Snow-cation 2011

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All week the weather people warned us that it was coming, and this time they got it right.  It started snowing about 8 or so on Sunday evening (and they went ahead and cancelled schools) and it snowed hard and fast and we had about 5 inches or so at our house before bed that evening

 This is on the table on the back deck. Yes, that is reading almost 6 inches!!

 Good thing Dale's car had the wheels so we could see it!

 The snow was soo soo beautiful but it did have a layer of ice on the top so it was hard to do snow angels and snow balls and snow men.

 Justin had been wanting to have a Nerf war in the snow, so he got his chance.

 Our family got dressed and headed out to the street and started sledding. Dale went down first and tried it out. When it worked for him, we all did it.  Because it was icy on the top, it made a lot of noise and all the neighbors started coming out.

 This is Justin's first of MANY times down the street.

 Isn't this pretty??

 Jennifer sleds down the street

 I couldn't miss out on all this fun!!

 This is one of our German neighbors and this is the sled they used in Germany.

 She tries out an American sled!! Our sled was the best one for these conditions.

 Chad and Cody came down for some fun too!

 Bernadette pulling John Paul on the sled

 Justin tried our blue sled, but just ended up jumping down the street on it..

 Al set the record for the day on the sled. He was soo funny with his expressions.

 IT's not too often that you can just lay in the middle of the road and not worry about cars coming.

 Al gives Denise a push

 And off she goes!

 I hope Suzette can see!!

 The dogs got to enjoy the block party in the snow too!!

 Aren't they pretty?? Donna and Seminole

 Jake kept eating the snow and here he is catching snowballs

 Yvette and her son try out one of the sleds.

 Al decided to give the blue sled a try. It didn't work too well, so....

 we decided to use Jake as a sled dog and let him pull Al.

 That didn't work so well, but we finally got Seminole to pull Donna down the street...

 Connor brought his sled - a lid

 He ended up on our sled too!

 Doesn't he look at home and comfortable in all that snow?!?

 Like I said, there was a layer of ice on the snow. So, here is a big piece that Justin broke off. He actually brought it home and laid it on this thing by the front door.

 And this is what that piece of ice looked like the next day. I'm not sure if it melted a little bit and refroze or if it was just the weight of it that bent it, but I thought that was pretty cool.

 The Parker's joined us as well, and their sled actually had brakes and steering!!

 Denise is ready for a good run!!

 Then the kids moved to a back yard where they enjoyed sledding some more

 Another big piece of ice from Justin!!

After playing in the snow for several hours, we came in to warm up with some hot cocoa and work on our puzzle.  

The snow ended up staying and staying and staying.  The kids were out of school all week due to the snow and ice.  The temperatures just were not getting above freezing and when they would it would just be enough to melt some and then refreeze at night.  Our Southern city was shut down for most of the week. Luckily, we had stocked up on food and we were eating quite nicely that week. Lots of cookies, chili, soups, etc.  

A lot of people complained about getting cabin fever. But I was just fine. I could have been snowed in another week without a problem at all. I loved every minute of being stuck at home with my family and not being able to go anywhere.