Snow Bunnies

It's been quite a winter here in New Hampshire. I laugh at some of my posts from last winter and the photo of Jamie standing next to the tiniest snowman ever built. Not the case this year. It's been the snowiest winter in NH history. Which was so nice and lovely in December, kind of nice in January, not so much in February, and we're officially DONE WITH WINTER now that it's March. However, we were just dumped with more inches of snow last weekend, and the snowblower died a quick death right in the middle of our half-cleared driveway on Saturday. Shawn went snowblower shopping that afternoon and unfortunately, since it's March and thus we're into summer gear already, the pickings were slim. We may be shoveling ourselves out the rest of the winter.

It's been the kind of winter where our swingset has half-disappeared, our deck is barely visible, and there literally is nowhere to put anymore snow from our driveway. We have two piles of snow on either end of the driveway that are easily seven feet tall. It's a blind backout every morning, praying I don't hit a neighbor's car. With all this snow, though, the kids have not had a lot of time playing outside. Neither Simon nor Clare can walk in the snow, and they rarely nap at the same time. I am not up to the task of carrying two children around in the snow, so Jamie is either stuck staying inside with us or playing outside by himself.

Today, however, was a "warmer" day (I love how 40 degrees seems positively balmy after temperatures below freezing). I convinced Shawn to cut out of work for a little bit this afternoon, and we bundled the kids up to head outside. Clare has not had much practice walking outside because of the winter conditions, but I thought we would give it a whirl since Shawn was here to help out with Simon and Jamie. I figured we would last about five minutes. Jamie bounded over the huge hill of snow like a rabbit and was off into the backyard. Simon sat in the stroller and laughed at Jamie's antics. Clare shuffled around on the sidewalk experimenting with the sensation of walking on uneven ground while wearing snowpants and snowboats (a first for wearing both those items). Her confidence soon increased and, before I knew it, she had taken off down our driveway. Our snowy, ice-crusted, uneven, downward sloping driveway. Not a trip, stumble, or fall!

Clare loved playing in the snow. She picked up snowballs (the bigger the better), chunks of ice, and the dirty yucky plowed snow. While Jamie and Shawn had a huge snowball fight and I pushed Simon around, Clare stomped in the puddles and touched all the snow she could get her hands on. We had a fun afternoon walk in the snow. Now it can all melt.