Record Breaking Storm

It's here!!!  The major snow storm that forecasters predicted for days -- and Western Washington residents fretted about for days -- The snow wreaked havoc on travel, grounding flights and turning roads treacherous with slush on compact snow and ice. Driving was particularly tough...

I think that pretty much sums up the initial storm, but what followed was entirely a different scenario.  The snow for the first few days was exciting to those of us who don't see accumulations like this in the rainy pacific northwest.  School is cancelled with even just a skiff and the kids are delighted with trying to make a snowman or snowball.  Spencer usually lasted about 5 minutes and getting him bundled was not worth the amount of time he spent out of doors.  Kelsey on the other hand comes in with wet clothes, gloves, hat, hair and starving with a headache.  She hasn't learned that when you play hard outside in the snow, you do need to take a break, eat some lunch, dry out your clothes and then go for round 2. 

Unfortunately, our beautiful snow didn't last long, the rain moved in, froze on top of the snow and created a really crunchy, icy mess!  The kids could no longer play outside, the power went off, all activities moved inward and lets just say, we had more family together time than we possibly needed.  There were plenty of sleep-overs, board game wars, and craft time to make it almost seem like camping.  In fact, we pretty much were camping with the generator running 24 hours (thank you, thank you, that we have a generator and thank you, thank, you uncle Scott for hooking it into our house and furnace.)  We have heat, we have t.v. entertainment, kitchen electrical plug for light cooking, and the fridge and outside freezer are plugged in as well.  This was the most comfortable we've been with a power outage lasting this long.  We consider ourselves blessed as we know there were many folks out there surviving in very cold homes.

Once again, I think the pictures speak for themselves. It was a crazy week.  In fact, Linzie and Chandler were scheduled to fly up for the weekend and surprise Kelsey for her birthday.  Their flight got cancelled due to the airport being shut down.  Kelsey was super sad when she found out about the surprise, but knowing that the kids will come up in April will make everything o.k.  We were able to purchase some Harry Potter cupcakes at Fred Meyer (one of the only stores with power) and share them with some of the neighbor kids on her b-day.  Not much of a real party, but no worries, she did get her party a week late.

These first few photos are of the initial storm and just this skiff canceled school.  Happy kids!

Well, then the real storm dumped on us and we had even happier kids! I can't help but laugh at Kelsey's snow shovel here...I guess that isn't a tool we keep in any of our garages..lol

 Oh the life of a 3 year old.  Just sit in a sleigh and be pulled around by daddy.

I got out my X-Country Skis and went around the neighborhood.  Kelsey and Sarah decided it looked like fun and wanted to give it a try.  Oh how I miss this sport, wish we had the opportunity more often.  Yes, I got a few crazy looks from people in the neighborhood, but oh it was a good time!

The storm was quite the storm with lots of damage to trees and power lines.  The ice was beautiful on the branches and formed some interesting shapes on our fence.  It truly was a very crazy week!

With the generator running 24/7 Brian had to make several trips to the gas station to fill up the gas cans.  The lines at the pump were crazy especially in the middle of the day.  Brian got really smart and started getting up really early and driving into town.  I do have a good hubby, thanks Brian!

If you see these pictures, it pretty much explains why we had no power.  The weight of the snow and ice brought these tree limbs down right on the lines.  The damage was significant.  Out of state crews were brought in and finally our power was restored.  Happy the storm is over, happy the snow and ice are gone and must I say, happy the rain has returned!  Oh yeah, and happy that school is finally back in session, the little red headed girl was about to drive her mommy CRAZY!