Polar Vortices

It's been a wild winter here in Michigan. It started early, snowed a lot and got really, really cold.  So cold we had "cold days" instead of snow days. Cold days would be called if wind chills got down to -30º. They did. With 45 mph winds.

Did I mention the wind? And the snow?

Seven days of cold and snow days since the first one on December 21st. So despite all the lovely fluffy snow we've been having (and my relentless efforts to move it from my driveway, resulting in two stuck moments on the way to school, so far)... it's often too cold to play outside.

But we have had a few days to shovel together,

and explore.

As it turns out, the cedars (or overgrown Arbor Vitae as we believe them to actually be,) are a fantastic place to explore when snow covered.  I remember thinking, when we bought the house, that climbing through those trees as a kid would have been magical. My kids seemed to have thought so. 

I'm fortunate that they are learning to be helpers and they shovel with me (albeit briefly), and they are adjusting to the temps. So much so, perhaps, that one balmy day in the high 20s, Maia declared it was nearly spring, and she didn't need to wear her coat anymore, she wasn't cold at all! Really! And she ventured down the driveway to pull back in the trash cart before starting to change her mind.

Alas, I think we have a ways to go before we'll see something as welcome as this year's spring.  In the mean time, I will continue to be grateful for the snow blower my dad found for me. And how pretty it all is.