There's Snow Reason to Stay Inside

Did you know that in some parts of the world, winter and snow are synonymous?  I mean, if there weren't snow on the ground all winter in those places, it would be weird.  Where I live, it's pretty weird if there is a snow flake sighting in winter. For my South Florida friends, you may need to review a few of these words from the dictionary:

Snow
noun . Meteorology . a precipitation in the form of ice crystals, mainly of intricately branched, hexagonal form and often agglomerated into snowflakes, formed directly from the freezing of the water vapor in the air.

Winter
noun . the cold season between autumn and spring in northern latitudes

As a homeschool family, we felt it important for my children to grasp the full meaning of these words by studying them for an entire day.

But not out of the dictionary.



Me and Hopers sledding.  Feel the joy.



Seth getting revenge



I used to think that people were crazy for living in northern states.  How fun could it possibly be to go outdoors in that cold stuff?  My mind has changed, though I'm not ready to move or anything.  With the right gear, you stay dry and warm.  With the right gear while you're running around like a kid, you get down right sweaty and even welcome a good face full of snow!





This bin turned out to be very useful.  We filled it with snow to form blocks at the bottom of the tubing hill.  We also used it to build a fort for the girls' side during our snowball war.

 

Noodle crashing into the block at the bottom of the hill.  Oh yeah.



Yep.  Now that's fun.



Some people have asked me how deep the snow was.  All I know is that my feet would sink more than this in some places, and at the bottom of that footprint is hard, packed snow that you can't sink through. 



Speaking of how deep the snow is....  all fire hydrants have tall flags on them so they can be found!  And the edges of the streets have poles on them so the snowplows don't drive over valuable things, like yards and cars.

The fort we built.  The perfect place to eat snow.  I think that constantly eating non-nutritive foods is considered abnormal in the medical world.  They call it pica and ask you about it regularly when you're pregnant.  Are my kids weird?



I love the variety of snowflakes.  Straight ones, triangle ones, snowflaky ones...  They amazed me.  Especially their size.    I was always under the impression they had to be seen under magnification. Some were as big as my small fingernail!  Shows how much I know.



When we paused for a break, there was something incredible in the peaceful silence of the snowfall.  No animals making noise, no cars, no movement.  Just four people smiling.

Ahhh.......