On our first day in Chicago (actually Winnetka), we played at Aunt B’s house! Zach and Morgan were so excited to play in “real” snow in Aunt B’s yard with Aunt B, her son Greyson, and their dog, Tex! When Logan and Greyson got home, Morgan was excited to have a friend to color with, and Zach was excited to learn about throwing stars and knives and making them stick in the fence!!!
So…being from Texas, we don’t get much snow. And when we do, it’s about 1-2″ or it’s just ice!! So before we traveled up to Winnetka, Illinois, I had to do some shopping for “real snow” clothes for my kids. Pretty tough task. Not many places in Texas keep snow-bibs in their store. I ended up on-line at Wal-mart, and I found snow-bibs for each of my kids and some great looking snow boots. We were set. Ready to experience “real snow”!
Having lived in Texas my entire life, I don’t think I truly understood real snow either. When we got there, they had just cleaned the streets, and the snow was piled up on the sides of the roads. And I mean piled… The mountains of snow along the sides of the roads averaged about 6-10 feet high. My kids were elated. They just kept yelling “Stop Aunt B! Stop. We want to climb that snow mountain.” Snow mountain? Really? I guess to two little Texas kids, 10 feet of snow was indeed a snow mountain! It was so cute.
They were just as excited when we arrived at her house to discover that the snow in her yard was about 12 inches deep. Good thing I bought snow boots and ski-bibs for them. We spent the first 2 days in her yard with a snow shovel – something my kids had never seen or even heard of. They were fascinated with it and cleared her driveway and sidewalk like pros. I wonder if they would be as fascinated with it if they had to shovel their own driveway every day in the winter?? Probably not.
How sad! My kids did not even know what a snow shovel was until we visited my sister in Winnetka!
After about 2 days, I had had enough snow. This Texas girl prefers the beach! Fortunately, Aunt B lives near Lake Michigan, which to my kids is an ocean! Not only is it gigantic, but it also has sandy beaches. It’s within walking distance to her house – they were in Heaven. Snow in the yard, and a “beach” just down the road. We went to check out the beach, and it was frozen! I mean completely frozen! You could walk out on frozen parts of the lake near the shoreline. Wow! So we did not stay long at the beach, because the winds at the shoreline, combined with the -5 degree Illinois weather, was just too much for these Texas wimps!!!
My kids were SO happy to be with Aunt B and Tex playing in the snow!
