A Rare Snowy Park Trip

I had a great time with my girls two nights ago. We went to the park and played in the snow!

It was about five p.m. when Megan and Lucy began talking about going outside to play in the snow. Megan asked me if I wanted to stay with BB at home, or come with them. After sorting my unhappy coffee-jittery moodiness out, it became clear to me that the Michigander inside myself absolutely can not resist an invitation to go outside and play in the snow with kids.

It only took about a half hour to get ready :), kids and all. It was cold outside! The evening was already progressing, as these January days get dark early. The kids were both bundled up, looking all cute with red noses and rosy cheeks. Lucy and BB both expressed discomfort with the temperature at regular intervals, but who wouldn't expect them to?

We walked around the block to Cowen Park, where we found a crowd of sledders moving quickly and slowly, depending on sled type, down a hill with a snow-weathered path. There were totally dirt patches showing up. When we get snow around here, the sledders flock to it, and there never seems to be enough snow to go around.

So we hung around the sledders' general vicinity, and I made a snowman! It was great. I haven't rolled a snowball around in the snow for a long time. I'd forgotten all about it--how it gets bigger as it goes, how it picks up snow as it goes, and picks up more snow the heavier it gets, yet becomes harder to roll, and how hard it is to lift the middle and head pieces to place them!

It looked a bit funny, my snowman. Definitely not spherical shapes going on there, and no carrots or coal to define features. Some older kids (read: my age) had made a snow goddess with leaves over the boobs and branches of long hair. There were a few much better snowmen around.

So after I finished my androgynous snow abomination, I walked with Lucy a little closer to the sledders. She started to do this (you can see my androgynous snow abomination in the background):

Shortly after this, we found a lone yellow circle saucer sled by a tree. Lucy sat right down on it and wanted to go, and I didn't see anyone hurrying over to claim it, so I sent her down the hill on it! Way too much fun. It was her very first time sledding.

Since the snow was so beaten down, and her sled was not very slippery, and the hill isn't steep, I had to give her periodic pushes all the way down. After the second time up and down, I was getting pretty tired, and Lucy was starting to realize the futility of trying to go fast. The older kids with better sleds were inspiring her and making her jealous.

doesn't look too big here...

Megan had been watching us the whole time, wearing BB on her chest and talking with another mom at the top of the hill. Lucy and I split off at that point, as her and mama went over to my snowman, and I went off to find a piece of the field with nice, soft, rollable snow. Finding it, I proceeded to roll a bigger, better snowman.

It was getting really dark by that point, so Megan took BB home, and Lucy stayed with me at the park.

...so we added perspective

Being outside with the kids almost felt new; it had been so long. The addition of BB in our lives has made park outings twice as difficult. Nay, thrice!

Anyway, I proceeded to make a huge base for my snowman, and a slightly smaller middle piece. When it was time to lift the third one on there, I set it down too hard, and broke the middle piece in half!

My arms then being in a jellied state, Lucy and I walked to the playground, where a group of high schoolers and early 20-somethings had engaged in a snowball fight. After hanging out on the icy jungle gym and going super-fast down curly and straight icy slides, the snowball fight was edging closer and closer. It was getting dark and cold anyway; I used it as an excuse to drag her out of there with me.

And today, January 21, the snow is all melting, school is returning to normal operating hours, and that experience described above will most likely prove to be our only snowy park experience for the whole year. Goodbye, 2012 snow! We'll be patiently enduring the rain until next time ....