Snow Dayz

So after our ice storm hysteria and ensuing house arrest finally ended on Wednesday, we moved forward into the rest of the week expecting chilly temps and lots of rain. Apparently no one thought this freezing rain could turn into snow, because we all headed out into the world on Friday, carefree and confident in our 2-wheel-drive cars and lack of salt trucks. And then it started snowing at 8:15 a.m. Oh, it'll all melt when it hits the road, I thought as I drove through increasingly heavier snowfall on the way to work, this will be no problem at all! Look how it's so pretty while it falls and covers the road.

Two hours, two conference calls, and a lot of emailing later, I looked out the window and saw that the snow was really starting to cover the roads. I watched a car slide backwards down a one-way street. The bridge a few blocks from my office was packed with cars that weren't moving. Hmmm, I started doubting my lunch plans at my favorite pizza place. A little while later, the ISD called, saying that while you could pick up your kids at any time,the roads were so bad they felt students were safest staying in their classrooms, particularly since the weather was expected to improve. I found this very logical, but unfortunately the weather didn't improve.

Now I've lived in Chicago, so I know this isn't that big of a snow storm, but in a city where 95% of the vehicles are 2WD and the city doesn't have snow plows or salt trucks or really any ability to deal with snow, this is a major problem. The city is designed to simply shut down at the slightest chance of a snow flurry. I have no idea what we were all doing on Friday, driving to work and school while it was actively snowing. We live in DFW. We have no business pretending like we can handle that.

At 11:30 I called JP to come get me. His car is 4WD and the roads were an icy disaster. I'd watched multiple cars wreck from my 19th story perch and I wasn't going to be one of them; and even if I was willing to entertain the idea of slip-sliding around on the roads, I definitely wasn't willing to do it with the kids. It took him an hour to get the 5 miles to my office, and then it took us another hour to collect the children. His car felt very safe, but it was scary watching the other cars slide towards us, only to turn away at the last second. I stopped paying attention to how many times we were nearly hit by other cars and put my head down and re-read a romance novel. My audible inhales were annoying the crap out of JP.

But we collected all our ducklings and were back home a little before 2. And then the fun part of the snow day began.

The big kids immediately went to play outside and then we spent forever getting everyone dressed to go on a family walk. Cora and Tex were so certain they wanted to be outside too, and joined together in a rousing duet of "Do You Want to Build a Snowmannnnn".

They did. They were so sure they wanted to build a snowman.

But then Cora got outside and remembered that snow is the worst.

No, actually, being placed in a flimsy plastic sled on TOP of snow, greatly upping the risk that you might come into contact with snow, is the worst.

She sat on Claire's lap, then Landon's lap, and then there was a small accident while riding with Claire that involved Cora actually touching the snow, through her gloves, and that was very traumatizing.

I carried her the rest of the way and Tex looked like he wished I could carry him too. Landon stepped up so I could get a kid picture and Cora was super excited about it. The big kids stayed outside forever and I briefly considered doing yoga, but drank wine instead.

Today we woke up to the snow with everyone home, safe and cozy in their beds, and that is a WAY better way to have a snow day. The big kids played outside off and on for hours, while Cora watched from a safe distance. She liked to keep an eye on them, but was careful to make no sign that might lead us to think she wanted us to get out her snow suit.

According to Cora, the best way to deal with snow is to not deal with snow. As my car sits patiently in my work parking garage and I drink wine and eat snacks all day (and then watch House of Cards all night), I have to agree.