Year 3, March 24th (continued) & 25th, 2018: Snow! Snow! Snow!

Warning: this post will only be about snow!  If you hate snow, first, I don't like you (just kidding), and second, skip this post!  Or third, keep reading and maybe I can change your mind about snow!

On Saturday, the 24th, while Keturah and I were at the homeschool convention, God decided to show off and dump 10.2 inches of snow!  LOVED IT!!!  I even drove in it right when it started to come down heavily in the morning and again when it was finishing up in the evening.  The roads were slick, but not impassable, if you knew how to drive on them.  On other days I would have hoped that any activities would have canceled so I wouldn't have to risk it, but this was the annual conference I wasn't about to miss!  Plus, I had offered to drive my friend as well.  It did take longer to drive to and from the convention center at the state fairgrounds and to and from my friend's house, but it wasn't as long as I had expected.  I didn't watch the clock too closely because I did have to pay attention to the roads more than usual.  I tried not to be annoyed at my Florida loving sunshine loving friends who hate snow, yet still live in a place that SHOULD have snow in March, but alas, it frustrates me (can you tell?)  Yes, I get that the calendar says it's spring, but where I'm from, March is not considered a spring month.  April is barely spring.  And to be honest, it's not that unusual for Indiana to have snow in March.  So why do they have to complain so much?  I don't think any of them would survive living further north.  Suck it up buttercup you live in a place with snowy winters and humid summers.

On PEI, there were a handful of naysayers during the winter and most of them did make an effort to go south during the winter.  But, most of my friends bought the right winter gear and found something to do in the snow, either skating, sledding, snowshoeing, hiking, skiing, building forts with kids, snow mobiling and the like.  If we didn't suck it up, we would never leave our houses for 6 months.  Did everyone talk about snow?  You bet!  But it was more about just stating the obvious than complaining about it.  You don't hear me complain about how ugly hot it can get here sometimes, do you?  And I have no plans on moving further south into the heat.  So, everyone, quit your whining, embrace it, and go out in it and have some fun for once!  It will all melt, literally, in 24 hrs!  Sheesh!  Spring doesn't need to mean everything is green yet.  In fact, it's my least favorite season because of the rain and mud.  And you can't appreciate spring without the winter!  Once I finally move from my winter season in my personal life to my spring and finally summer season, where I'm not so angry and depressed and anxious, I know I'll appreciate this time in the valley more.  Hopefully others can, too.

Meanwhile, Abishai can't get enough of the snow!  Oh my word!  As soon as we got home from the conference and I picked him up from Gary's house, he wanted to play in it!  Gary was babysitting the boys because Jared had to go to his best friend from high school's 40th birthday celebration.  He even had to set them up in the e2 office so he could officiate a wedding at church! We Johnsons don't do anything easy, do we? But we manage, sort of, without the matriarch around.  In fact, Gary hosted a luncheon at their house on Sunday without any Leah's help because she's doing her thing in Austria.  He fed the kids dinner, too.  But I'm sure he's very happy when Leah does the bulk of this kind of stuff.  But I digress....

Abishai + Snow = Heavenly Bliss!   No, seriously, the kid couldn't get enough!  It was getting dark, but as soon as he stepped out of the van in his SNEAKERS and jeans with HOLES in them, he wanted to wade thigh deep in the snow for 20 minutes!  It's like the kid didn't feel the cold at all!  He was giddy with excitement, and when Socks joined him, they romped and played hysterically!  He kept going further and further away from me and said, "I go too far!" like it was this hilarious game.  He also purposefully fell down in the snow just to laugh and get back up again!  He would fall forwards, but also backwards and just lie there looking up into the sky with a look on his face that said, "This is the life!"  Daddy came home towards the end of it, so he also got to witness Abishai's excitement.

When it was time to come in, Abishai kept playfully telling us no.  But once we got him inside, he realized just how cold his legs were and started crying in pain as they thawed out.  I can't imagine how that felt, poor little guy.  He was wearing his heavy coat and mittens though.  Then today we went out after church and he wore his snowsuit, but didn't want to wear the attached mittens on it!  He was literally picking up snow with his bare hands and not even wincing!  Crazy Canadian born and bred boy!  We stayed outside for nearly an hr.  Daddy built a fort and Mommy built a snowman.  Keturah and Justin came out for awhile and threw some snow around.  Justin was careful not to get his cast wet (although it comes off tomorrow) and while he was hesitant to come outside, he did have a lot of fun.  Only party pooper Benaiah stayed inside claiming he was too sore from clearing two long, two lane driveways from 10 inches of heavy wet snow and too tired from managing the video stuff at church.  It makes me sad that he'd rather go play his video game, but I can't do much about it.  He missed out on a lot of awesome memories of his parents throwing snowballs at each other and laughing! Oh well.

The next few days will be warmer and rainy so the snow will melt by tomorrow.  Winter's slightly unexpected last hurrah.  It makes me sad, but my daffodils will be happy for warmer days.  Maybe next year for spring break we can go north and go skiing or something, lol.  Bring on the snow will always be my mantra!

The sun was fading, but that didn't stop this duo! The snow was deep!

Abishai was out of his mind excited!  Check out that grin!

"Mommy, I go too far! (hehehehehe)"  He kept trailblazing his own path through the snow going further and further away from me and instead of being scared or upset because he was upset, he kept going!

Heavy, heavy snow!

Winter, my 2nd favorite season!

Incredible!

Still working his way through the snow for 20 minutes!

Trying to capture a "money" shot...snow on our windowsill!

Snow ice cream!

He purposefully fell in the snow and didn't care that he got wet!

Wading through the 10 inches!

We couldn't get the sleds to go down the hill.  Sleds work well on drier snow, or when others have done the work to pack it down.  I don't have that kind of skill or energy to do that.

Go...

....going....

.....gone!!

Daddy, watch me! Come play with me!  Snow!!!

Poor baby knees!  Once he got inside and realized his knees were numb and then they started warming up and getting tingly, Abishai cried in pain.

My favorite scene!  A snowy backyard and a blue sky!  It makes me cry and long for PEI.

I can't believe we used to get this much snow EVERY WEEK for 3 months straight on PEI!

Beautiful!  I wish I had more time to stare at it!

Outside my desk window.

Check out all the snow on the tire swings!

Good morning, snow!  Thanks for showing off, God!

Let the fun commence!  After church we all bundled up and went outside for some fun!  I'm trying to relax a little and not worry so much about toys going inside and outside.  Actually, I got this type of truck because it didn't have as many breakable or rustable parts and didn't need batteries.  They are perfect for snow and sand!

Growing up, we made the huge snowballs and then put them together.  Jared is a genius and just mounded the snow into a fort!

Abishai helped out, too.

Dog and boy.

I finally convinced Justin to come out and have a little fun.  I could not convince Benaiah to come out because he was sore from shoveling last night.  I don't like it when not everyone participates, but it's his loss.  The air was warm, so we a light jacket was all we needed.

Family fun!

Canoe Cove Christian Camp represent! I made this snowman!  Not perfect, but I did it!  Jared helped some, to.  The eyes, nose, and buttons are made from pieces of asphalt from the driveway (that I now have to pick up out of the garden, oops).  I had to wash the hat and scarf later, too.

I wish I could home to this scene every day for months!

Big shovel for a little guy!

Yes, my kids are in short sleeves.  It was above freezing and they got hot in the sun!  And Socks loves to play in the snow!

Hot blooded Justin.

Perfect way to clean road salt off the vehicles!

Beautiful, gorgeous snow!

Crunchity crunch crunch.  Love that sound!

Snow angel made by Keturah!  In less than 1 hr, we had fulfilled all of our snow activities for the year: fort, snowman, snow angel, and snowball fight! (Sledding was two months ago).

I wish we could have utilized the fort more, but we only had a little bit of time between church in the morning and church in the evening.  Socks wasn't sure where he was supposed to go or what he was supposed to do.

Daddy the fort builder.  Cutest fort builder I've ever seen!

The fort's guard dog!

Pitiful face!

Jared giving the snowman a face lift.  The sun kept melting the snow so the eyes and nose fell off in less than 1 hr.

Digging, climbing, raking!

Abishai is so nimble!  He kept climbing up to the roof of the truck and then literally slide down onto the tool box and into the truck bed in .03 seconds.

Happy attack!

We love snow so much we fall down in laughing attacks!  And we all pick it up with mittens on, too.

So deep!

The slide got left out, but Abishai managed to crawl through it.

It took a little longer, but he climbed up all by himself.

Boom!

Twinning with Daddy stretching their backs (Jared's sciatica flared again) after playing in the snow.

Happy attack on 'Miah!

Beautiful sight to wake up to!

I had a happy attack! Beautiful!

I think we were transported to our neighbors to the north.  Or through the wardrobe to Narnia.  How can anyone be upset by this?  How?!

And....we did our backwards doughnuts in the van for the year, too. One hour later after church, the parking lot was bare.  We used to do doughnuts in the Cornwall parking lot, too.  So much fun!

Huge pile of snow!  The rest was slushy, not really too slick.

Check it out!  Our piles in 2015 were still bigger than this though.

Benaiah built not these light boxes, but similar ones for the Shelby St. campus this week on his spring break.  He used a soldering gun and everything.  These are much better than the light bars they had last year.

What is it with this boy and snow?  He has to walk in it every time he sees it!

"I go too far!"

Fields and fields and fields of gorgeousness!

I climb on rock!

Me and snow!

One happy family!

I'm building a snowman!  Just like I did as a kid, one ball at a time.  The snow was PERFECT for it!

And this is why his sciatica flared this week.  He and Justin threw snow back and forth over the car roofs!

Hi, Justin! And Jared and I threw snowballs at each other, too!  I think we've done that once or twice ever in our 20 years together.  We all really have this bond with each other and being in Canada.  It's awesome to be so happy together, reliving those memories.

Hi, Mr. Snowman.

2 hrs later.  It was too warm for him.  Sorry, Olaf.

Starting to melt.  It is going to be above freezing all night and then rain, rain, rain this week, so this won't last.  Boo!  We can't wait until next season!