Snow Day!

I thought it was never going to happen.

After years of begging, pleading, and lately; groveling, my husband FINALLY consented to taking a trip north for a day of fun in the snow. The kids were super excited!

It's not that he doesn't love his children-quite the contrary- but I guess years of working in the snow on his former job in his former home-state took it's toll; he has a STRONG dislike for the cold, white, cold, sparkling, cold, beautiful stuff.

Living in a balmy (fine. so it's really dry and arid.) climate like we do, we don't own things like hats and gloves, even socks are a rarity in our household; much less coats, snow pants, and boots.
I had to run all over the place trying to round some gear up, and after finally finding some sales and borrowing things from some cousins, we had enough to keep us warm for the day. I really had a hard time finding boots though, and finally out of desperation bought some bright, hot-pink boots because they happened to be the right size... only problem was; they were for a 10 yr old boy.

Yeah...so NOT cool!

Ah, leave it to mom though, to save the day! (and a tender boy's fragile ego)
I got a permanent marker and spent the 2 hour driving time making sure not one speck of pink shined through.

I think I did a pretty good job, huh?

Oh...oops! Well, I'm a firm believer in what you don't know won't hurt you, most of the time...and this was definitely one of those times!

We had so much fun!

Mikayla was not impressed with her first snow experience...must be her daddy's genes coming through.

The rest of the kids loved it though. Lots of sledding, snowball fights and snowmen.

Jerry did, in spite of himself, manage a smile or two.

There were some pretty cool hills to sled down; some very steep and with ramps.
Luca went down one and got the breath knocked out of him...we were all oohing and ahhing over how awesome he looked and didn't notice right away that he was gasping, "I.......can't.....breathe....."

He managed to pull through though.

As much fun as we had, I do have to admit, that it is awfully nice to be able to walk away when you're done...drive 2 hours home, take off the layers and spend the rest of a lovely day...

picking and eating oranges.