Of snowmen and lemonaide

When life gives you lemons, make lemonaide.  Well...we made the equivalent of "lemonaide" with our huge spring snowstorm.  We made a beautiful snowman.  Say "Snowman"!  

 A curious spring visitor during the building of the snowman.  No doubt this goose had never seen a snowman being constructed before.  LOL The snow is melting fast and the geese are coming back.  

A boy and his snow shovel.   Work CAN be fun! 

Especially when you take fun breaks to jump in the deep snow!  Woo Hoo!  :-)

Final total....19 inches

19 inches of snow in less than 24 hours fell at our house.  The previous snow record for this day was 0.8".  Yes, less than an inch of snow.  Record snowfalls for April 26-May 2nd range from 0.2" to 5.5".  

Almost all outdoor events are cancelled today, including the Heart run that we were going to participate in.  Well...they are trying to pick another day for the Heart Run.  Rescheduling an event for 7,000 participants won't be easy.  Cedric's school even won a district wide award for having the most participants in the heart run with 612 children and adults registered.  Channel 2 news did a story on them and all the kids and teachers wore red shirts and stood in the shape of a heart.  Cedric was on TV!  He was so excited.  

So here is what 19 inches of snow looks like out our back door.  Notice the trees in the background leaning way over.  This was not your typical Anchorage snowfall...this was a wet and heavy snow perfect for snowman.  You know when life gives you lemons, make lemonaide....maybe we'll go snowshoeing and build ourselves a snowman.  :-)

The &@# Stages of Spring

First the sun is up earlier and stays up later, then the snow melts, then....errrrr.....then....Ummmm!  THE SNOW IS SUPPOSED TO MELT!  Do you hear me???  Ok....revision:  The snow melts, then falls again, then melts, then piles up again and keeps snowing and snowing.  It's like the movie Groundhog Day around here, "It's going to be cold and it's going to be dark for the rest of your life."  Ahhhhh!  

The following pictures are from today.  Each picture is showing 2-3 hours worth of snowfall accumulation changes out the back door and yes, it is STILL snowing!  

                                                2pm

                                                 4pm                                              7pm

                                             2pm

                                              4pm

                                              7pm

Winter to Spring in 1 week

Snow is a 4 letter word after March's teaser weather of mild temperatures and hardly any precipitation. Everyone thought we were on our way to spring when suddenly we....err Jim....had to shovel the white stuff again. Plus, this snow was more like East Coast snow. It almost felt like rain against your skin. Yuck! This was nothing, too, a week prior to the day this picture was taken, we had a foot....yes 12 inches....on the ground. Needless to say, no one bothered making snowmen. LOL Just as quickly as the snow blanketed the ground, it melted. It is April in Alaska after all and it's still sunny at 9:30 pm and getting light enough to read by at 5:30am. Besides, the geese have returned. They would never come if spring weren't here! I didn't take video, but if I did, you would have heard these two geese emitting a series of monotonous and neighborhood alarming honks punctuated by intense listening periods as they listened for return dialogue from the pond behind our house. What in the world could they be talking about? Are they challenging each other? Talking about where they are going to gather for the evening meal? The pond in the greenspace behind our yard is the "meet and greet" place. During the middle of summer and fall, the geese take off for other Alaskan locals. I often wonder where they go. And despite all the noise sometimes at really early times of the day, we look forward to our noisey visitors because it means spring is here!

So...it's spring and that means getting outside! Hurray! On our first bike ride around the block, Cedric made his first skid mark. He was so proud. In the picture below, Blake is testing out his wheels in the garage just raring to get his "ride" on the open sidewalk.

April 18th...what a good day for a Birthday!

Happy Birthday to you.....happy birthday to you....happy birthday dear Jimmy....happy birthday to youuuuu.  Jim's birthday present from the boys was a battery operated train engine that Jim has been asking for.  I don't know who was more excited about it though.  Just look at them!  

:-) 

Jim's big present was in this strangely wrapped box.  What could it be?

I advised Jim of the dangers lurking in the box....sharp edges that could cut....delicate features that could break...and instructed him to grab it from behind.  So....with trepidation and great care, Jim put his hands the box to retreive his present.  

Voila....a beautiful, handcrafted King Salmon wall sculpture.  I'd love to take credit for making it, but the real credit goes to a local artist, Chris Floyd.  Jim is thrilled!  You see...Jim has always wanted one of those salmon on parade that are auctioned off at the Alaska State Fair. Now he has a salmon made by an artists that has made a Salmon on Parade.  

The Spider Hole

Blake has decided every heat register in the house is a spider hole.  Why he is afraid of spiders in the middle of an Alaskan winter is beyond me.  We haven't seen a spider since last August.  LOL  A couple of weeks ago, Blake figured out how to lift the register out and accidentally dropped a round red block down the hole.  He keeps saying how the spider will bring the toy back up, so apparently, spiders can be our friends sometimes.  :-)  

Blake and Cedric point out the spider hole....

Fort Building 101

Jim shows Blake and Cedric the finer points of building block fort making.  :-)

The finished product...perfect for Blake's cars to drive around.