school early so we went back out to play again in the afternoon.  Turns out the new playground is perfect for snow play too!  Snowball fights, sledding, and tricks off the swing are a lot more fun when you can fall into fresh powder.

  

Trek started sliding this hill on his belly!  Then, of course, the little monkey has to do it too.  Joe is working on building a ramp at the bottom.  I'll let you know how that comes out.

Happy Friday!

Enjoy your weather, whatever it happens to be!