Snow Day

One of the first questions our children asked us when we moved to San Antonio was "will it snow." In Okinawa we heard rumors that there were visible snow flurries at the Northern point of the island while we were there. For the first time in twenty years, our mamasan told us. That was the closest the kids came to seeing snow. Sariah and Trevor remember seeing snow. Chris isn't sure whether he remembers snow or not. Kate is sure she doesn't remember and is quite chagrinned at the fact. The kids wanted to live where they could see snow.

Snow isn't very common here in San Antonio, so we told the kids "Don't count on it; sno is the exception rather than the rule in San Antonio." The optimist they are all they heard was that there is a chance for snow.  Last winter there was a day it snowed a bit.  Nothing stuck, but the elementary school teachers let the kids go outside and try to catch snowflakes. This year it really snowed. It wasn't a snowstorm like those in Colorado, Idaho and Utah where I grew up, nor was it the infamous San Antonio 'blizzard' of 1985, but it was amazingly good snowstorm for my kids.

It wasn't long before they were bundled up and leaving their snowprints,

writing messages,

and very carefully

building

a doll-sized snowman. The nice thing about tiny snowmen is that they are able to be carried around for show and tell.

Richard had the day off work which made it a very nice day for all of us. Even though both of us are used to driving in the snow I was happy he didn't have to drive on the roads. The snow wasn't bad, the layer of ice underneath it was much worse. Richard had worked late the night before and had slid around a fair amount on his way home. There were other cars that couldn't make it up the hills and hilly sections of road that were closed. It might seem silly that a city grinds to a halt for a measly half inch of snow, but I like it that way. I personally don't want to buy snow tires on the off chance it might snow this year and I'm pretty sure I don't want my city to spend money to prepare for the same slim chance. I say we celebrate and have a snow day every few years instead.

All photos taken by Kate & friends