Street signs were unreadable as it was sticking to everything! I think the kids were a bit nervous, I know I was. I was constantly thinking of if we were to get stuck, where we would walk to and how wet and cold they would be... especially Jacob as he didn't bring a jacket! They were also getting hungry and we scrounged through the car to see what sustenance we had with us... Mike and Ike's would get us through! We actually had some gatorade and other junk foods so we were feeling pretty good!
We were in the Prius, as Michael and I made a conscious decision that morning that he should have the bigger heavier Expedition for the evening commute when the snow would be bad... hmmm!
Amazingly enough, our Prius was awesome!! Front wheel drive proved to be just what we needed. There were so many stupid drivers... I know they are always out there but they really stand out when the conditions are so poor! We saw people trying to avoid cars, going around and then getting stuck themselves or just plain pushy! Green and red lights didn't seem to apply to some and the whole idea of not blocking intersections was lost! Each hill gave me reason to worry as cars where sliding everywhere. One car in front of us almost slid back and hit us, and another car I jumped out to help push as it was getting stuck. I've never seen such awful conditions and the main problem was there were so many people on the road the sand trucks and plows couldn't do anything as we were crawling!! We were almost home free when I had to make a decision as to which way to go home... straight down hill road or curvy back roads... I had decided to take the curvy roads as Shaun had walked home from a friends and told me there were downed wires on the straight shot road! So with prayers and trepidation I turned off the major road...thankfully so did the snow plow/sand truck that was in front of me!! I really don't think I would have made it without him plowing in front as the snow was pretty high on the side streets! It would have been a cold and wet 1 1/2 miles, but each street we navigated my nerves were calming since I knew we were close! The kids and I cheered each time I put my blinker on and the snow plow went that way too!! At one point the snow plow got stuck... yes a huge truck, he backed up and went forward a few times and then was successful... when I went over that area, which he plowed, we totally were scraping the bottom of the car on the snow! We finally arrived home a bit frazzled! Michael was having an equally harrowing trip home and arrived a little more than an hour after us... his journey which was mostly by metro and driving a short 6.9 miles took almost 5 hours!
Whew! I cooked dinner and was making Michael's so it would be warm for him, then we lost power...
For two days, we chilled... literally! We played card games by candle light and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows over the fire. It was... fun... wasn't it? Our second morning the house was a chilly 50.4 degrees!! We braved the roads and went to Starbucks! We came home only long enough to get everyone up and ready to head to Panera for lunch! Just as we were leaving the power came on!! We stayed out most of the day and returned to a warm home!!! Here are some pictures of our snow fun... once we started to enjoy it!!
The kids have a 7 day weekend with the snow days and the two teacher work days on Monday and Tuesday... I think sledding will be a daily adventure!!
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| The trees were so heavy with snow but beautiful! |
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| We lost a tree... just snapped! |
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| Building a fort for snowball fights |
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| Our snowman! |
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| Ready to hit the hill! |
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| Christian a friend we brought along! |
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| Surveying the hill and the bump Shaun was building. |
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| Shaun trying out the little jump |
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| Jacob catching some air |
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| Rachel catching some air |
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| Shaun thought it a little lame... he needs bigger hills these days! |
