Good Lord, we’ve been out of our groove this month, in some the best and worst ways. WINTER. When the first snowflakes started to fall on Seattle three weeks ago, we cranked up our fireplace, hauled our TV up from the basement, and settled in for a cozy Sunday of reading and football Superbowl commercials. Â
By late afternoon the snow had started to stick and children emerged from houses up and down the street, bundled up and ready to play. It wasn’t much more than a dusting, really, but it doesn’t take much for Seattle-ites to declare simultaneous states of joy and emergency. Stock up on milk and bread! Stay off the roads! And bring out the sleds!
We like our snowmen petite in Seattle.
Snow continued to fall overnight and shouts of glee were audible across the city as parents read school cancellation notices aloud to their children on Monday morning. SNOW DAY! Shane and I tag-teamed with Juliette throughout the day, struggling to piece together a legitimate work-from-home day while not missing any of the fun.Â
School was closed again on Tuesday, which felt more inconvenient than exciting, as I was prepping for a Wednesday work trip to San Diego. Between my work travel and Shane’s adjustment to his new job, we really feel like we’re in the thick of the parent/professional hustle, and Juliette’s ever-presentness added another layer of complexity to our days. But when the next wave of snow started falling on Friday afternoon, I was giddy. The three of us stood at our living room window and cheered as a few fluffy flakes transitioned into a full-on snowstorm. With a stocked-full fridge and no work or school on the 2-day horizon, we were hoping for some inches. Within a couple of hours, we were ready to bring the sled back out.
And by sundown Shane was recruiting the neighbor kids to shovel our driveway – this was legit!
We gathered at our neighbor’s house that night for a hot wings smorgasbord and laughed as the guys were driven to tears by the spiciest of sauces. We stayed way past the kiddo’s bedtime, embracing that structure-less snow day vibe.
We opened our shades on Saturday morning to find a few more inches on the ground and quickly pulled on our gear, wanting to make the first footprints on the sidewalk.
These people were out for a morning ski in the middle of the road. Turns out snow-time is a lot like sun-time in Seattle – everyone happily busts out their sporting goods and carpe’s the diem.
Shane would disappear into the garage every few minutes and re-emerge with a new mode of transportation.
And Juliette was thrilled when her playmates came out, one by one. This ramp/slide became a neighborhood hotspot over the course of the weekend (wait for it!).
While the kids were distracted with building snow castles, the dads upped the ante on the ramp.
Finally, it was deemed sufficiently steep and a line formed very quickly. So many little speed-demons!
Juliette was insatiable, wanting to go again and again and again.
Our resident luge-er…
I read on a weather blog that snow really brings out the best in Seattle-ites, and we felt that fiercely in our neck of the woods. There was such a strong sense of community around here as we shared our snow shovels and sleds, kept an eye on each other’s kids, invited each other in for chili and chocolate chip cookies at the end of the day.
Sunday was snowy again and we started to feel those first tinglings of the snowed-in itch, so we hopped in the Forester and made the short trip to the Rusts.
Shane and J broke away from fort-building to do some skiing through Camp Long. Talk about giddy!
And then, sledding. I was caught off-guard by the speed of the hills and Juliette and I ended up with faces full of snow as I used my feet to put on the breaks. From that point forward, she insisted on riding with Nancy, who proved to be a more sensible pilot.
When your toboggan breaks, you improvise…
Jason was decidedly less sensible than Nance, but still, Juliette had fun.
Post-sledding, we lunched and hot-tubbed and crafted away the afternoon.
We headed home when the next wave of snow started to fall, eager to get inside and hole up for the night. However, when Juliette saw the line of kids behind the ramp across the street, she was back at it.
I tried to call her in, but she insisted she needed to stick around to escort all the littles that didn’t want to sled by themselves.
Seriously, kiddo – look at your father’s face. For the love of God, call it a day!
Never.
And then, Monday. School was cancelled again and transit was a mess, so Shane and I worked from home. “Work” is relative term, really.
Several more in my “Jules+Snow” series…just keep scrolling.
This time last year we were in the thick of house-hunting, dreaming of a place where Juliette could run around in the yard with neighbor kids. We nailed it.
I squeezed in a few hours of work while Juliette played at a friend’s house, then set out for a brisk walk to check out the West Seattle scene. I stood at the edge of Schmitz Park and marveled at the total quiet of the blanketed woods.
I loved seeing these two people perched on a bench, taking in the whited-out view of the Sound beyond.
I popped inside for a 30-minute work call and came back out to find that the kids (and dads) had been busy. I take back what I said about those petite Seattle snowmen!
And then, because I think everyone sensed the snowfall was at its tail end, the ante was upped on the shenanigans.
Really, our neighbor was driving slowly and the kids were secure. Totally safe.
We invited the neighborhood gang over for wine and dessert that night and I felt a little pang of melancholy as someone remarked that this is probably a once-in-a-lifetime thing for all of us. We might get another mondo snowfall a few years down the road, but our kids will never be this age in this kind of snowstorm again. It had been such a wonder-filled, festive few days.
BUT, festivity be damned, by Tuesday we were over it. Snow turned to rain and brown overtook white on roads and sidewalks. Our snowmen were quickly reduced to a sad pile of slush and carrots. And school was closed again. Come on, Seattle – Mama’s gotta WORK!
School resumed on Thursday (praise the LORD), and this past week was business as usual, for better and for worse. It’s fitting that this is the last photo I have on my Snow-Zilla image reel, taken on the last real snow day. Way to play your heart out, kiddo.
