Snow Day 2010

So, Saturday and Sunday were the days of the big blizzard.  Over a foot of snow followed by ten below wind chills.


Sunday morning started out like this:

Fun!  Church was canceled and the boys played in the snow for hours.  They also did much of the shoveling.  My daughter and I watched through the window, nice and cozy inside.  Could the day get any better?    Sure it could!  We could have hot chocolate and watch the Packers pummel the Detroit Lions.  It's gonna be a great day...


Then... the cable/phone/internet service went out.  Wait!  I haven't set up my fantasy football team yet!  I asked my sister to text me updates of the Packer game until I remembered we could listen on the radio. (Apparently I've forgotten about old-school technology.)  I texted my sister, "At least we have power."  Then, finally, not too long into the game the cable came back.  Yes!  So we settle down to watch the Packers... get pummeled by Detroit.  Hey! Something does not feel right about this day.

I got tired of the Packers horrific showing and went outside to unearth my cars from the mounds of snow that were strangling them.  When I came in for a break to get warm, Dan was putting batteries in our boombox to find out what was happening with the Packers.  The power had gone.  Drat!  I jinxed us. 

After 2 hours of no power, I packed some bags and made possible overnight plans for us, just in case.  It got dark.  We lit candles and the boys ran around with my baby girl and her Hippo flashilight. They were having a blast.

We saw lots of utility company trucks scurrying from transformer to transformer trying to find the problem.  The power came on. Yay!!!!!!   Turned on lights, blew out candles. Then, the power went off.  Drat again!!  We re-lit the candles and made plans to go out to dinner and have a belated celebration for our oldest son getting his black belt in Taekwondo.  (All the while the candles were lit, my little girl kept singing Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you.  That was pretty sweet.) Then, boom! The lights went on.  Yay!  No blowing out the candles just yet.  And, the lights when off.  Triple Drat!!!

Okay, this is getting too long.  We went out to a fun dinner and came home 2 hours later (going on 7 hours of power out.)   We drove into our neighborhood with much anticipation.  Quadruple Drat!!!!  The street lights were still out.    But, the untility trucks were still to be seen, so we had hope.  We decided to stay home and risk it.  I bundled my baby up in 3 layers of jammies and put here to bet with her light-up lullaby dolls.  The boys and I set up our "Sorry" game in the living room with lots of candles.  

We all snuggle under a blanket, read the directions and... Boom!  The power came on.  No!!!!!!  The boys all wanted it to stay off, they were having so much fun.  So, we kept the ights out and the candles on and played our game for 2 hours.  The house gradually warmed up and, as it turns out, we had a very fun and memorable day.  I think we will never forget it.  No more "drats," just fond memories.