Cell Phone Snow Pics

From Wednesday:

See that flag? Entire buried today.

She's sitting, but the snow really is up to her waist, the way it drifted in this part of the yard. 

The really fun part is getting through the donations from the plow! Ah, life at the end of a cul-de-sac!

This is one of the best ways to appreciate how deep the snow was when we got up Wednesday morning. No, we didn't get 3 feet at once, but it was not exactly a dusting! And that's a long (and wide -- you don't see most of it in either direction) driveway!

From today:

Snow!

We just made it through The Blizzard of 2015. It came in early Tuesday morning. No one did anything Tuesday -- no school, all state offices were closed -- even the mail didn't come. We didn't have school Wednesday, either. Tuesday was the actual storm, but Wednesday was hours and hours of digging out (and playing).

Well, maybe not hours and hours of playing. WHM let me get his gear on him, so he was pretty watertight.  CAM, on the other hand, threw herself together and was out -- and then wet and cold and back in -- before I could snap a single photo with my real camera. (I do have a handful with my cell phone.)

Typically with a big storm, Mick will go out and battle the snow in stages, but there was no way we could do that on Tuesday. Tuesday just wasn't fit for being outside whatsoever, since it truly was a blizzard. We were all up and out early (8-ish) on Wednesday -- Mick with the snowblower, the kids with their saucers, and me with my camera(s)!

Here are some of the good ones from the real camera.  I'll try again today (Friday -- another snow day!) to get some of CAM.

The snow was up to the top of the snowblower. It took Mick nearly 4 hours to clear it all. He came in and slept.

--Jen

Blizzard 2013*

* does anyone else find it stupid a wee bit ridiculous to name a blizzard?  I refuse to call it Nemo.  Just sayin'.

We got some serious snow up here this weekend.  You may have heard about it.  It truly was a blizzard (as opposed to just a snow storm).  My parents got three feet in NY.  We got well over 2 feet.  It was windy and nasty and cold Friday afternoon and evening and most of Saturday.  But Sunday was glorious.

I mean it:  it was GORGEOUS out.  Sunny, only a mild breeze, and "winter-warm," which is to say, not bitter cold, and only barely freezing.  We had a blast playing with the kids.  This wasn't their first major snow, but it was their first where they were both old enough to play in it.  (Even if WHM wasn't quite tall enough to walk in it!)

sliding down the drifts from the top of the back deck, down into the backyard.

family portrait -- before we got covered!

I love this picture.  She looks jubilant. (She was.)

--Jen

Catching Up, At Last!

I have not forgotten you, my lovelies!  I've just been struggling with how to balance all this work stuff with the rest of my life:  CAM at school, family, unpacking still, and errands and meetings and all the rest of running a household (granted, with Mick, but still coordinating it all), and my precious sleep.  I think this bug is still playing a role, too -- the other day, I went to bed at 8:00!!

Anyway -- pictures of our weekend adventure in Boothbay last weekend are finally here.

For the record, Boothbay is about an hour away, but the roads to get there are typically only one lane in each direction and they wind through a very scenic, very touristy, route.  So we were anticipating a long ride, and because it was "Kids' Day" at the Railway Village, we wanted to be there early and ahead of any crowds.  (Kids' Day = free admission for kids, and we all know the masses tend to come out for free stuff.)

Last summer, we arranged our trip North especially to be able to see "the big Thomas" at the Boothbay Railway Village.  This year we were in Maine for Thomas' visit, but we'd already seen him in Chattanooga barely two months earlier, and we'd only just gotten to Maine when Thomas was here.  Those two factors together meant we had to pass.  Fast-forward a month, and I happened to see a commercial for the "kids' day" at the railway village -- kids' day as in, kids are free!

We woke up super early on Saturday anticipating traffic to get there (it opened at 9:30).  We didn't tell the kids where we were going, other than "a meeting far away." They woke up, got dressed, and were so sweet all morning.  Such troopers on their sleep-in day!  On our way we made two time-consuming stops: one for a quick breakfast at Dunkin' Donuts, and one at Target because we needed Pull-Ups and wipes. 

Despite those stops, we managed to get to Bootbay in just about an hour!  There was no traffic at all -- perhaps because it was so early (we were on the road by 8), or because it was overcast and dreary, but either way, we got to the Railway Village right around 9:40. 

While we were there, we rode the first train of the day ...

 went through a covered bridge that the kids called a "time tunnel" ...

waved to the conductor when we got off at our stop ...

... rode on a 1938 firetruck (in the rain; no pictures, sorry)

... toured the historic village

This is an old filling station from the 1920s, if I remember correctly.  It was moved to its current location in 1970.

... drove a few trains of our own ...

Love that runny nose.  Sorry, folks, I don't (yet) own Photoshop to spare you this view!

 ... and rode in a 1914 Model-T!  It's 98 years old!  That was super cool.

It rained on and off the entire time we were there, but we still managed to do everything the village had to offer, going in and out of all the buildings, watching an old internal combustion engine fire up, looking at the miniature model railway -- the whole shebang.  The kids loved it.

We loved it.

When we were done, I wanted to duck into the gift shop.  WHM, of course, was immediately sucked by the gravity of Thomas over to the Thomas the Tank Engine play table.  He had no desire to leave.  Finally, I said to him, "There is nothing on that table that is not also at our house.  It is time to go."  And the volunteer who was working in the shop said to me, "You have no idea how many times I hear that exact statement.  I have lost count!"

That made me smile.

WHM and Mommy matched on Saturday.  It was fun.  We might be in Maine, but it's still 'Bama game day!

 We had a great time, and the kids are already asking to go back. Best of all, because Thomas was NOT there, we were able to do so much more of the actual village part, and that was pretty darn cool.

Grandpa, are you reading this?  You need to come with us next time!

--Jen

Old Schoolin' It

LAST weekend, before we headed over to Alabama, the kids and I took some time to just play outside.  We don't have a pool, and we don't have the prettiest backyard (mostly because we've not made it a priority; if we weren't moving, I think we'd spend more time on making our yard nicer, now the the kids are older), so we broke out the sprinkler and had a little fun. 

CAM and WHM had a blast.

--Jen

p.s. Angie and Nick, if you're reading, we didn't break out CAM's birthday present because once we got it wet it would be awful to move.  We're saving it to use in Maine next month!

Play Town

If you know me in real life, you know I don't always have nice things to say about the county in which we live.  First, it's suburban sprawl -- the good and the bad.  Second, the demographics are rapidly going downhill -- gang violence, random crimes, the usual signs of sprawl gone wrong, and they're bringing property values down with them.  Third, we've got public officials indicted, and some of those same officials were involved in suspicious land dealings with our school system -- which seems to always come out just "on this side" of the law, anyway.

But there's a lot I love, here, too, and I'm not ashamed to say it.  And one of the things that our county does better than just about anyplace in the entire country?   Parks and playgrounds.  Individual towns within the county and the county itself can rival each other on quality and variety, and everything has handicapped access.  The parks are simply phenomenal, whether you want to go running, or hiking, or skateboarding, or take your kids to a playground, or a pool (indoors or out), or just have a simple outside afternoon without too much noise or insanity.  You want it, there are multiple parks to provide it.  When we move, I will really, really miss our parks. 

Yesterday we had an opportunity to go Play Town Suwanee as a morning play-date with some Kindermusik friends.  Play Town is a gigantic wooden ... wait for it ... play town. It's awesome!  And yes, it's accessible for kids and adults and wheelchairs.  I climbed around a good bit yesterday -- and even went down a slide or two!

We got there right around 9:15 and stayed until just about 10:30 (we had to hurry home for Mick to use the car -- his truck's out of commission for a few days), which was just perfect.  We lubed up with sunscreen, but by the time we left it was just plain Georgia Hot, even in the shade.  (Not that there's anything wrong with that!  We love it!)

Here are some of the photos.  We've already scheduled another play date at the same park.  It was so much fun!

--Jen

Well, the sign said, "Enter!"

"Here I come!"

too-tall Tic-Tac-Toe

This is a view of just about 1/4 of the entire play set, nevermind the swings!

CAM loved the fire pole!

This kid needs a football!

Don't ask. I have NO IDEA what she was doing. But it was funny.

Swinging with a sweet Kindermusik friend!