Snowpocalypse 2017

On the afternoon of February 3, the snow & ice began to fall. By the time school let out, the principal came around to the teachers and said, "Go home. Don't stay here and work. Get home before the roads get worse." I went out to my van and it was covered in a sheet of ice. We got home, got to the musical performance (carefully!) and the snow & ice continued. The next day, the matinee of the musical went on as scheduled, but the closing night performance was postponed. Church on Sunday was cancelled, and school and almost all school activities ended up being cancelled that entire following week. Closing night of the musical finally happened on Thursday, but the cast party and striking the set had to wait until the weekend (this is over a week after the snow started) when the thaw began. It has been quite a long time since we have had that much snow and that many days of school cancelled. If we get snow, it tends to not stick around for very long, unless there's a Nor'easter, which came during the middle part of this storm. I didn't take too many pictures, mostly because it was too cold outside and I prefer to enjoy the snow from inside my house. However, by the end of the week, I had cabin fever, so I took a few pictures.

^^Ed's car was buried for days...until the end of the week when a tractor finally made its way through our neighborhood and cut through enough of the drifts that we could dig him the rest of the way out.

It wasn't a super pretty snow fall...too much wind for the snow to stay on the trees for very long.

During the wind we did have, the snow drifted in front of our driveway. It was about 3-4 feet deep and we had a lot of digging to do.

This is the main road leading into our neighborhood. Even it did not get plowed. We just do not have the equipment or man power to keep up with the kind of storm we experienced. A lot of farmers and community members worked hard with their tractors to help pull out people that were stuck and plow roads that the snow plows could not get to.

^^Looking into our neighborhood. The snow here was still deep enough that even if I could have gotten my van out of the garage and out the driveway, I don't have enough clearance on the van to have made it through this. 

Here's the garbage truck towing the tow truck that got stuck when it came to help get the snow plow unstuck in our neighborhood.

Finally! We can get out of our driveway...the drift was about the length of our driveway into the street, so it was REALLY hard to get in and out and once I didn't quite make the turn and I dented the passenger side of our new van on the snow bank. Ugh. I still have to go get an estimate to get that fixed and it makes me feel so sick every time I see it. 

When the wind picked up later, our backyard was littered with pine needles and branches on top of the snow. This was after the snow had gone down quite a bit, but you still couldn't see the grass.

As you can see, the drift on the west side of the picnic table is almost to the top of the table. This was after it had gone down quite a bit. 

I think it is safe to say that we got our fill of snow this winter and we have had our fill of rain this spring. It has been exceptionally cold & wet so far this spring, just as our winter was exceptionally cold & wet. Hoping for some more spring-like weather soon. I don't think that I can handle too much more indoor recess...

The Sound of Music

As promised (though more than a month late...I'm busy, okay?), I have pictures from The Sound of Music!! Bethany played Louisa, the second daughter in the Von Trapp family and she was wonderful! The whole show was amazing and I went to almost every performance...I skipped the matinee, intending to go to the closing show that night, but due to #snowpocalypse, the closing show was postponed for about 5 days! We were so thankful when they were finally able to perform!

Below: Lining up after the Captain whistles the children to come meet Fraulein Maria

Below: "Do, Re, Mi"

Below: "The Lonely Goatherd" during the thunderstorm. Otherwise known to the cast as "The Bedroom Scene" ;)

Below: Play clothes & "The Hills are Alive"

Below: The party scene & "So Long, Farewell"

Below: Maria returns

Below: The wedding

Below: The Festival

Below: Hiding at the abbey & crossing the mountains

Below: Curtain Call!! Standing Ovation!!

Below: Cast pictures

Below: After the show fun!

(Bethany & Aunt Nancy)

(The Family)

(Stage sisters)

(Actual sisters)

(XC runners on cast plus sisters)

It was an amazing show! There was a new director this year and we were thoroughly impressed and thrilled with her. She taught the kids so much and she was extremely organized which made life as a parent of a cast member much easier. Bethany loves being involved in the drama programs at school and the friendships she is making are such precious ones!