Ah, to be a kid again!

Snowstorms have different effects on people, and it usually depends on your age as to whether you are excited or furious! People who must get to work on time each day surely hate the white stuff, but if you are a kid, snowstorms mean a lot of good things to you!

We had a 36 hour precipitation event in our city. It started with freezing rain and sleet on Monday night. Then it continued all night long, and some snow fell in between sleet events. For most of the day Tuesday, it sleeted, and didn't seem to pile up significantly despite the fact that it was pretty continuous all day. Then Tuesday evening, it started to turn to snow, and by Wednesday morning, we had a 5" pile on our lawns and streets.

In our city, this means one thing "SNOW DAY". Schools close, parents grumble and kids are ecstatic! Not all schools were closed on Tuesday, but Wednesday most of the elementary and secondary schools and districts were closed, as well as my community college! So we all got a SNOW DAY.

Little Boy M and Little Girl M were supposed to have preschool, but that was closed. So my usual trip to get them on Wednesday meant we went to the babysitter instead of school (which is right behind my house.) They had looked at the snow all day, but the babysitter didn't take the crew outside to play in it. As we were going home, they began planning their first romp in the snow for this snow event....Grandma, can we run in the snow?.... Grandma can we have a snow fight?.... Grandma, do you have hot chocolate?....Grandma, does your hot chocolate taste like mommy's?....Grandma..... Grandma.....Grandma...

By the time we got to my house, the snow romp was planned! Yes, we would run in the snow and have a snow fight. Yes, Grandma does have hot chocolate, and hopefully it will taste like mommy's (whew!) Grandma was not looking forward to bring two cold snowcovered snow bunnies inside and drying them out, but I have reserve clothes at my house, so I figured--WHAT THE HECK, LET'S ALL BE KIDS AGAIN AND PLAY IN THE SNOW!

It wouldn't have done me much good to plan anything else, because as soon as I released one M from the car seat, he was in the snow, same for his sister. They had a ball, running, throwing, digging, burying their faces, making snow angels...it lasted for all of 20 minutes til little toes started to tingle, and the thin gloves I could find for Boy M became totally caked with snow and his fingers got very cold.

As we went in the back door, we stripped down, taking all our snowy clothes off, and they moved into the bedroom to find new socks and slippers that I had bought for them to wear while at Grandmas. We got out the hot chocolate, the drippy clothes went into the dryer, and the evening went very well.

As messy as it is, and as inconvenient as snow can be for adults, it was fun to be a kid again, and take joy in playing in the fluffy white stuff. I'm glad I could enjoy it with the M & M's, because they had such fun at Grandma's house yesterday.

FLASHBACK: I remember a snowy day when I was about 5--I think I was already in Kindergarten. There was a very deep snow, and we were playing in it. I was at a friend's house that was about 3 blocks from my own home. I stepped into a very deep drift of snow, at least up to my --- well, you know what, and my boot came off. The friends couldn't find the boot, so I had to walk home 3 blocks in one boot and one sock! My foot knew the meaning of cold on that day!