crazy snow day

A typical winter day around here is about -20 to -25 (-4 to -11F) plus a windchill which makes it actually feel like -30 to -35 (-22 to -31F). On these days it's dangerous to be outside for long periods of time, I'm taking 5-10 minutes here. We start our cars for 20 minutes so they will warm up and actually run. Sprint outside and do a quick brush off of the snow, and sometimes a more tedious ice scrape depending on the elements. Bring all our bags out, grab Ellia in all of her outdoor gear, but keep in mind she has to wear a special downfilled jacket that will compact enough to be safely and properly strapped into the carseat, and then we remove gloves and scarf. What did people do before car starters and seat heaters? 

Well yesterday was a winter treat, except for the fact that my truck died.  It only felt like -8 (18F), and was snowing these big, juicy snowflakes. In the morning Ellia had a doctors appointment and the driving was not good. The snow covered roads made for many accidents and delays, but we made it there with no issues. On the way home, I thought we should stop and buy a new tube to slide down the GIANT snowbank in front of our house. Unfortunately my truck had other ideas. Luckily we made it safely into a parking lot, and it just happened to be an East Side Mario's parking lot. We went to Giant Tiger, a family discount store which I used to model for in the flyers back in the day, but do not frequent, bought some gifts for everyone and a sledding tube and then went over for some really yummy fake Italian food. My grandfather had open heart surgery, a double bipass on Monday. He started having some kidney failure yesterday and my mom, who came to save us, ended up having to rush to the hospital. He's stable today. 

Finally we made it back home safely in my mom's SUV.  I was freaking out by how "warm" it was outside and how freakin' gorgeous it looked. We all put our snowpants on, got bundled and went sliding for a bit. Then we went on the long walk through the forest to the frozen lake. The sight was probably one of the most gorgeous I have ever seen, when it comes to snow, ha!

xox nat