Confession: My absolutely favorite conditions are the day after we’ve had a big dump of snow and the morning dawns bright, glistening and beautiful.
Monday was that day.
My preference is indisputably attributed to my Canadian upbringing. I’m never more homesick than when it snows and I’m unable to go cross-country skiing on my golf course or ice skating on Lake Bonavista with my dad.
I recreated a little cut of home by making my mom’s famous oatmeal-coconut chocolate chip cookies and hot chocolate with fresh whipped cream. As luck would have it, Bode does not have preschool on Mondays and Hadley only had to go to school for a 15-minute reading assessment so we invited our besties Alex and Seanie over for a playdate.
My fun started by shoveling the driveway and sidewalk early that morning. And yes, this is my idea of a fun and enjoyable workout. I’d take fresh, crisp air over a germ-infested, sweaty gym any day.
It’s our tradition every winter to build and tunnel out a snow cave. This was the Hurricane in 2009.
My, what a difference a couple of years makes.
We recruited Sean and Alex to help us build.
And we even constructed a slide on it as well.
It was a much-needed day at play in balmy 25-degree F temps with our beloved friends whom we haven’t seen since before winter break.
Though after spending a few hours with Alex, I started to get worried when she made the suggestion:
“Why don’t we make snow angels face-first instead of on our backs?”
Call me a naysayer but that didn’t sound like one stitch of fun and I figured I’d let her learn that the hard way.
And she did after five seconds of her self-imposed Freezee-to-the-Face.
“OK, NEVER MIND, NEVER MIND!” she screamed as icicles formed on her eyebrows.
She would make a great Canuck.
I'm a Canadian-born mom of two, former Denver Post columnist, family travel writer, editor of MileHighMamas.com and 9News contributor. Expert on all things Utah, Denver, family and travel. Lover of laughter and life. Happily married to a man obsessed with growing The Great Pumpkin. 