Snow Day!

Elizabeth's school and my office closed early on Thursday due to a rare Portland snow storm. "Snow storm" may be too strong a phrase. Maybe just "snow." We got a few inches of accumulation, and it was pretty cold, but a Syracusan would barely notice the weather as he or she slipped into flip-flops to go out for a cup of coffee.

Friday morning was a snow day -- no school or work. Barb made pancakes and then contacted all of the neighbors on the street with little kids and arranged a snow play gathering at ten o'clock. It was awesome how many kids were out playing together. As the kids got cold (Suzanne was the first to crumble), they went to our house to warm up -- so we ended the play time with a gaggle of kids and a bunch of our neighbors in our house, playing and chatting. It was really nice, and also a validation of the effort that Barb has been putting into building a community.

The kids had a good time playing in the snow (though, not to paint too rosy a picture on it, there were some tears about the coldness, particularly when mittens were shed; and a couple of times Grayson declared, "This is boring," before going right back to chasing his brother with a snowball).

After the morning outdoor play, we stayed inside until late in the afternoon, when the girls for another expedition. This time it was just the girls and me, and they decided to try the scoot bikes in the powder. It was considerably colder, and snowing, and blowing, and the play didn't last long. But it gave the girls a great incentive to jump into a warm bath as soon as they got inside.

After dinner Barb and I decided to declare an emergency movie night. Unfortunately, due to technical limitations, the best we could do was streaming the live action 1996 version of 101 Dalmations on Netflix. We had wanted something better, like almost anything. It is not a good movie, despite a great cast and a screenplay by the legendary John Hughes. In fact, it's bad. And a travesty in terms of interpreting Dodie Smith's awesome book -- the dogs don't talk!! Forty minutes in, Suzanne burst into tears (either because she was scared by Cruella DeVil or because her refined cinematic sensibilities were offended by the dreck she was watching). Elizabeth and I stuck it out, and Elizabeth insisted she liked it.

For Portland, this is a lot of snow.

Elizabeth and the Swan boys.

A neighborhood gathering.

Suzanne is thinking about going inside to get warm.

Snow biker!

Suzanne is wishing she had some snow goggles.