SLEDDING!!

We started out on a snow plow pile across the street and then decided to venture out of the neighborhood to an actual sledding hill at a nearby park. We all had so much fun and were the envy of the sledding hill with our awesome snow tube. (Thanks Pitchers!)




The hill doesn't look that big in the photos, but it was actually pretty decent and long and had some good bumps (see video below).
























The baking continues at our house...homemade cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate warmed us up when we got home.

Amelia wipes out, followed by me being knocked over by the tube:


More sledding action:

Dad is home.

Ben made it home Sunday night and we were all SO happy to see him. Elsa held on to her dad for a LONG time.

We are realizing now just how lucky we are that he was able to make it home when he did. Dulles Airport had over 32 inches of snow and had opened only one runway by Sunday afternoon. We know of other people who are still delayed trying to get into town. He had to wait at least an hour in a long line for a taxi and said the roads were still pretty bad. (If you ever need a taxi from Dulles to Alexandria, it will cost you $75.) We're just happy he's here.

We were all showered with fun gifts from Paris. Ben brought me my favorite, a chocolate croissant, which I devoured on the spot. Amelia and Elsa loved their Eiffel Tower souvenirs. Ben's office was closed again today and is closed tomorrow as well. And what a dream for school-aged kids around here...schools are closed through Wednesday at least.

Now we are awaiting the next storm...

The morning after...

Blue skies today. It's beautiful.


7 a.m. (Thanks to Elsa waking up at 6 this morning, we were able to watch the sunrise.)

The post where we finally have fun in the snow...

The snow finally stopped sometime around 5 p.m. I think we ended up with around TWO FEET!

The kids were so anxious to get out in the snow. Amelia had a blast. We are lucky that her good friend Sadie lives across the street so they were able to have lots of fun together in the snow. Elsa really wanted to have fun, but she just couldn't move well in the snow and had a hard time following the other kids around. (She came down with a fever of 103 later in the day. Sad.) We managed to get the gate to the backyard open a few inches and squeezed our way through.


(This is actually an elevated walkway so the snow was even deeper.)


Amelia makes her way...




Amelia with our neighbors Sadie and London.






Amelia and Mercedes had fun creating a "snow house" under this tree.


The "snow house" from a distance.




Elsa taking cover under the playground.




These bushes are usually blocking that window entirely.


Can you spot all of the cardinals?

Taxi please...

Assuming Ben makes it home tomorrow, I'm afraid he'll be arriving from the airport via taxi. I finally got all the snow shoveled off the car, and in so doing, completely buried it.

My fantastic neighbors came to my rescue today and helped with the shoveling, including the worst part of the driveway...the part by the road that gets piled about 3 feet high from the snow plows. Nothing like shoveling to remind you that you recently had an appendectomy.







(Internet was down the last 4 hours...at least it wasn't the power. We've been lucky so far. And I wasn't just dreaming those loud creaks I heard last night...my neighbors had a huge branch come down.)

A word about hot chocolate.

This is how we're getting through the snowy weekend:



Our fabulous hot cocoa machine is constantly churning with delicious, frothy, warm happiness. My sister Stephanie gave us this beauty for Christmas and we use it ALL the time. It keeps the hot chocolate at the perfect temperature. It's amazing.

I love to chop up some of my favorite chocolate and throw it in with some milk (whole milk if we're feeling extra creamy), half & half, and a splash of vanilla. So creamy and delicious.




Hot chocolate is the perfect compliment to a game of Guess Who.

Trapped.

I thought I should start the shoveling process. The kids really want to go outside and play but they won't be able to move without some sort of path. The snow is up to Elsa's neck.

Small problem. Our porches have no covering so the snow is packed right up to the door. I couldn't get the front door open:



The back door wasn't any better:


I managed to squeeze out through this small crack:




It is so beautiful and quiet outside.




(Saturday, 12:30 p.m.)



Trapped children:



This is as far as I got with the shoveling. And the snow is still falling. Unfortunately, I can't get the gates to the backyard to budge and that's where the sled is. Oops.

18 inches and counting

Fun fact: we're in the midst of the worst snowstorm in this area in 90 years!


Saturday, 10 a.m.



p.s.
"The Archdioceses of Washington and Baltimore said unsafe travel conditions because of the weekend's snowstorm can legitimately exempt Catholics from the Sunday obligation to attend Mass."

Yeah, we won't be going anywhere for awhile.

Especially since I'm in charge of the shoveling.


Saturday, 7 a.m. and still snowing.




This is the view out our back door. This startled me as I came around the corner. Those branches are not usually hanging there.







It was a fitful sleep last night. It was dead quiet outside, but every so often I would hear the creaking of a tree branch and I was sure that one of our trees was going to fall on our house.

Time for a waffle breakfast with hot chocolate...

(I complain about my house too much, so in an effort to be more positive, I do love all the windows in our dining room that offer a great panoramic view of the snow.)

More updates throughout the day, unless we lose power.