SNOW!

We took the kids up to the snow this Saturday. They've been wanting to go play in the snow for a while now, and we haven't had a good weekend to go yet. Well, the snow gods smiled upon us this last week, and lay down a few feet of fresh powder, and then stopped on Friday and Saturday, so the roads would be open for an uneventful jaunt up the hill. Actually, there were still a few flurries in the morning, and as we left, the CA Department of Transportation was still requiring chains for a few miles. But after a couple hours of driving, and a lunch stop, the road was in good shape, so the chains stayed in the back of the car.



The kids were very excited to see the snow, but the drive was getting to be too long. Suddenly, in the middle of, "I'm hungrey. How much looongerrrr?" we came to Colfax. I started to see little pockets of snow under the trees along the highway. Then I could feel the excitement, as each time we saw a big hill covered in white, we'd hear, "OOOoooo!" coming from the back. Then the trees started to hold the snow in the branches. We talked about looking for animals in the snow, like deer or rabbits. We never saw any, but they had fun looking.

We did have to slow down for a chain inspection area, but chains we no longer needed. Just a slow down. We eventually got to the sno-park at Yuba Gap, and about 6' of snow! When we pulled in, it started to snow a little bit more, but it wasn't heavy, just enough to dust the cars and buildings.


Getting two very excited little kids dressed in the car before exposing them to the elements was a bit of a challenge, but we got them bundled up, then ourselves, and off we went. No sooner were we in the snow, when the snowball fights started. I think they had fun, but there were a few tears when the unexpected snow ball hit either of them by surprise. They mostly enjoyed hitting us with lots of snow.

And I think Isabelle ate about 2 gallons of snow.

We brought along a snow saucer for a little sledding action as well. It turns out, the snow was too powdery, and the kids couldn't even walk in it. They had to kinda do a crab walk with bellies on the snow. After a little while, we get to an area of packed snow, and a trail off to a small hill. Some other revelers had started a sled path, but abandoned it earlier. So we took over, and stomped down a chute, which then joined our neighbors sledding path. And the disk rides began. The kids had the most fun when they went down the hill with either of us, but each also tried a solo run, which actually went pretty well, but turned out to be a little scary for them too. Especially when the disk started to rotate and David or Isabelle was going down hill backwards!


After a couple of hours, they were exhausted. And the lack of oxygen didn't help either. So we headed back to the car. After getting all dressed and back in a warm car, they wanted to go play in the snow some more, of course. Isabelle says she wants to play in the snow everyday this year. We'll try to get back up the hill soon.