snowpocalypse 2014

I stole the name from Powell's, but it really was like a snowpocalypse, except not catastrophic in any way. Every time my parents leave the state lately a weather event occurs; when they went to Arizona a few months ago we had a week of monsoons, now they head off to Rwanda only to miss five consecutive days of snow, three of which stuck leaving 8+ inches outside our house.

We're a pretty home-bound family as it is, so our routine wasn't impacted much: I worked, the kids played, Shaggy braved the snow with them.

On the weekend we all ventured out, had a snowball fight with the neighbors, built a snowman just as the freezing rain began. We had a fire and ate lasagna.

Lucy was happy licking icicles and painting snowballs; Oscar got cold more easily but was happy as long as he was sitting on a tricycle, unmoving in the middle of it all. A lot of snow was stomped and eaten.

 

heard on the street

Luca (balancing on the back of the couch): "I have fantastic balance!"
Lucy (crouching on the arm of the couch): "I have fantastic talons!"

friday cute shot

a lot of effort for 15 minutes of sledding

Almost a month ago now we went up to Mt. Hood to do some sledding with our neighbors. We did this last year and after several false starts ended up having the most fun playing with a pile of snow in the parking lot with our then 2-year-olds. We thought our now 3-year-olds would like a little more adventure this year, so we found a sledding hill, and we got some good rides in, but then wrists got cold and socks got soaked through and Oscar was beyond tired so we headed back for hot chocolate in the car.

All of these pictures were taken on the side of the road on the way up the mountain, where we pulled over to put chains on the cars. For Lucy and Luca, that was as much of a destination as you needed.

snow angels

Attempted family portrait.

It has been a mild winter in Portland but we've been itching to take Lucy to the snow, so on Saturday we had Mt. Hood adventure with the neighbors. The first thing Lucy did when we got there is throw herself face down in the snow, sopping up the experience. It was sunny and we had just gotten out of the car for a minute to get a parking pass, but she wasn't wasting any time. I hurried to get her coat before she soaked her three layers of shirts through.

Luca found Lucy's snow-eating inspiring.

Throwing and eating snowballs were the next two mile stops in her sensory exploration, she was digging the cold but Luca wasn't so sure. He picked up on the snowball eating and soon he was also smiling; the parents were trying to explain the difference between snow on the bank and snow on the parking lot and which of the two we were willing to let the little ones eat. Lucy wasn't really buying it.

Lucy, Mama, Figgy, and a snowball

We got the kids into the car and headed toward SkiBowl, but we got a little confused on the short way there and it ended up being kind of a long way. Relatively, when you're a kid in a snowsuit who is tired of the car wants to play in the snow. To stave off restlessness we offered up her favorite song as of late, Dog Days are Over; Lucy said to the stereo: "Make me patient, Florence!"

At Ski Bowl East we climbed up the hill, watching bigger kids ride a lift with inner-tubes and thinking about future visits. We found a snow hill to dig in and a slide, and some virgin ground for making snow angels. There was an intriguing circle setup with inner-tubes and tiny snowmobiles hooked to a metal twirly bar, but when we asked about it they said it was fifteen dollars for a pass even if you're only two. The first teenager on staff was almost gleeful to deny us: "Nothing here is free!" The second teenager on staff looked a little embarrassed. We improvised and Lucy and Luca hopped into an abandoned two-person tube for the ghetto version, a mama-propelled circle spin. The giggles indicated they didn't much mind.

On a side note, I think when I was little and my parents brought me up here, the inner-tubes were real things from real tires that you stopped into Les Schwab and got for free on your way up to the mountain. Today when we tried to bring a disc sled to slide on they said nothing from outside was allowed for liability reasons. Also, probably because the disc sled would have been free, and thus counter-policy. We did manage to sled in the parking lot while sipping hot chocolate we brought in a thermos from home, and the tiny little banks of snow were just the right height.

Attempted group shot. Two-year-olds in snow are hard to corral!

After lunch of fish and chips and burgers and malt shakes finished off with huckleberry pie, we had one last snow-stravaganza and we were ready for home.

Not deterred by it being much later than naptime, Lucy offers to drive us home.