What happens when Texans move to Virginia? They are told by all the Virginians, “Oh, it doesn’t snow much. If at all usually a few inches, but we mostly get ice.” Boo.
That sounds too much like Texas, but Virginia does get more snow than San Antonio.
My kids last saw a couple inches of snow when they were toddlers.
I last saw a foot of snow in college.
How about a White Christmas in Virginia?
Coming home from Grand Illumination we discovered a couple inches of snow in the yard. That will likely be it for December, we thought.
Saturday: Blizzard already breaking Virginia records
Wow, this is incredible!
The snow started last night and it’s still going strong!
My son is going to take measurements and send them to the Washington DC weather station 8.
Last night he measured 2″ after two hours of snowfall.
One of the weathermen called this an “Old Fashioned Snowfall.”
We are already reaching depths of snow that top the top 5 December snowfall accumulations, none of which are in my lifetime…until now!
The crazy thing is that the Blueridge Mountains to our west are getting less than us and those on the coastline to our east are getting more snow than us.
In Texas we got our winter weather from the Rockies, although moisture from the gulf gave us moisture for our snow opportunities.
No proper snow attire
The kids took a while getting dressed for snow, because they have nothing to wear to stay warm and dry for snow! So, they put on lots of layers.
No Sleds
Wanting to get sleds for the kids for Christmas, I finally shopped yesterday when I heard the weather report but they are sold out.
Will a plastic storage box work as a sled?
So, they tried a lid to a plastic storage box.
When I went out to check on them, they showed me that they had trouble…they sunk in the snow.
Oh, I forgot to tell them to pack it down.
So, my daughter sat on the lid and he tried to pull her down the hill to pack down the snow. Umpf! They were going nowhere.
Look at all that snow. If you go all the way down, the creek is down there.
My daughter was worried before the snow that they’d sled right down to the creek and land in the water.
I told her not to worry about that and I think that now she understands that won’t be a problem.
They are still trying to work with that sled.
I was cold and snow kept blowing into my eyes so I went in.
Christmas preparations in a blizzard
It was fun working on wrapping gifts and baking while looking out all our windows.
Eventually the kids came in to change, I threw their wet stuff in the dryer and they had cocoa.
After lunch they ventured out again.
We had brainstormed ideas for packing the snow.
My son said he’d stomp on top of the lid to pack down the snow.
Will a snow shovel work as a sled?
When I watched them through the window, he was dragging his sister on the snow shovel.
Then they tried with the lid again, with my son sitting on it and my daughter pulling it, but no go.
Will a plastic tub work as a sled?
They tried the plastic tub but that wasn’t working either.
My son said he needed a lip on the lid so it won’t get stuck in the snow.
All covered in snow, he asked me to get some foam core board from our last Becoming History presentation and duct tape so he could tape it to the lid and have a “real sled.”
Later when they came in, my daughter told me they figured out that my son does best sitting on the shovel and my daughter does best on the lid.
Snow Angels
I guess they made some snow angels today too.
Now they are talking about making 3 snow caves tomorrow.
At 18″ deep it continues to fall furiously!
We have already more than doubled the old snow record for the Washington DC area in December.
Sunday: Got Snow? We Got 20 Inches!
This morning, I woke up to sunshine! My breath was taken away by the grandeur of the glistening scenery!
I was impressed that the snow plows came in early in the morning.
Carefully walking around without snowboots I was flabbergasted by the massive piles of snow. Are we in Virginia or Alaska?
Linoleum makes the best homemade sled
Today we found linoleum in the storage closet to try out for a sled!
After drilling some holes in the front to tie rope into and we had an extremely flexible sled.
Later I looked out the window and found my daughter successfully sledding down the hill.
I joined them outside and they immediately put me on the sled.
This was my very first sled ride in my entire life!
First, I stood on the linoleum and went slipping and sliding.
They told me to straddle it.
Weeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!! That was fun! No one took my picture.
I did take a picture of my son who went slowly down the hill but didn’t get very far.
So far I’m in the lead for speed and distance!
My daughter did better this time but I’m the winner for round one! My daughter came in second!
This time my son took pictures of me going down super-fast way down the hill.
Can anyone beat that? I went several times, and no one ever went further or faster than I did! Imagine that! Where’s the gold medal?
My daughter should get a medal for most creative. She has no idea how she did it, but she spun into a 180 degree turn and went the rest of the way backwards!
Snowball Fights
Then the snowball fights began. No one was able to hit anyone, except me.
Eventually they made caves. I’ll check those out tomorrow!
Linoleum sled meets its demise
Unfortunately, the linoleum has met its demise. It ripped in half. How could they do that? It was perfect for my personal world record!
Will cardboard work as a sled?
This evening my son found a huge piece of cardboard from somewhere. He started cutting it down and shaping it and doing something with packaging tape, perhaps foam core board and maybe a garbage bag.
Monday: Night Sledding
My son finished making the new sled of the day after they added the next layer to the gingerbread village.
Here is my son’s new sled, a combination of a plastic storage lid on top of cardboard, wrapped in a garbage bag, secured with packaging tape, running from front to back.
Pam will be used as needed
They were prepared to use Pam if needed, as recommended by some friends!
They were elated that I joined them again.
Here is my daughter going down.
Then it was my turn. Weeee-uh ooh! I slid down lickety split, did a major spin, flipped and crashed into a soft pile of snow quite a ways down.
Um, no need for Pam! That sled is dangerous!
My son says we need to smooth out the track because it has become extremely bumpy.
Snow caves
Then the kids showed me the caves. Wow! Impressive! They love hiding out in it with a lantern inside which makes the cave glow. Wow, check out those Christmas lights in the distance!
Next time I see the real estate agent I’m going to have to ask about Virginia not getting much snow. ha ha
Not only did we get a massive amount of snow, looks like we’re going to have a White Christmas in Virginia!
