Snow day, snow play

After returning to school on Thursday just hours before the first snow fall of the year, Elisa was granted a reprieve when the accumulation proved too much and they cancelled school on Friday.  Nacho's first flight of the day was also cancelled (though they later rerouted him and called him into work--boo!), so we enjoyed a leisurely morning at home. But once the sun broke through, I started to feel the excitement of being outside in the powdery stuff. This wasn't the only snow we've had this winter, but it was definitely the most to date. And more than anything, I was ready for it. There was nothing else I needed to do that day. So we embraced the cold and the bitter winds and wrapped ourselves in a million layers before heading out to play. My loftier goals of making it to the park or even to the sledding hill over in Woodside were quickly abandoned once I read what the wind chills were going to be. It was 10 degrees with a chill of -5F. Yeah, no thanks. Hearing reports on the news about exposed skin freezing in 15 minutes also didn't help. BUT IT LOOKED SO PRETTY! We had to just get out and dip our mittened hands in the white stuff.  And that we did. 

Elisa took to the first fluffy piles as a fish to water. She was jumping, diving and rolling in the snow. Carolina was curious and maybe a bit immobilized by her stiff winter boots (thankfully, she wore them though, since Ms. E refused at that age!). Playing in the alley was actually fairly sheltered and perfect, until we decided to venture a bit further and then the wind hit us straight on. Wooosh! Carolina caught the first of it since her hood doesn't cover her as well. But man, it was C-O-L-D. Elisa didn't seem to care and was ready for the walk to the playground at P.S. 150 so we headed on over.  After a few more snow angels, Elisa grabbed a fistful and sprinkled it on Carolina's face which just about made me do the same back to her. Seriously, that's so mean. I tried to explain to her that when it's this cold out, you don't want snow making your skin wet and frozen. But she didn't seem to get it. Carolina brushed it off like a champ, but within 5 minutes, her cheeks were bright red and I knew our time was up. Elisa was still bouncing around, wanting to make a snowman and arguing with me about helping her. It wasn't the right snow for making big round balls, and we had to leave anyway. Maybe if you hadn't thrown snow at your sister, we could stay. That's always a nice parenting strategy, right? Of course, Carolina threw some snow back her way too which made me happy to see. I like ending an outing on an even note. And so we returned home to homemade chicken stock-egg noodle soup and a little nap. Considering this was Elisa's first official snow day from public school, I think we spent it wisely.