Anyways, as I'm sure you have heard, the east coast hosted an epic blizzard last weekend! I thought Snowmageddon of 2009/2010 was a lot of snow but Snowzilla takes the cake. The reporting center for our town recorded 29.2" of snow, which broke the previous record of 26.8". That is A LOT of snow!
The blizzard didn't begin until about 2pm Friday afternoon. My school district had already cancelled school that day in anticipation of the blizzard and Ben was able to work from home. Ben had gone to Costco earlier in the week so we were well prepared with batteries, formula, water, and diapers. By the time we went to bed around 10:30pm, we had 5" of snow and it was still snowing pretty hard.
We had some thundersnow, which woke me up around 6am Saturday morning. When I measured around 8:30am, we had 15" of snow, meaning we got 10 inches in 10 hours! Thankfully we also woke up to power and heat! That was a blessing because the wind was fiercely blowing and I was worried about losing power and keeping two babies warm.
I headed out to try to make a dent in the shoveling around mid-morning. We had 17" by then and it took me 30 minutes just to clear away snow two feet out from the garage door. Just as I was wondering how in the world we were going to shovel all this snow away I saw one of our neighbors snowblowing his way down the road. This neighbor also happens to be the dad of one of my students. He ended up coming over and snowblowing our driveway for us! I was so thankful for him to come out in a blizzard and spend 30 minutes taking care of our driveway for us. He was such a blessing. While he worked on the driveway, I managed to clear the steps and a little area for Riley to go to the bathroom. Once the girls got up from their nap, I brought some snow inside for them to play with. The wind was blowing really hard so I didn't want to take them out just yet. They weren't too impressed with the snow. Natalie did try to eat it and shuddered at how cold it was!
(hopefully the video works!)
Noelle (in blue) and Natalie (in pink)
Her face says it all!
"Mmmm, let me try to eat this white stuff!"
"Yuck!"
"Oooo Mom, that's cold."
"Maybe this piece won't be as cold."
It snowed pretty heavily until about 8pm Saturday night. When I went out to measure Sunday morning, we had at least 2 feet of snow and the drifts were crazy! Also our driveway and steps were pretty much covered again from the snow and the drifting.
The neighborhood as the blizzard was winding down.
After the girls were in bed Ben, Riley, and I went out front just to see how the snow looked.
I made Ben check all our vents to make sure nothing was covered. I also tested all the alarms inside, much to his annoyance (and before the girls went to bed. They were not fans of the alarms!)
This is our mailbox post. When we first moved to our house, we quickly realized that our corner lot was the perfect dumping ground for all of the snow the plows moved off the roads. This also resulted in our mailbox getting destroyed twice. So after the second time when the post was snapped off, we decided to get a mailbox that was removable! So our mailbox is on a hollow post that slips right over the wooden post from the first mailbox. It's about 2 feet tall and almost completely covered here.
Riley girl LOVES the snow!
We took the girls out mid-day on Sunday for their first snow day! They got snowsuits and sleds for Christmas and they couldn't move a muscle in the suits! We put them in the sleds and pulled them around for a little bit and then I sat them in the snow for some pictures. I don't think they smiled once, haha! It was also incredibly bright out there with all the snow so I think they had some trouble seeing. I think they prefer the beach over the snow, just like their mama! After I got some pictures I took them inside while Ben worked on shoveling the driveway.
Natalie (purple) & Noelle (pink) sledding for the first time!
Noelle
Natalie
They look totally thrilled, don't they?
I tried sitting them up and they promptly slid right down. They couldn't move at all in those suits.
Well I got one to smile!
I dug them out a spot in the snow and stuck them in.
Not thrilled about all this white stuff.
"Mom, can we just go in already?"
Natalie watched Ben shovel while I took Noelle inside.
The blizzard was wild, epic, and historic. Ben worked from home on Monday and was able to go back in on Tuesday. I ended up being out of school all week! Our neighborhood didn't get plowed out until Monday afternoon but the government and school system had a tough task getting roads and and schools ready. All of the roofs had to be cleared from snow, all the lots and sidewalks plowed, and they ended up having to inspect all the buildings to make sure they were structurally sound and make sure the roofs weren't going to collapse on us. And when you have 70 some schools, that can take a long time. I am sad that this eats into my summer but I tried to look at it as a make-up winter break with the girls since they were sick the entire winter break.
We survived Snowzilla of 2016 and hopefully it will be a long time before we see another blizzard!
