Wacky Winter Wonderland

We were very excited about having our family come visit us.  However, Mother Nature was feeling moody and caused all sorts of strife.

Kerry's family was able to drive out the morning before the snow hit.  My mother and sister were supposed to fly out the following morning but we found out we were supposed to have extremely heavy snow.  We were concerned about our ability to get them to the airport which is about 30 minutes away.  We wound up taking them to a motel near the airport where they could get a shuttle the next morning to make their flight.

Thank goodness we did.  The snow came down all night and we never would have been able to get our of our neighborhood, let alone to the airport.  But because of our strategic planning, they were able to make it on their flight (after watching the plane be de-iced twice and watching dump trucks cart away snow).

Unfortunately, the rest of us were stuck at home in "near-blizzard" conditions.  

Ben's girlfriend was here for the week, and I had plans to take them to the Arch in St Louis, to the Science Museum, to some cool restaurants and just in general show her what a fun, likable family we are.

Nope.  We got to play board games and watch TV.  

We did tromp around out in the snow for about fifteen minutes.  But it was bitterly cold.  The wind chill put the temperature at -23 at one point.  We were excited when it got up to zero.

It was impossible to even see the street.  But of course, Kerry was determined to go to work.  I tell him he's a workaholic and he swears he's not, but the man tried to drive to work in this.  He only made it about twenty yards from the house before he got stuck.  I had to get Ben out of bed to help dig the car out and fortunately a helpful soul came along and helped get him unstuck.

He spent the day at home.

The snow just kept piling up.  Opening the sliding glass door or the garage door was risky because the snow was piled in drifts against them and it would just fall inside once the door was opened.

We were able to get out and about by Wednesday although we stayed close to home because the roads were slick.

By Saturday, the snow was still on the ground but the roads were clear.  We were able to get Noelle to the airport to fly back to her school.  Kerry was able to take Ben back to his school.

Monday the temperature soared to the fifties.  The remaining snow melted rapidly.  I wore a tee shirt and Emily wore flip flops.

Last night it snowed again.

Mother Nature needs to take a Midol.