an epic seattle snowstorm and valentine's day

 seattle got chilly last week (well, for seattle). which means highs in the 30s. all eyes were on the weather forecast for the end of the week: accumulating snow! it only happens once or twice a winter (and some years not at all), so it's a big deal around here ;) but with virtual school this year, that means no traditional snow days.

another thing that's different with virtual school this year is there is no regular valentines exchange with their classmates. instead, they were asked to make one big valentine (like a sign) to share with the class and record a message. they also made valentines for the grandparents.

 

 

on thursday afternoon there were some flurries in the air and the kids were jumping up and down with excitement. ha! overnight we got a dusting that stuck to the ground. of course they wanted more and i kept telling them they had to be patient, because it was coming.

on friday the kids had their last day of school before midwinter break (a whole week off). the snow started falling in the evening as the kids headed to bed. 

we woke up saturday morning to a winter wonderland - around 7 inches and still snowing hard. 

 

 

the kids were so excited to go out and play. it was pretty magical! we had to squeeze them into too-small snow pants, but thankfully we had the right gear. 

 there are very few plows in seattle (or even shovels for that matter), so it was still and silent at 8:30 am.  

our neighbors texted that they were outside playing, so we went and joined them at ballard community center. it was packed with families and dogs running around having a ball. sledding paths were soon groomed, snow men started going up, every one was so happy. i think every one was relieved to have some lighthearted, covid safe fun together.

 

thatcher and i even took a couple turns sledding. turns out that hurts when you aren't a kid anymore ;) but it was so fun! 

 we made the kids return home mid-day for a hot chocolate/lunch break. we all warmed up and put our gear in front of the heats vents to dry them out to go back out again later. it kept snowing all day! i think we ended up with around 10 inches total. some areas of the city saw a foot. unreal for seattle!

 

 

after lunch, the kids helped make a snow sculpture with the neighbors and spent many more hours sledding and playing. i think they clocked 8 hours of snow play for the day. not bad! 

 

we had a cozy night eating leftovers and watching a movie. it was still snowing hard when we went to bed. when we woke up sunday morning, our deck looked like this and it was valentine's day. 

we made heart pancakes for breakfast, which turned out really well.

 

 

it continued snowing hard all morning. i headed back to the park with the kids and the neighbors for more sledding and snow man building. 

 we took a break for a couple hours in the middle of the day. i tromped my way to the grocery store and thatcher and the kids played outside and then headed to the park again. whew! it started to warm up in the afternoon to a rain/snow mix. we made asian meatballs for dinner and thatcher made his annual chocolate souffle.

 

ever since we've moved in, i thought about how pretty the deck would look lit up with snow. and i got to see it! 

  

 i gave the kids a couple small gifts (which i almost forgot about!). we watched mighty ducks 3. only the most romantic for our valentine's day ;)

it was so nice to have a couple days break from reality. but i'm not too sad to say goodbye the snow until (hopefully) next winter.