04 February 2012

The Allure of Snow



It's the middle of winter.

Really.

Life in California is rough stuff sometimes. My kids are complaining because they say they've never seen snow. That is totally not true. Well, 50% not true. Big G and Baby X have seen snow and have even played in it... but they were only 4 and 2. G remembers it vaguely, but X does not.

We keep talking about taking a family trip to snow country so the kids can frolic in the frosty white stuff, but I know how the whole snow thing would play out.

First, there'd be the several hours of driving to get to the snow. Oh, wait... back up... first, there'd be the several hours of packing and planning for a trip with 4 children. Then there'd be the several hours drive. Oooops!...forgot another preliminary step: Procuring snow gear to adequately clothe and boot children who have never experienced sub-freezing temperatures.

We would arrive. The kids would be super excited.  They would be so excited that their brains wouldn't register the frigidity of the air temperature while unloading the car. We would go inside and start the bundling process necessary to play in snow. They would state that it wasn't all that cold out. They would insist that they felt fine on that 30-second walk in from the car. Finally, they'd be as properly bundled as their kvetching would allow and would step outside to play in snow for the first time.

The level of their excitement would be off the charts. Snow angels, snowballs, snowpeople... a little sledding or saucering... Hopefully, we would have the cameras at the ready because this would last 30 minutes at the most.

Because about then it would sink in.

Snow is COLD.

And when snow melts, it becomes water, and water is WET.

Cold and wet is not all that much fun...especially when you are a weather-spoiled California child. They'd come back in, probably still in good spirits but screeching about how cold they were. They would come in to sit by a fire and drink hot chocolate and play board games and read...and not want to venture out into the snow again for more than 30 minutes at the most.

By the end of the several hours drive home, they'd be reminiscing about the awesome snow trip...having forgotten about the freeeeeezing part. And certainly unaware of the fact that we had driven several hours (times two) for one hour total of snow-frolicking. And entirely oblivious of the parental energy expended and the costs incurred. And that is all as it should be :)

I know one day they will wear me down. It will be memorable. They will love it... for one hour in the moment and a lifetime after.

In the meantime, we continue to suffer without snow. To get our minds off this suffering, we went for a walk/trike ride today. Yes, my kid wears a helmet when she rides her tricycle. Ingraining the helmet habit from an early age ;-)

she digs playing with her shadow

Toddlers have such disproportionately large heads, and as Miss C was walking around with her rad Thomas the Tank Engine helmet on, something looked so familiar...



The Great Gazoo ... 



...or Marvin the Martian?




What do you think of snow? 


I actually like snow ... for a couple of days and if I don't have to get anything done in it.


Do you live where it snows? 


No!


What did you think of snow when you were a kid?

I thought snow was so super cool when I was a kid. I remember when it snowed the ONE time...I was 10. When I went to college in a place where it snowed, people thought I was a freak because I would stand outside while the snow came down, looking up with wonderment. After college I lived where it snowed and wasn't so crazy about needing to get to work in it :P

16 comments:

  1. I love snow as long as I don't have to be the one to shovel it ... or drive in it (at the same time as the idiot drivers). Now that we're not getting as much snow as we should be this "winter" (yes, I just used quotation marks.), I miss it like crazy! I got stupidly excited this morning when I woke up and saw a dusting of it on the ground and trees and then spazzed when it was gone by the time I got out of the shower! Ugh.

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  2. Oh we get our fair share of the white stuff here. This storm however passed us by and went north. I live in an area called the "Banana Belt". We never get snow. Everywhere around us can be snowed in and us, nothing! Our local paper put together a slide show of snowy pictures from yesterdays snow - http://www.gazette.com/sections/slideshow/?id=12220143

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  3. Oh I love snow! But I also love sunshine! I guess that's why I live where I do! I just put a bunch of pics up today from our big ol' blizzard--maybe you can just show your kids the pics and that'll keep them happy :)

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  4. I love snow! Which is convenient, as I live in Minnesota. Not that we've had much snow here this winter--I think my parents in Ohio have had more snow than we have.

    My husband likes the snow because it gives him an excuse to buy a giant honkin' snowblower. Seriously--this thing makes my car feel inadequate.

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  5. Funny-I think I look like Marvin the Martian with my helmet on too!

    Yes-I live where it snows. It's not so bad as long as it isn't cold. (like really cold-winchills are a drag) But really-I'm not a winter fan period.

    When we were kids we used to hook up the snowmobile and a long rope and a sled and play "who can stay on the longest." I remember bouncing off the side of my mom's Buick. A totally safe kid snow game.... :)

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  6. I live in the part of California where it snows, and I love it! Although I agree with Jess, shoveling and driving in it are not super fun.

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  7. I'm a Northern California girl who went from no snow to a winter full of it in NY. But the funny thing is that we have ZERO snow right now. Such a weird winter!
    Snow is pretty and fun, but the nostalgia wears off quickly. I'd trade all the snow for the warm sunshine. :)

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  8. Got my fill of it last year with near record snowfall. I haven't missed it this year even though we've only gotten two light snows and neither amounted to much (although the schools freaked out and canceled for one day - whatever).

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  9. We got 18" here yesterday - I HATE it! But, you could pack up your kiddos and fly here and play til their heart's are frozen, throw all their stuff in the dryer and stuff their faces with hot chocolate and chicken noodle soup so they can then go on to round 2. Repeat as often as necessary. Oh, and don't forget to wipe up all the water puddles on the wood floors, that stuff tends to wear the finish off the wood. :)

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  10. CA girl too! No snow here. I'm not a huge fan. Skiing is fun, but I don't like being super cold and super cold AND wet is the DEBUL!! My kids have been once with their dad, that's fine with me. I don't need to go too badly. Luckily it's only a little over an hour drive so if they are begging we can go.

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  11. I've yet to OWS and then head to Big Bear for some snow boarding on the same day. Bucket list.

    Snow is cool, but it was cooler when I was a kid. 9 times out of 10 snow now represents a travel delay or something similarly annoying - like 4 Christmas's ago (+/- Dec 22nd) I got stuck in NYC due to snow so I rented a car and drove south through the storm until I found an open Airport - Charlotte.

    It was a brutal drive - the "Let's do this" feeling wore off by Maryland and I in fact spent half the night sleeping in the car parked at a rest stop called Maryland House, which was also the last time I had fried chicken.

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  12. Snow is pretty but I could live with one snowfall a year unless I lived somewhere I could ski, then I would like more. We've been lucky here so far with hardly any snow.

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  13. We live in central new York (think SU orange) and we are supposed to have snow and snow days and such glorious stuff,but this year has been a huge let down. Our hot cocoa provisions have barely decreased!

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  14. Hmm... I like it, so much as it isn't hindering what I need to do. I'm a stay at home mom, so if we have snow days, no biggie - we just have movie days... BUT... with that said, I get cabin fever after about 12 hours. So, the kid loves it because it means pj's and movies and milkshakes... mom not so much :)

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  15. I love snow and am a fanatic about skiing (as you know if you've read my blog for the past month!)

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  16. Mostly, I love it. I really love it after Thanksgiving and through January, but usually by the time Feb rolls around I'm pretty done with it. And then we slog through it for another two months with teases of Spring and then random snow storms that sometimes continue through the end of May. That is not so cool. But this year Mother Nature is making up for the past two years of extended random snow storms and giving us mid-40s and sunshine when it should be single digits and snow. Totally loving this!

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