Lots of Snow, Forts and Germs

Richmond has seen an insane amount of snow this winter. It's still on the ground, although some warm weather this weekend helped melt some of it. At this rate, we'll have snow on the ground in April :-( A typical winter weather forecast in Richmond usually mentions snow, but is wrong. Richmond is on the rain/snow line so the weathermen change their forecast at the last minute and we end up with a few flurries that quickly change to rain. This year, they were right, THREE times! We got a huge snow in December (that stuck around until mid-January), and then back-to-back weekends in February, we got MORE HUGE snow! 14+ inches the first weekend and then about 10 inches the following weekend. Needless to say, schools were closed and John Grayson didn't go to preschool for two entire weeks. It was a frustrating time for all of us. Thank goodness for the YMCA and their fantastic childcare. JGray may not have made it to school, but he did get some play time each morning at the Y (and I maintained a slight grasp on my sanity).

John decided to make the most of this Chicago-like weather and build what he called a "kick ass snow fort". He's received compliments from lots of the neighbors and anyone else who happens to come by our house. It has pillars in the front and windows that are JGray level. He spent almost 2.5 hours working on it, and he is so proud of it. It has finally started to melt, but I think part of it will still be visible well into March. A "happy" reminder of Winter 2010. John Grayson wasn't a huge fan of the snow when it was falling (because it was way too cold) but did enjoy playing in it for a few days afterward. John took some great pictures of JGray working on the fort and helping shovel the driveway.











Not to be outdone (and in desperate need of a new indoor activity), I build a fort for the kids inside. One card table and one king size sheet later and we had a pretty cool fort. Not exactly "kick ass" but the kids did enjoy playing in it for most of the day. Anything to break up the monotony of being snowed in! Delia has also created a fort of her own underneath the desk in the kitchen. She dragged toys and pillow in there and likes to hide.





Things returned to normal last week. Two days of preschool, music class for Delia, gymnastics for JGray. I was beginning to think that we were making the turn towards Spring when BAM! Stomach bug. John Grayson woke up yesterday morning telling us that his stomach hurt and then proceeded to throw up at the top of the stairs. Lovely. He had a fever in the morning and only threw up one more time. Delia and John had diarrhea, but luckily (fingers crossed), I've managed to stay healthy. Everyone seems back to normal today, so I've spent the morning washing sheets and blankets and cleaning toys. Hopefully this is our one big illness of the winter!