Thursday, November 03, 2011

First Snow!

We had our first snow on Saturday October 29. Just a slushy snow that barely stuck on the ground but that didn’t matter. It was snow and our kids were excited. We knew snow was a possibility and everyone woke up early to see if the dream came true. Sadly, there was no blanket of snow that morning. But as we drove to morning swim practice on Saturday, we saw large salt trucks parked along the Beltway in anticipation of the storm and hope was restored. The snow finally came around mid-day as, appropriately, we were in a store buying snow boots.
The weather here has been great this fall, a little wet but great. We are surprised daily at how cool it is in the morning here during our walk to school. By the time we get to school (a ten minute walk away), we are warmer and I typically carry everyone’s coats home.
I use the term “coat” loosely. Of course, zippered sweatshirts were coats in Hong Kong and have been until the recent snow. We were forced to drag our box of winter clothes out of the basement and look through it. Not much that fit though Tori did make a solid effort to squeeze into a bright pink snow coat several sizes too small. We went to the mall and came home with new coats though everyone said they would only wear them in actual snow. I think a residual effect of growing up in warm Hong Kong is that you just don’t understand the need to dress warmly. Socks anyone?
We have looked around the neighborhood, scooping out hills for future sledding. In the meantime, we had to make do with a few snowball fights. Adam played and then went to find his football. He came out, throwing it up in the air, telling me he dreams of catching a football, scoring the winning touchdown and falling down into a thick layer of snow. I don’t know how likely any of that is but at least he's a dreamer and no longer calling the sport "American football."