Thursday, January 30, 2014

MLK and the 4-Day-Long-Snow-Day!

Aaaand we're jumping right back into January! Not too long ago we celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day with the kids out of school and Jon home from work. After a quick stop at the gym, we decided to brave the arcticly cold winds and head outdoors to Badin Lake, a popular recreation area just northeast of us.
 Naturally we had to get breakfast along the way, so we stopped at our ol' favorite--Waffle House, and warmed up with some hot chocolate and fluffy waffles hot off the griddle.
 Lucy got a strawberry one, Zach and Jon's were plain, and mine was pecan, in honor of the great South. 
 Even Leah liked her waffles as long as they were drenched in butter and syrup. Waffle House is always an adventure. If you've never eaten at one, it's a must. They are definitely a Southern gem-- cheap, friendly, usually packed, and the definition of a dive.
 Anyway, continuing on with our MLK Day, we finally found Badin Lake despite a few wrong turns here and there. Jon had raced in a 6-mile trail run back in October, and mentioned how beautiful it was around the lake-- we must have forgotten there aren't many beautiful colorful fall leaves in the middle of January.
The scenery was a little grim, but that's okay as long as it's all in the name of adventure, right? More importantly however, was again the fact that it. was. FREEZING. I mentioned arcticly cold winds, didn't I? Add that to the fact that I had bare legs and barely dried sweaty workout clothes, and I was ready to head back home to my warm house and put the Apple TV to good use.
 Jon talked me into letting the kids ride their bikes around some of the trails, which was the whole point of heading out this way, so we did. Zach wasn't too happy about it though. I think he wanted to sit in the car and play the iPad. Big surprise.
 Lucy and Leah were good sports and had fun throwing rocks into the lake. They both seem impervious to cold. I can't figure out where they get those thick-skinned genes from!
 Moving on to the 4-Day-Long-Snow-Day-- "Snowmageddon," if you will. As I mentioned before, we've had a couple "delay start" mornings where school starts 2 hours later than normal due to inclement weather. First it was because of the freezing cold, then it was because of a "chance" of snow (the "snow" is pictured above, careful! I blinked and almost missed it!). 
Well, Monday afternoon folks were really starting to panic because the weathermen were predicting a snow storm to top all snow storms-- at LEAST 2 to 3 inches. So they canceled school on Tuesday. All day Tuesday it was blue skies, sunny weather, and basically the kiddos rode bikes outside on their "snow day." Predictions for snow kept getting pushed back further and further, until they finally went to bed without seeing a single flake. They were so sad!
Much to their surprise and TOTAL elation, the snow did come at around 9 p.m. that night and left about 2 inches for them to play in! School was obviously canceled on Wednesday. Snow to the southern child is better than Christmas (and although mine aren't really Southern, they were too little to remember all the snow we got in Philly, so it really had been about 4 years since we'd seen any).
They had a BLAST playing in the snow all morning and recruited our next door neighbors Josh and Luke to go sledding down our driveway and make snow angels.
It was COLD too. The high was like 19 degrees, so they'd play outside for a little while, then come in and dump all their stuff on the ground to warm up, and head back out a few hours later. And yes, those are grocery bags tied around Zach's feet. No need for snow clothes around here so we had to make do!
We gathered some fresh snow and made ice cream with it, not once, but twice. Zach loved it! I knew since it was so cold that school would most likely be canceled the next day as well (Thursday) since it wouldn't melt off the roads anytime soon. To a girl born and raised in Idaho, three days off for 2 inches of snow is kind of mind-blowing since I can literally remember walking to school in a blizzard...but when in Rome... That being said, we just got a message that school has been canceled yet again, for a FOURTH day (Friday) due to the two inches of snow from Tuesday night.  I guess some of the country back roads still have snow on them, leading me to believe that it's not about how much snow you get, but how many snow plows you have. And in Pinehurst, we have 0. Sigh.
This face pretty much sums up how we all feel about it (poor Leah and her stuffy nose). I love me a good snow day, don't get me wrong-- but basically an entire week off from school, plus the threat of Saturday school to make up for the missed days?!? Ugghh. My kids have cabin fever and are totally bored, and everything from school to swimming lessons has been canceled, canceled, canceled. And if you're a stay at home mom, you can totally sympathize; schedules are EVERYTHING! Hopefully February brings us better weather, and no more "snow days!"