Washington, DC Day 1: The Snow

One of our traditions is for me to take each boy to Washington, DC when they are in fifth grade. The reason for fifth grade is to make sure they are old enough to appreciate the trip, and to be able to handle all the walking.

This year it is Nile's turn. The start of our trip was ominous. For the week prior, the weather forecast had gotten progressively worse, with a winter storm bearing down on the region and promising 8-10 inches of snow. And the predictions of snow were very much guesses as the line between "a few inches" and "a foot or more" crossed straight over the QC region. It was scheduled to start overnight Friday. And we had a 6:15 am flight Saturday.

We went to bed Friday night not knowing exactly what we would wake up to. I set my alarm for 3:45 and settled in for a restless night of sleep. Finally at 3:30 I gave up and looked outside to see a blanket of new wet snow.

Ugh.

I was worried about the drive to the airport. I was worried we would get there and wait for a few hours only to have our flights cancelled. I was worried I would drive off the road. All things that had kept me from sleeping well, and I woke to find they were still true. I had hoped to wake and find the snow had tracked north.

Tom decided to take us to the airport. The drive down Wolf Road was perilous. 25 mph, as there had not been a snow plow through. My instinct to turn around was still there. It took us more than 25 minutes to go the 9 miles.

Once we got to the interstate, things looked up. It was mostly wet and 45 mph felt like 90. Once we got to the airport it was raining. Remember that line I mentioned? Seems it really had crossed right over the metro area, with snow to the northeast and rain to the southwest. It had taken us 45 minutes to make the normally 20 minute trek to the airport.

Everything at the airport was on time, so we checked in, got some breakfast, and sat down at the gate. Soon the airline was boarding - the gate attendant told us they were trying to get us out early. We were on board by 6 am, with 10 other passengers. The flight was supposed to be full, but it seemed nobody else had shown up.

After another hour wait on the tarmac for de-icing, we finally took off around 7 am. Our trip was finally on, and my stress level dropped significantly.

Spring Break Day 3

On Day 3 we woke up to this:

37 degrees and the ground was covered in snow. 

So, fishing was out for the morning. We decided to head back in to Des Moines for museums. But...most of the museums are closed on Mondays. So we headed to one that was open. The Botanical Gardens. 

Touching the leaves. 

Weaving a reed into the display. 

Getting dripped on. (He is so hard to get good pictures of!)

Case in point. 

We hit the gift shop, where everyone found something. Three bird finger puppets, a gardening book, and a coffee plant. 

After the excursion and lunch at a local brewpub, we headed back to the cabin and Tom went fishing. It was cold but he caught 11 fish before taking Nate and Nile out to catch two more. Tom has pictures on his camera. 

At 2:15 am I woke up Nate and Nile and we headed outdoors to see the lunar eclipse. This was the first (and only) clear night we had here and the stars were amazing. The moon was pretty fantastic too. :)

Snow buddy

I can't remember for sure if we had Novak out in the snow last year, but finally the weather was warm enough yesterday that I felt he could be outside.

As predicted, he was a little whiny and didn't like walking in his snow boots, but he got over that enough to have some fun.

Afterwards he got to have another first. Hot cocoa with peppermint marshmallows - in a "big boy cup!" He calls it coffee, the silly boy.

:)

Snow Ice Cream

I had promised the boys that they would get to make snow ice cream on the first big snowfall of the year. So - when we got to have a snow day they were really excited to do it!

It's basically an egg, milk, sugar, and vanilla. And mix in a bunch of snow. They really enjoyed it.

First Snow 2009

What kind of mom would I be if I didn't let these two out in the first snow of the year? (Well, I'm not really sure, but there would have been mutiny in our house...)

Shoveling the driveway. They were surprisingly helpful.


Eating snow.


Making a snow angel.


Action shots of snowball-throwing.


We are anxiously waiting the "real" snow that is to come on Wednesday. I have been told that it will be full of snowball fights and snowman-making. Oh, and lots of hot cocoa has been requested.

Spring in February

We took advantage of the beautiful weather this weekend to get the boys some much-needed fresh air. Of all the spring-like activities that were available to them, what did they choose?

Shoveling snow.

Tom also enjoyed the fun, directing the snow distribution.

To our credit, I did take the boys for a walk later, so we did at least have one "springtime" activity. If we could only have a few more days like this...