So, finally the snow actually came! After days of hearing about this exciting ‘Beast from the East’, it had arrived! Along with it’s arrival, came a car load full of food, a tank full of Diesel (just in case) and ideals of wonderful times at home, with warmth, food and nowhere to be, apart from in the SNOW!
It started off well for us – school was officially shut! This was very exciting – especially when it meant that we were off – really – for no particularly good reason, other than to PLAY in the snow! Woop! Immediately I thought, well this is all well and good, but I don’t actually want to do all the lugging in the snow with three children alone. No. That will be no good. Need Husband.
So, next, I had the little issue of talking DH into realising that it most certainly would not be safe to travel, nor would it be wise to risk his vehicle etc etc. After a few phone calls, he was in!!!
WAHHHHHEEYYY!!!!! Off we go!
It was so much fun, getting out early, being the first to rough up the perfectly settled ground, a dream landscape, messed up into an OCD nightmare within seconds! The dogs – once they had come to terms with what was going on beneath them – were full of life and loving the new, albeit cold, sensations beneath them. Lovely.
Then it got cold. Really bloody cold!!!! My feet quickly turned sore, then painful, within thirty minutes of this fun experience. One by one the kids slowly went back in, until I was the last one standing, with a rather cold, polite neighbour, whom I had met along the way! Hmmmm. Boys??
As last one in, I then found random gloves, hats, socks, socks in socks, distributed along the hallway, up the stairs, in the kitchen, and so on. It was like a clothing explosion in the hallway, with damp wet puddles, lumps of ice and footprints chucked in for good measure. I had two sopping wet Yorkshire terriers, with ice balls hanging off them, awaiting in the kitchen, (thanks), and a whole load of mess to clear up. We were outside for half an hour. Half an hour! This wasn’t what I had imagined!
We warmed up and had an early lunch, in anticipation of what was to come, exploring wider and some real sledging on snowy hills. It was about to get really fun. Off we trundled through the deep, crunchy snow, the sun shone down and it was everything I thought it would be. Until my welly boots really started to ache. Like really ache. To be honest, I think they were a bit tight, so what with that and the extra effort required for snow walking, I was feeling it again, especially as my toes were beginning to follow suit from earlier and tingle with cold.
We arrived at the hills, and it was full on fun, laughter, excited chatter, kids, competitive parents and plenty of snow. We had a really great time, DH went down on the sledge, the boys went down, they even took the poor dogs on it with them. It was great. Again, for all of half an hour!
Then DS1 had painful toes. After completely submerging himself in deep snow, face down, he was surprised to realise that he was not only cold, but freezing now. A fuss ensued.
Eventually, once everyone else had reached the point of we need to return, we left. We had a lovely afternoon and it really was a special day. At one point I felt like I was in a foreign county, as the snow crunched under my (tight) welly boots, the warming sunshine brightened the day and all around was music and laughing on the slope.
We were soon back home and once again, I found gloves, hats, socks, socks in socks, littering the hallway, kitchen and stairs……The boys were soon back playing Minecraft, but with an extra appreciation for the warm, dry, snug home they were in.
It wasn’t quite the day I had imagined, it is always so cold, so very quickly, especially with little ones, but it was a lovely change to the routine. I’m now freezing all the food I bought, charging the ipads and looking forward to the thaw……
You?
Julee Who? 