Snowmageddon? Don't really think so after all

If you haven't seen or heard already, the DC area had a TON of snow dumped on us over the past few days. We had about 20" here at our house. A friend (whose husband is out of the country) aptly named it "Snowmaggedon." This was the the sixth largest storm recorded in the DC area since they started keeping track way back in the 1800's. And even though it is such a big storm, they seemed to have gotten a bunch of people dug out pretty quickly, except in our neighborhood, that is. We are literally snowed in. My four kids, my husband, myself, and my Dad are all trapped here while the city goes on about its business (or at least that's what it feels like).  They have yet to plow our street, so we are here until they do. We have no four wheel drive vehicle, so the idea of driving out in the unplowed snow (and now ice where those brave souls have driven down our street) is a scary one. We have no chains, and no idea how to get up the one steeper end of the street or over the hump caused by the plows on the other end. We have heard rumors of the big roads just past the ends of our streets being plowed out, but that's beyond the borders of where we can get in our two vehicles. It's like a mystical land beyond the castle walls that we've heard stories of, but haven't ever seen for ourselves. I have even seen posts from a friend on Facebook that her family made it to a local restaurant last night, had a beer, and posted pics of that beer. Sigh. Another friend made it to the airport and back today to grab a husband that was delayed for a day in Florida of all places. And here we sit, feeling a bit stuck. But it isn't all bad here inside the "walls." We met our neighbors. We've played outside. We've looked at pictures. We've hung out together, and we've done a whole lot of nothing.

Our neighbors built a sledding track down their long driveway, then built a snow bar. Yes, an actual bar at the foot of their driveway built of snow. We tucked wine, beer, and other adult beverages in there and kept them cold. They put a fire pit alongside the bar and we all stood outside and visited while the kids went sledding. I learned that about half of our neighbors lived in Texas at one time or another. Nice group of folks. Today they were back out there again enjoying each other's company and carrying on while we stayed inside and warmed up from the day.

The kids have been outside as much as their bodies would tolerate. We made them wait until after lunch when it's a wee bit warmer, but they went out and played for several hours. They came back in soaked to the bone, covered in snow, and happy as clams. They just spent the past three hours throwing snow at each other, trekking across the street visiting with their new friends, and sledding. No one has built a snowman yet, so I might just have to go out and do that myself tomorrow. When they did come in, we warmed them up, then we pulled up old pictures on the computer and blew their little minds - they had no idea that we were ever that young. After that we sat around and do a whole lot of nothing. And we did something strikingly similar yesterday.

Having learned Sunday night that the last three days of school were canceled (clearly there's no way to get us to school in the next day or two and I can't imagine that we are the only ones who are this stuck) the boys were beside themselves with excitement. No more school until January 4, 2010. But then the reality set in (they realized that we wouldn't let them play their Nintendo DS's all day long) and we heard those famous words - you know the ones - "I'm bored." But now that we are two days in, the "I'm bored" has changed to - "Can I see more pictures?" or "When can we go outside again?" So I guess being trapped at home with their brothers and sister, their mom, dad, and grandpa isn't so bad after all. Guess that meeting new friends, playing outside, and completely wearing themselves out is doing the trick. Snowmageddon has turned into something nicer - time alone with family and friends. Not such a bad thing after all.

This is an original DC Metro Moms post.

Suzie also writes about life with four kids and no snowblower (but a shoveled off driveway) over at Confessions of a Not So Well Behaved Woman.