Blizzard 2014... Take Two

On Wednesday, we had a doozie of snowstorm here.  This is not a common occurrence, so it really brings things to a halt around here.  Of course, the snow storm really hit right as we were following my parents in their car to the mechanic and they broke down at a stoplight.  I gave them a jump (for the 3rd time), and the car just died again immediately.  The snow was coming down in buckets.  Fun.

So Mom got in our van with Mindy.  She, I, the kids and the dog all drove ahead to the mechanic while Dad waited for a tow truck with a policeman parked behind him with his lights on.  Their car was so "dead" that they couldn't even turn on their hazard lights in the snow.  We waited at the mechanic for about an hour as the snow continued to come down at an alarming rate.

While we were waiting for Dad to arrive with the tow truck, I watched at least one car slide down the hill, lose control and veer off the road.  The snow was really sticking to the road, and you couldn't see the pavement anymore.  After finishing the paperwork with the mechanic, Dad hopped in our car and we finally headed toward our house (around 1 pm).  By this time, Jason had already left work and was waiting for us at home.

It took us about an hour to drive the 5 miles to our house.  At one point, we were stuck in a line of cars going up a small hill.  The people at the front of the line couldn't get their cars up the hill, so my dad got out of our van, tredged through the snow up the hill and pushed the first car until they could get going.  Then the second car was stuck and he pushed that car.  And then the third car (a van) was stuck, and he pushed that car (and remember, the snow was falling so hard that you could barely see).  Finally the line got going and dad got back in our van.  We continued on, already seeing cars that had been abandoned at the side of the road.  We probably got about 3 inches of snow in about 2 hours.

By the time we got home, it was 2:15 and the kids had not eaten lunch.  But it was a fun adventure and it was neat to be snowed in with Grandma and Grandad.  The snow continued to fall throughout the afternoon, and my parents and their dog, Mindy, had to stay with us because the roads were impassable.

Southern kids in rain boots instead of snow boots

On the second day, we started to get freezing rain, which quickly covered our soft, beautiful snow with a sheet of ice.  We spent the morning at our neighbor's house, eating muffins and drinking coffee and tea and watching movies.  It was fun to be snowed in together.  My parents were able to get home to their truck (and then they had to return Jason's car to our house so he could get to work today).  The snow plows had cleared the major roads and traveling was no longer an issue.

This morning, the kids finally got out again to play in the snow and they LOVED it.  The ran all over the front yard.  The weather was so warm that we didn't even really need coats in the sun.

I finally convinced them to get in the car so that we could go to Grandma's house.  When we arrived there, we played in their yard for quite a while and made their second snowman ever (the first one was a year or two ago with Daddy).  The kids had a blast.

Apparently the snow wasn't good for my parents' porch canopy.  I'm impressed that the fabric didn't tear on its own.

They used Hershey kisses for the eyes and mouth and a carrot for the nose, of course.  Evelyn was more interested in eating snowman eyes than she was in participating in the snowman building.

The snowman had a bit of a concerned expression.  That's probably because the dog and the toddler kept trying to eat his eyes.

Their snowman was complete with a scarf and hat.  Adorable.

We're back home and the kids are napping.  It's up to about 50 degrees now and the snow is quickly melting.  It was fun while it lasted, but I'm ready for Spring now.