Snow Day...in March?

Monday we had a snow day. Behr woke up before six am, yelling, "Look Mom and Dad, it's snowing!" Apparently we have succeeded in building the excitement about the snow. Now can we create excitement about sleeping in?

Mark took Behr with him to work for a few hours during Hudson's nap time and I was able to sit and think, uninterrupted. It was glorious! When they came back, I went to the gym, alone. Also glorious! But want to know what really made this snow day grand? We took Behr and Hudson sledding for the first time. Or if you follow me on instagram, tubing as some people would call it.

Me: I call sliding down a backyard size hill sledding, even if you are on an inflatable inner-tube.
Mark: Sledding is on a sled, when you use a tube, it is called tubing.

I say if you are going to get technical then why isn't it called "toboggan-ing" when you use a toboggan? Tubing takes place on a ski-type mountain with a rope pull. Sledding is a backyard past time.  Where do you fall in the debate?

our wagon has big wheels, so obviously we took it through the snow.  

 We decided to go to a park with the tiniest of tiny hills. Maybe, maybe a one foot grade change. The beauty was, no one else was trying to sled there. Meanwhile, most people who passed looked at us like we were crazy and told us about the hill in front of the Capitol Building, as if we didn't know there was a hill there! Lots of encouragement for the bigger and better, but we had fun on our slightly slanted slope. Actually we had a blast. It might have been the most fun I have had sledding since I was really young.

Snow-scapades

We used to live just North of Boston, Massachusetts, so each winter we wish for big snow. This year, storm after storm spared DC from snow, leaving us disappointed. Beautiful instagram shots of snow (have you seen Anna's photos?) left us wishing for our own winter wonderland as we trudged through rain. And then, it started to snow! Here are a few of our escapades outside:

// the first snow, I bundled up the boys and got all the way out of our building to find...grass. By the time Hudson's morning nap was over, everything had melted!

// the next time it snowed I was outside with the boys by 9am eager to document Hudson's "first" snow.

// the first polar vortex had us trekking through blizzard conditions to snap some photos of the Capitol and surround buildings. It was so cold my phone shut off shortly after getting this shot.

// Mark was finally able to play in the snow with us and snow angels abounded.

// and then we got real snow! lots of snow! so logically, we played in our back alley, tried to build a snowman, and realized Behr liked smashing the snow much more than building with it.

Do you enjoy snow? 

What are some of your favorite winter pastimes?

We have been keeping busy with a few special indoor snow activities:

• These free penguin printable worksheets from Meet Penny.
• Playing "Don't Break the Ice" with a wet paper towel over a bowl (use a rubber band to hold in place) and a set of marbles, or in our case rocks. 
• Reading a few of our favorite seasonal books (here, here, and here)

What are your go-to indoor activities?

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Wisp Mountain 2010

Schreibers Shredding the Slopes:

The branches of these trees were completely covered with ice. Each twig glistened in the sun. I wish I could have captured it better with my camera!

First Run of the Day - in the snow, face first!

The whole gang!

View from The Down Under

See that hill behind me? Phil came flying down to try and spray me. My back and hat got caked with snow. What he didn't anticipate was skiing through his own spray! (Note his temporary salt and pepper look.)

Love the silhouette of trees!

Us!

The roads on the way to our cabin. They got 18 inches of snow the week before we came, and 36 inches after we left. Who said there can't be good skiing in Maryland?

Mid-Atlantic Meltdown

...er, maybe more appropriately called a freeze? Ice and snow have been blanketing us since last week. I have not been to work since LAST Thursday. Today was the first time I stepped outdoors since MONDAY! I am getting cabin fever here people! Well, my work announced that it is opening on a two hour delay tomorrow - it is bad that I want to go in early?
What have I done with all of this time in my house?

• Recovered my iTunes (computer crashed months ago...and I haven't updated my iPods since then)
• Rejuvenate my calligraphy blog: Calligraphy by Shannon. It is still a work in progress, and I didn't actually add new content, I just updated the look and feel since I finally had time to mess with the html. It might still be ugly for PC users...sorry :-/
• Packed for our ski trip next weekend...well, at least I started to.
• Read a lot of books...more on that coming soon!
• Threw a taco party! I asked all of the interns on our floor to bring ingredients and it was a blast! (for those of you who don't know, we are RA's in an intern housing building...really)

• Watched chick flicks that I had yet to see: Made of Honor, A Good Year, and You, Me, and Dupree
• Prepped my cards (birthday, anniversary, and everything else) through the end of March.
• Went to the gym every day, and still felt cooped up. It is in our building...and the view is the same as our apartment, so it didn't exactly add a change of scenery.

Are you bored yet? Yeah, my "week" off wasn't really that exciting, but I got some much needed items off of my long-term to do list.

Reading, Watching, Snowing, Shoveling

So last week I decided that since Mark was away I would drive to PA to visit my kid sister and take her to the movies.

Wait, you need background info. She is an avid reader and over Christmas helped me become Obsessed with (dare I say it?) Nicholas Sparks...yes really! I have read 4 books by him this year - in less than two months! I have become a totally and complete sap! And, his latest book turned movie, Dear John was coming out on Friday, so I had to drive to PA before a major snow storm right? Well, that wasn't my only reasons. That kid sister I mentioned, Brooke, well she is an incredible basketball player and is injured, likely out for the remainder of her Junior year. She sprained her ankle in three places and fractured it near her growth plate. It is big, ugly, swollen, and still green after TWO weeks. So yes, I really did have to drive to PA. Her spirits needed boosting!

Being the wise woman that I am, I left for Philly on Thursday. I called Mark late that night as I was passing through Wilmington so he wouldn't worry about me in the snow. When I finally arrived at my parent's house I couldn't believe they were all up waiting for me. My sister was exhausted but noticeably happy to see me, and the look of relief on my mom's face led me to believe she was happy to have someone there to lift Brooke's spirits.

Friday we had lunch with our Mom at her office and then all went to the movie. The entire theatre was filled with girls from the local private schools who all got out early due to the storm. Brooke and I each brought a box of tissues and sobbed through the entire movie, even while we laughed! It was a great movie, but we are still debating whether the plot changed for the big screen made it better or worse than the book. We might never decided.

On Saturday we all bundled up in the living room with chili on the stove to play games and watch college basketball and cleaned Brooke's room in between reading MORE books by Nicholas Sparks.

Finally, I realized that I needed to start shoveling. Here are some pictures of the insane amount of snow that blanketed much of the mid-atlantic and a video...

I opened the garage door...and didn't know where to begin!

That is my dad's car, that mound in front of the house!

Note: nearly three feet of snow drift over the porch.

Well, my mom didn't want it to cause damage, so she leaned out of the window to push it off the front! Go Mom!

And here is a video of the whole thing:

We capped the weekend with a family viewing of the animated movie Up! Now this is a movie I would highly recommend for anyone. Great family movie that kept us all rolling in laughter. Go watch it if you haven't already!

Snow Blossoms before Spring

roof top view from our living room window

It snowed throughout last night. A wet sticky snow that clung to the tree branches in DC like the pink cherry blossoms of spring. As I got ready and walked to work, I couldn't help but snap a few pictures. When it snows, or the sky casts a strange hue, or flowers are beginning to bloom, I always wish I could spend my day wandering the city, to capture the beautiful scenery. Here are a few of the pictures I was able to get on my walk to work...

along independence avenue

outside the library of congress

This last tree is what reminded me of the Cherry Blossoms, as the snow hung to the tree in tiny clusters. It makes me excited for Spring, which is just around the corner...

...oh yeah, and that 10 mile race I have in April! Yikes, I better get running!