SECOND SNOW DAY OF THE SEASON!

We get snow so rarely here in the south (usually a dusting every 5 years or so) that it was unbelievably exciting to get another round this season! And because it had been cold for days (weeks...) leading up to it, the schools (and work) closed due to hazardous (icy) driving conditions (for which the south is not equipped to handle).

(When it's really cold, chickens get corn to help them retain body heat)

The local police department asked people (via their Facebook page) to stay off the roads and just snuggle up on the couch with a good movie, so that's exactly what we did to start the day!

(Eating snow off a log...)

(One perfect snowflake discovered on a tree during our hike)

(Daddy threw a snowball at his face - though James struck first, so he deserved it!)

Making Snow Cream (it wasn't as good as we'd hoped...)

Playing Tenzi (thanks again for the recommendation Cari!)

(By day two, the kids were encouraged by their teachers, via the school's parents Facebook page, to do a little bit of iReady practice. So they did that, started on some cursive writing practice, and made progress on their current AR books.)

SNOW DAY 2017

Last night as we were heading to bed, we checked the weather and found a very unexpected blue cloud moving over Vicksburg. Upon personal inspection, we found tiny snowflakes beginning to fall around 10:30pm. While the cloud was expected to move over our area for many hours, we still went to bed expecting nothing to accumulate, considering there had been no warnings of snow or ice (a weather phenomenon that is usually met with a pre-event mad dash to Kroger for milk and bread around here, and the high possibility of the town shutting down in prep...) Turns out that when we woke at 5:30am, Vicksburg was covered in a pretty little blanket of the fluffiest snow, with an expectation of at least a few more hours (and few more inches) of accumulation. School (and work) were not cancelled, but James woke with a fever, so after a little bit of snow play (mostly by Cora and Jay), Jay headed to work while I dropped Cora at school, then headed to the doctor with James (who ended up with a strep throat diagnosis and a couple of shots and Rx's).

Right before we left the house - quite the little winter wonderland!

Cora was a little bummed to be going to school, but I assured her that James would not be outside enjoying the snow without her (that he would be tucked into the couch for a nap). Luckily, lots of her friends showed up to school and the teachers were incredibly accommodating by taking the kids out in 10 minute sessions to play in the snow until it stopped falling and started melting around 10:30am.

They even took pictures of the students playing outside for their curious parents:

My friends Alisha and Natalie posted these fun snow pictures from work: the ERDC Christmas tree and a lab-themed snowman!

Here are a few others from work and around town that were posted on Facebook:

DONNER PASS

Since we didn't see snow in Yosemite yesterday and none of the sledding/tubing hills are open yet, we drove up to Donner Pass (7200ft elevation, right at the current snow line) to play along the side of the road. PawPaw had packed a sled, Grambot had packed lunch, and us Mississippi folks packed our best version of snow clothes (last minute purchases of cheap snow pants for the kids, their winter boots from last year, and our hiking gaiters turned snow gaiters for ourselves...) The kids had THE BEST time hiking around the snow covered hills, sledding down tiny slopes, building a snowman, and having a snowball fight with daddy. James lasted almost 3 hours (Cora retreated to PawPaw's warm truck after lunch) and it was totally worth the drive!

Hiding from daddy during the snowball fight... I turned around and got beamed in the face!

Sometimes they rode in tandem, sometimes Cora climbed up on James' back...

What's a snow day without a snow snack? NOTHING, if your name is Cora...

Lunch time!

Bummer when you fall off...

Another snowball fight...

Mama and Daddy's turn on the sled!

On the way home, we stopped at Donner Lake (to turn around) and took a few photos:

Another fun filled family adventure day!