Winter Time Adventures

It was a day full of winter time adventures here in Nearly, Canada. The adventure started this morning, as I had an errand to run. Our garage has an alley entrance - but the alley is never plowed (since we are one of the only families with an alley entrance on this particular street). This is not typically a problem, since the garbage truck makes big tire grooves in the snow and we can simply follow the groves. Last night, however, we got an additional 2 inches of snow (meaning it's up to the undercarriage of the van) and there were strong winds (which created drifts)... which meant that although the tire grooves in the snow appeared normal as I backed out of the garage, they in fact, were not. I started down the alley as usual... and then proceeded to get the van utterly and totally stuck in a snow drift. After trying for about 10 minutes to get the van out myself (getting my cute little boots totally filled with snow in the process), even traveling back to the garage to get a shovel to dry to dig out the van, I swallowed my pride and went and called upon Vince for his help. It took Vince about 30 minutes and 3 different shovels to dig me out, as well as running behind me and pushing the van almost all the way down the alley. Needless to say, since they are forecasting another 5 inches of snow tonight, I have parked in the front driveway until the alley is a bit more cleared.

The next adventure was when Vince was done with work today. He took the older two boys out in the back to clear the walkway to the garage (which at this point is no longer needed since the van is in the front). The older Black men also shoveled "highways," "tunnels," and "bridges" all over the back yard. The snow is too light to pack, so the bridges and tunnels are actually just walls the boys built up really high and hid behind.
Vince and the boys also shoveled off the fort and slide and spent quite a bit of time sliding down the slide into a pile of snow waiting at the bottom.

Obed has caught the bug Asher had over the weekend which meant he had a fever and snotty nose today. His illness, combined with his face-plant in the snow yesterday made him a great candidate to stay inside and watch the big boys in the back. He stood at the window for a good 20 minutes saying, "Eesh. Eesh." Not really sure what he meant - but he kept telling me, so either it must have been important, or my response of "uh huh," made him feel like I understood his babbling... either way, "Eesh, eesh."

Obed and I from the inside looking out at the snow adventurers in the back.