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Thursday, January 18, 2007

Punch Number Two

I got woken up this morning by my almost-7-year-old shrilling "Snow! Snow! Dad there's snow!"

It wasn't even 6am yet.

Of course they cancelled school because that's what they do here in NC. I remember one year they cancelled school at the thought of flurries. But over the years they've learned their lesson; a few times they cancelled school and not one drop of precipitation ever made it to the ground.

So today we get a meager two slushy inches and they cancelled school.

Kids are stoked as it is a rare treat to get snow in our neck of the woods but it does happen. But not enough that you care to purchase the necessary clothing for toddlers who will grow out of something overnight. Fortunately, my sister lives in the Midwest and is always passing along cold weather hand-me-downs.

I think she was appalled when years ago, when our first kid had experience his first taste of snow, she had called and asked if he got a chance to play in it. I told he he didn't have any boots so I put plastic trash bags over his shoes and secured them with rubber bands because - after all - somebody has to represent the white trash side of the family.

But the thing that sucks most about snow days, isn't the fact that "no school" are the two words I want to hear least, is that snow here just sucks. It rarely ever snows enough to do something fun like sledding or tobogganing and the snow is almost always on the side closer to sleet than powder.

So it is really like playing in the mud after a few hours when the sun finally breaks through and the temperature warms a bit.

I dig managed to make a tiny, snowman with a pine needle mohawk only to have my moody 3-year-old kick it over because "snowman don't have mohawks, Dad!" he barked.

Not to mention, today was the day both boys were suppose to be in school (3-year-old until 1pm, 6-year-old until 3:30pm) and I had big plans about what I was going to do with my free time.

Instead, it's "can you say cabin fever?"
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One, Two Punch

So just last week we were rolling in temperatures above 70 degrees here in Carolina.

Over the weekend we had a cookout with some neighbors and we were joking about how ridiculous it was that we were in t-shirts and shorts and grilling during the MLK holiday weekend.

And then it came: the fucking frigid weather.

So cold in fact, that daytime highs were in the low 40s.

So what's a stay-at-home dad to do but improvise.

Enter the indoor camping extravaganza.

Needless to say, the wife wasn't to happy about this one. But I (think) I convinced her that it was a good primer for the boys for when we finally get back into camping (this spring I hope; we registered at REI when we got married but we haven't been since Number 1 was born and that's creeping up on seven years).


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