Snow Fort

This was one of the first days to really enjoy the snow since the Big Dig began. Most of the backbreaking shoveling is done except for some touch-up areas. Dad made it back to work on Friday. Saturday was all about playing in the yard and building a snow fort. We began with a great mound of snow in the middle of the yard, packing it down as we piled it.

Next we dug a tunnel all the way through the pile, from one end to another like an igloo with two doors. Sean was a big help with this part because he was small enough to crawl-in and chip snow away from the back wall.

Nate wasn't as much into construction as Sean. He spent much of the time indoors where it was warm. He was perfectly happy to join in on the fun once it was completed, though! The fort is connected to various parts of the yard by dug-out paths. All of these features make it perfect for a snowball fight -- plenty of places to hide and drop out from sight. It's sure to be a good time over the next several days, and we'll need it because it looks like we might get some more snow on Monday.

The Big Dig

The snow finally stopped and we ended up with a little more than twenty inches. That's more snow than we've ever seen here, and one of the top snows in the area's history. Funny, we thought sixteen inches a few weeks ago was a lot! It's the day after the big storm, the sun is shining and it's time for a little fun in the snow.

The plows finally got control of the larger streets. This one is a Snow Emergency Route because the fire trucks and ambulances use it, so it's first on the list of streets that get plowed. There are few cars using it though because none of the neighborhood streets (including ours) has been touched, and probably won't be plowed for days. It's a really nice pedestrian walkway, though. We spent much of the day digging from our driveway to this street so we could "escape" if necessary although we're not planning to drive anywhere for awhile.

That gave plenty of time for the kids to jump in the snow, built forts, have snowball fights with their friends, and all the other activities they might want to do after being trapped in the house for two days.

Nate built himself a little fort from the big piles of snow we shoveled while clearing the cars and the roadway around them.


Oh, this is one more shot to show you how deep it got. That's a full-sized trash bin. The bump of snow to the right is a recycling bin completely buried by the snowfall.

We hope that things start to improve over the coming days but they're predicting snow again for Tuesday night! The kids might be going to school until July at this rate!