southern snow

We traveled to Fort Worth, Texas to visit some very old & dear friends (J, C & wee F) & weren't there 24 hours when the entire place was blanketed in a thick carpet of the wet white stuff. Snow. Everywhere. And over a full, record-breaking foot of it by the time it finally stopped coming down. It wasn't X's first snow -that was at Christmas, but he didn't really get out in it (except for the briefest moment when his grandpa gave him a snowball & he cried from the terrible cold in his hand) & by the time I finally got up the nerve, it was melting away. This time we bundled him up & headed out first thing.

He didn't seem to like it all that much, but then neither do I. I spent my childhood buried in the stuff in frigid Minnesota, so it holds little romantic appeal. M decided to take off X's mittens & let him feel it with his fingers which was just as bad an idea as it was at Christmas time. He wailed at the awful cold, so I took him indoors for a minute of debriefing & after he calmed we headed back out shortly, this time dressed properly for the elements. He crawled around in it, nearly face-planted off the sidewalk several times, & generally seemed somewhat dazed & confused & anything but impressed. Maybe next year's annual event will get more of a reaction.

I was a little bummed to have our short vacation in what usually passes for warmer climes destroyed by massive, unprecedented snow fall. We spent the weekend hunkered down indoors, only leaving on one occasion to slosh through abandoned streets to get dinner & drinks. On another, we drove slowly (in shifts, mind you -4 adults & 2 kids to 1 Honda Civic) to the local Science Museum only to find it closing early owing to the inclement weather. No hikes in the sunshine. No meandering walks around the local zoo with our kids in strollers & Ergos. No use for shorts & sandals.

In many ways, however, it was delightful to just relax & lay low & have absolutely no agenda. The kids played together in the living room with F's myriad toys while the adults nursed beers or coffees (depending on the time of day), chatted about this & that, & refereed the occasional conflict (usually sharing related). We share with J & C some very basic parenting philosophies that make hanging out together very easy & carefree. F is a sweet, precocious & sensitive little girl who adores X & has from the beginning. It was lovely to watch her be so solicitous of him, that is, when she wasn't hoarding her toys & fending off his many attempts to unwittingly steal them. It was a relief that X has not yet reached the "mine" stage, so while he sometimes seemed a little sad when she snatched something from his hand, he generally could not care less about such things & was happy to be distracted by just about anything else.

All told, it was a fantastic weekend spent surrounded by those we love, snow be damned.