Saturday, February 2, 2008

Snowy Saturday

We woke up to a lot of snow yesterday! Although every school district around us - and all private schools in the city - were closed, Chicago Public Schools was open. I'm told this is not so much the heartless move it feels like to us as it is consideration for the families who have no other option for their children on a day when school is suddenly closed - someone explained that the city's services would effectively shut down if there were a snow day. I also know it's financial; the district can't afford to pay teachers for a day when they aren't working. Either way, on a personal level it feels ridiculous, so we gave Baxter the gift of an unauthorized Snow Day yesterday.

And yet I had to go to work, slip-sliding my way down unplowed side streets to find parking near the clinic, and then getting soaked up to my knees as I walked down the middle of the street in a car tread since nothing was plowed or shoveled yet. I had stayed home with my sick kids the previous Friday and felt I couldn't cancel on my Friday families again this week, so in I went. About half of them kept their appointments so it was worth the trip in.

But today! Today was my Snow Day! Baxter and I went down to the beach at the end of our block and took in the magnificence of a frozen Lake Michigan. Lyle missed out due to some - shall we say - poor listening during the getting-ready process and we are - shall we say - having to be serious hard asses right now. Anyway, we discovered the upstairs neighbor's son down there at the beach in a great snow igloo he'd just built, so the boys romped in the snow and we all had a fabulous if chilly time: snowshoeing (we all have these and they are awesome!), snowball fights, snow angels, and of course hot cocoa at home afterwards. It was the morning I'd been waiting for all winter. I tucked my little camera into my coat pocket, so here are a few shots to share with you all...








11 comments:

floating in space said...

Beautiful. Looks like lots of fun!

Niksmom said...

Having momentary snow envy here in DE! Love the photos! Especially the one of B trying to catch the snow with his tongue (at least that's what it looks like.

kristen spina said...

Okay, you people in the midwest have to stop hogging all the snow. It's just not fair.

Christopher Tassava said...

Oh, that looks fabulous! I loved Chicago blizzards. The best one was, I think, during our last winter there, a huge "snow event" that even closed Lake Shore Drive. Shannon and I went out to the end of our block, climbed the guardrail, and walked back and forth, up and down LSD. It was wonderful.

Christopher Tassava said...

And hopefully Lyle will get to enjoy the snow, too, when his listening skills improve!

Lori at Spinning Yellow said...

I am sooo jealous! At least someone is having winter. The only good thing is that I haven't had to run inside yet.

Looks like a lot of fun!

Mari said...

I looooove the snow and am deeply envious - if you want to post some to me here Down Under, I would be grateful :)

PS - you've been tagged.. (see my blog)

Drama Mama said...

Dude. Look. Look outside my window right now.

Fog and rain.

Grrr.

But we still have Tartine.

So there.

Jordan said...

Did someone just say "Tartine"?

My fingers are in my ears.

"La la la la la la...I can't heeeaaar yoooouuuu..."

tulipmom said...

Love the juxtaposition of this post and the previous one reminiscing about summer.

Cool igloo!

Unknown said...

oh lovely. And aren't you thoughtful to have remembered the mini marshmallows!