Friday, January 30, 2009

Heavy on the Photos

Snow is not extremely rare in Oklahoma .... it's not like in Georgia or Florida, where some of the friends we made had never seen snow in their whole lives. Snow is also not extremely common in Oklahoma .... so when it happens, you better get out there and enjoy it.

More common, and what we experienced this past week, is a sort of icy rain that freezes over when the sun goes down (and causes innocent people to fall down on their patios, I think you know who I mean.) You might get a teeny tiny bit of snow accumulation on top of that at night, and then when the sun comes up the next day it all melts to slush. Then the slush freezes that night when the sun goes down, circle of life, etc.

Since my children lived the past five and a half years of their lives in Georgia, this combo of rain/sleet/ice/snow was good enough for them and they thoroughly enjoyed both of their snow days out of school this week. I reminded them that I didn't want to hear any complaining when this school year is extended two days past Memorial Day to make it up .....

I apologize to those of you with dial-up (does anyone really still have dial up?) but I have a boatload of photos to share. I've had winter scrapbooking embellishments, and no chance to use them, for years. By golly, I was taking some pictures when the opportunity arose.

(Those of you in Colorado or Wyoming or Idaho, please don't laugh. We take what we can get.)

The three kids, eager to get out the back door the first morning:



Even Barley gets into the action:



And then she promptly runs around the yard with the hat in her mouth while my poor children get pneumonia:



There are lots of things to do after a "snowfall" in Oklahoma ---

practice skating:


practice your karate moves:



practice your Hooked on Phonics:


practice your mad wanna-be photography skills:


endure more of your mother's photography attempts:





utilize your swim toys:





get your sister to push you:



And when you've used up all the slush in front of your house, and slid down your neighbor's driveway until there's nothing left, what do you do?

Why, go to your cousin's house, of course! (So what if the school board declares the roads are impassable? I'm telling you, after being house-bound for a day and a half, you'll CRAWL to your cousin's house if you need to, you'll be so desperate for someone to play with)

Because they've got way more awesome snow toys than a stupid kickboard:



And a pond that freezes over beautifully .... even if Aunt Kristie does get all freaked out when you test the strength of the ice under your weight:



Anyone who thinks there's not a perk to having ten acres of trails to explore clearly doesn't know what they're missing ...



Especially when you hit the parts that have natural hills for sledding:







Do you think Brayden was having a good time?



This is Kendrie with my youngest nephew:



We're a little worried he won't ever come out of his shell:



And although we had a wonderful time, and thoroughly enjoyed our two snow days .... MOM was certainly glad to see everyone go back to school the next day. Or at least she **was**, until that damn flyer about Book Character Costume Day came home.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have to chuckle at this post...I live in Northern Minnesota and the schools are NEVER closed because of the weather. I few weeks ago we got about a foot dumped on us while we slept (with a 30 below wind chill!)and all we got was a measely 2 hour late start. It looks like your kids had fun though! If they want some real sledding they'll have to head a little farther north. :)

Unknown said...

Great photos- looks like y'all had a ton of fun.
We lived in Alabama for a few years, then the FL panhandle- long enough to forget snow. One year my Step-mom froze some Buffalo, NY style snow in her freezer and brought it out on a sunny but cool day in summer while we were visiting. Boy did we have fun with that pile of snow. She must have entirely packed her spare freezer just so we could throw snowballs!
So, I know how exciting a few inches of snow can be.

kimybeee said...

Hey, we are here in WV and we got plenty of snow and ice. We were blessed to not lose power, many around us did for many days. Some may not even have power back until Wednesday - AFTER THE SUPERBOWL!!! Our local mall has so many stores with collapsed and leaking roofs inside that they wouldn't even let the news cameras in. And are you ready for this - MY KIDS WERE OFF SCHOOL ALL 5 DAYS THIS WEEK!!!!!!!! The snow entertained my son and our cousin next door - but I think the fact that it is so cold and icy kept them coming in my house and soaking my floor and furniture every little while.

As for the character day - this is totally a money making opportunity for you. All you have to do is network with all the working parents in your school community and rent them costumes each time the school has one of their days. You can totally find a lot of stuff on the cheap at goodwill and ebay and just have your own costume shop!!

kimybeee

Amy said...

Could you please talk some sense into my husband? We got almost a foot of snow and as much as I begged and pleaded, he didn't snap one pic of my kids playing in it. Said he couldn't find the camera, which might have been true, but is a lame excuse. And I couldn't do it because they went too far away from our front door and I sure as heck wasn't going outside in all that cold and snow!

J-Quell'n said...

We ended up with 3 snow days...and we're further south than you...crazy. We were all hoping they would just call off school on Friday since it was the end of the week, but nope. Oh well...we don't want to have to make it up either. A couple of years ago, we were off for an entire week and ended up having two sessions of Saturday school.

katy said...

5 snow days this week and next week isn't looking good. I still have DIAL UP which sucks but I live in the country...no cable etc. The only high speed we could get is hughesnet and they take advantage of the fact we can't get anything else. 300 to set it up and 70.00 a month. I refuse to cave in to them so I just read the stories and don't wait on all the pictures to load.

M said...

Snow-day shmo-day...the only day we got off school was for the 1989 earthquake...and the teachers still had to come to work!

Didn't Kellen read a book about a character from the Okalahoma land rush? Costume done!

Unknown said...

BOOHOO! We have lived in Georgia our entire lives (yep, all my 34 years) and I am soooooo jealous. We want a snow day by golly! Please dear God let it snow here too.
P.S. They are talking about a wintry mix on Tuesday morning. You know what that will be!! Ice, slush, and sleet probably!!!!

Unknown said...

Hey we've got plenty of snow here in CT I could send you and we're due for more! Help yourself...

I'm awarding you the Kreativ Blogger Award. Check out my blog to find out more:
http://lastbraincell.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

I love the snow pictures! They bring back memories of growing up in good ol' Ft. Worth, TX! (sigh...)I'll be with the Georgia folks on Tuesday morning that might be lucky enough to see some flurries. Thanks for the flashback!

Anne in GA

Ginny said...

I won't laugh at ya'. Or, at least I won't tell ya' I am!

We lived in Idaho, on Mtn. Home AFB, for the past eleven years. Just this past December we moved to Hill AFB, Utah. We thought we had a lot of snow in Idaho. Uh...yeah...nope. There are crazy amounts of snow here! I guess I never really understood what "good powder" was. Now I do. It is the most beautiful powdery snow I've ever seen. Doesn't matter how hard it's coming down here, no snow days.

Love the pics. Some of the best ones I've taken of my kids have been in the snow.

Natalie said...

Believe it or not, we actually had a snow/weather day last year (near Vail, Colorado). No one in the valley could remember when the last one had been. Entire generations have gone through school without a snow day here. And the snow day we had last year actually happened because there was a such a bad accident on the interstate that teachers couldn't get to school. Personally, I was psyched (but not for the poor people in the accident, of course). Kids should be able to experience a show day! I LOVE snow days and I miss them.

Anonymous said...

where I live the officials will not close the school or really even delay despite horrible weather. I live in the Texas Panhandle so we dont really get much snow wise but what we do get it, is very slippery icy roads. According to the school officials they are basically the "babysitter" so if the weather is bad, we are welcome to keep are kids home and it will be considered an excused absence, but they aren't going to cancel school!

Anonymous said...

Cute pics, looks like they had fun. Love the boys practicing their karate moves, so like my sons!

Marie

Anonymous said...

My kids had 4 snow days! Yep, they have to make some of those up at the end of the year. For me, I shoveled my driveway 4-5 times. I don't care to see another snowflake for a while!

Diane in Cincinnati

Alisa said...

love your snow photos- all of mine were pictures of everyone from behind- i think thats the only way I can get all of my kids in one photo-

Anonymous said...

Great pictures. I love your statements...

"I've had winter scrapbooking embellishments, and no chance to use them, for years. By golly, I was taking some pictures when the opportunity arose."

That was one of my favorite lines...

Next "(Those of you in Colorado or Wyoming or Idaho, please don't laugh. We take what we can get.)" - just please don't forget about us in Michigan, btw we have built in snow days so our kids have to miss more than 4 days per year before they would have to make anything up after Memorial Day :)