I am hoping, without much faith, that the past snow fall is the last of the year. As beautiful as a white, sparkling, snow covered town can be, I am more than ready for the temperature to rise and say goodbye to the mess. We did get in some play time in the snow, while it was here, much to the girls’ pleasure.
As the snow was falling last week, my husband and I each took the girls out to play in the fresh snow. It was still pretty cold out, and my oldest decided to head in after about five minutes. My youngest, on the other hand, had to be carried in kicking and screaming. She had no cares about the cold or that her hands were getting soaked. The allure of going down the play set slide and landing in a pile of snow was far greater than any chills she was getting. We tried to make a snowman but the snow wasn’t quite ready for building yet. Because of the wind, our fence was covered in snow and she thought it was really fun to push it and watch all of the snow fall off.
I think both girls’ favorite activity, by far, is having a snowball fight. They both giggle through threats of hurling the snowball at us before they toss it and it splashes on our legs. It is always a delight when their dad makes a big snowball and throws it hard against a tree to make it explode and rain over them.
Getting out of the car and into the house is always a process when there is snow on the ground. Since the temps have been too low to play outside for a long period of time, the walk between the garage and the house becomes much longer, walking up and down the driveway to stomp through the snow. On more than one occasion, I have had to rescue one of the girls who got her boot stuck in the snow and walked right out of it. That is about the only time the snow isn’t any fun anymore, and they are willing to go inside without a fight.
This past weekend my parents had my entire family over for a Valentine’s Day gathering. We ate great food, made valentines to decorate the house and celebrated my nephew getting engaged — congrats Dylan and Jennifer! We also took advantage of the decent weather and headed outside to go sledding. My parents live next to a golf course that is full of small and large hills for sledding, depending on how far you wanted to walk. Right next to their house are a couple of small hills, perfect for the little kids.
We got all decked out in our winter gear and headed out, ready to fly down the hills and build a snowman. The snowman was easy enough to accomplish but the snow was so wet and heavy we only made it down the hill if we were being pulled by the string connected to the sled. The kids thought it was great as they sat on the sled. The adults on the other hand were getting a workout pulling the sled through the thick, heavy snow up and down the hills.
We rounded out our snow play building a “cave” in the huge pile of snow at the end of my parents’ driveway. With the help of my brother, sister and nieces, a cozy little hole was dug out that could fit two of the kids. After an expected struggle, we brought the soaked girls inside to dry off and warm up. Luckily, candy hearts and cupcakes were handed out to take their mind off of their earlier snow adventures.
Contact Jamee A. Pierson at
641-792-3121 ext. 6534
or jpierson@newtondailynews.com