Sunday, December 16, 2007

Even more snow!






Sunday, Dec. 16





We got about 8 more inches of snow last night! Tim made it to his bus for New York, and the drive to NY was only 6.5 hours!! At least it was a limoliner - Tim says he was very comfortable! The kids and I ventured out to build a snowman and play in the snow. All three kids love the snow. Rachel, Jamie, and I threw snowballs at each other.
Jamie jumped into a snowbank that was up to his waist! David waded in and lost a snow boot once, but it didn't deter his enjoyment of the snowy day.















Yesterday we all got our first experience with sledding. We walked down the street to the resovior and the fun took off from there. David really had a good time sledding! He's very brave about riding down even big hills on our little plastic sled. He gets to go sledding at preschool, and the teachers all say that he can't get enough of it. David thanks God for playing in the snow each night during our bedtime prayers.










We're also aclimating to the cooler temperatures up here. Yesterday the high was in the 20s, and it was cold. Today the highs were in the mid 30s and it almost felt warm. We're going to feel like we've gone to the tropics when we're home for Christmas!

Friday, December 14, 2007

Snow Day? Of course not!


12 inches of snow? No problem! Plows work all night, sanding crews all morning, and it's business as usual in Belmont. Two immigrants from Alabama are a little disappointed, but the third is glad to have a day to play with his buddies at preschool! Now Daddy just has to go dig the car out...






Here goes Jamie walking to school in snow up to his knees!

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Sometimes one should heed the warning...

And this was one of those times!

At 1:00 this afternoon, the ground was clear, and it began to snow.

By 6:00 this evening, we had received almost a foot of snow.

Welcome to New England!

Jamie made it home first, a little after 2pm:


Rachel was delayed about 30 minutes due to the weather (pretty tough commute for less than a mile):



I had a four hour commute to get home tonight, but that was nothing compared to many. If you are curious, check out the stories on myfoxboston.com!

Here are a few more pictures, just to give you a feel of what we were hit with:









But, true to that New England can do spirit, the Boston Public Schools stayed open until the normal end of the school day (3pm).

Will post more after the sun comes up!

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

HEAVY SNOW WARNING



THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON HAS ISSUED A HEAVY SNOW WARNING...

A SHORT DURATION BUT HIGH IMPACT SNOWFALL WILL AFFECT SOUTHEAST AND CENTRAL MASSACHUSETTS ALONG AND SOUTH OF THE MASS PIKE THURSDAY AFTERNOON INTO THE EVENING. SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 6 TO 10 INCHES ARE LIKELY...WITH MOST OF THE SNOW FALLING IN A 6 HOUR PERIOD.

SNOW IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP AROUND NOON IN THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY... SPREADING EAST ACROSS SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSETTS DURING THE EARLY AFTERNOON. THE SNOW WILL QUICKLY BECOME HEAVY AT TIMES AND SNOWFALL RATES MAY REACH 1 TO 3 INCHES PER HOUR FOR A TIME DURING THE LATE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING. THIS WILL HAVE A MAJOR IMPACT ON THE EVENING RUSH HOUR AS THE HEAVIEST SNOW AND LOWEST VISIBILITIES WILL BE DURING THIS TIME.

A HEAVY SNOW WARNING IS ISSUED WHEN AN AVERAGE OF 6 OR MORE INCHES OF SNOW IS EXPECTED IN A 12 HOUR PERIOD OR FOR 8 OR MORE INCHES IN A 24 HOUR PERIOD. TRAVEL WILL BE SLOW AT BEST ON WELL TREATED SURFACES...AND QUITE DIFFICULT ON ANY UNPLOWED OR UNTREATED SURFACES.

Sunday, December 9, 2007

More Snow!!

Monday, Dec. 3
David missed school because of snow on that day! It began snowing on Sunday night. We all bundled up and went for a walk in the neighborhood - in the snow. The kids immediately made snowballs and threw them at each other. David and Rachel made snow angels on the driveway. Rachel was so cute! When hers was finished, and she stood up to look at it, she said, " So that's whey they're called snow angels!"
Belmont schools are apparently like Hartselle schools used to be and didn't close or have a delayed opening. It snowed on and off all day, but the roads were fine. David and I even went out to the grocery store. I was amused at the work of the road crew. They didn't come scrape our road until after the school bus had run! When Jamie came home from school, he stayed outside and built a good sized snowman. Rachel and David also built one when she got home. As of today (Sunday 12-9) there is still snow on the ground. The temperature did not get above freezing until Saturday. We even got another sprinkling on Friday night. On Saturday, the high was in the upper 30s - it's amazing how warm that feels after a week of below freezing!! There is a prediction of snow for tonight with a possible accumulation of 1-3 inches and we are under a winter advisory.

Mom's visit Nov.18 - 28





We did so much on mom's visit!! It started out with a day at MIT and then Rachel's first violin concert. Rachel's group played three songs: Hot Cross Buns, Juba, and Mary Had a Little Lamb. And they were all recognizable!! The concert started with the beginners and went all the way through to the high school string orchestra - which was very good!
On Tuesday, Mom ate lunch with Rachel and we had some snow.

Wednesday was taken up with shopping and errands to get ready for Thanksgiving. The kids and I also took mom out to Concord to see the Old North Bridge and the Minuteman Statue.

Thursday was a very nice day! We got up and watched the Macy's Day Parade and got busy in the kitchen. We had 7 adults and 8 children for Thanksgiving Dinner. We invited two families from Korea to join us. They had never had a traditional Thanksgiving before. I told them that we were having a traditional southern Thanksgiving meal. We served turkey, mom's dressing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, tossed salad, rolls, and sweet tea. I also had hot dogs for the kids. The turkey and mashed potatoes were the biggest crowd pleasers - even with the kids! After lunch, we decided to take our traditional after turkey walk. We walked up to the playground at Chenery and let the kids run and play. The kids and dads even got into an impromptu game of soccer. We came back to the house and had dessert: pumpkin pie, pecan pie, chocolate chip cookies, and pumpkin cake. It was lots of fun to share our traditions with new folks and see them through new eyes. My favorite part of the day came when our guests were leaving. I asked if they wanted some turkey to take home with them, and the 6-year-old son of one of the families gave a resounding "yes!" It made me feel good!
That evening, we went to the movies to see Enchanted, which we all really enjoyed. So we ate popcorn for dinner.
On Saturday, we took the commuter rail in to Boston - to the North End to eat at Boston's oldest pizzaria - Pizzaria Regina's. Then we went to see the First Church of Christ, Scientist - not to be confused with scientology which is completely different. The church is huge and beautiful! We also visited the Maparium in the Mary Baker Edy library. The Maparium is a huge stained glass globe that you go inside to look at and see a multi-media presentation. The acoustics inside are neat too, because you're inside a huge glass ball and the sound carries around the curves.

After the Maparuim, mom and I split off from Tim and the kids to go to the Isabella Stuart Gardner museum. It is an amazing art museum full of items collected by Isabella Gardner. It's the museum that had the robbery and had many famous paintings - including a Vermeer - stolen. The museum has left those places blank with a notice about what piece of artwork should have been there. Very sad!
On Sunday, we ventured out to Salem. We went to the Salem Witch Museum where we learned about the history of the witch trials. We ate lunch at the Salem Beer Works, and Tim had a Blueberry microbrew (Bunker Hill Blueberry Ale)- complete with rising and falling blueberries!









After Salem, we drove on out to Rockport,MA. It was a very cold day!! We stopped in for hot chocolate after wandering down to the point. On the way home, we stopped at Jordan's furniture to see the liquid fireworks and get some ice cream.
On Tuesday, Mom, David, and I took a trolley tour of Boston. That was lots of fun! We ate lunch at Cheer's in Quincy Market. That night, we went out to Stone Zoo to see the Zoolights. It was a nice stroll through the zoo to see lots of Christmas lights, but it doesn't hold a candle to Huntsville Botanical Garden's Galaxy of Lights!!
On Wednesday, I took mom to the airport. Sniff! Sniff!! It was very sad to send her home!! The kids even commented that afternoon how they missed coming home to having Grannie there.
Jamie has begun the countdown to going home for Christmas!! It will be here sooner than we think!