Snow Day - Part 1: "Shoveling the Walks"

If you grew up in Washington, like I did, you might not have much context for what it means to "shovel the walks," like I didn't.  Well my husband grew up in the land of sunshine and snow (Colorado, duh), so to him this is a perfectly normal and common phrase.  In Washington, you're lucky to get a "good snow" (we're talking 3 - 5, people) once or twice a year.  Maybe some days with flurries here and there, and every few years there's a decent dumping of snow...once a winter.  As much as I did not want to move to Colorado when the idea first presented itself, I have come to LOVE the snow here!!!  (Dad, when you read this, don't freak out that I'm going to love it so much that I'll forget about my sand and salt water roots and never move back - I'm just choosing to point out the JOY in this moving situation ;-).  Right before Christmas, we got over a foot of snow at our house.  I was acting like a giddy child.  It's so beautiful and fluffy and dry and fun to play in!  Plus, as soon as it stops snowing, the clouds disappear and it's just gorgeously blinding sunshine which makes sunglasses mandatory for snow play!  Because I was so overly excited, and took so many pictures, I broke our "snow day" into two parts, covering shoveling here, and then I will post all of the playing-in-the-snow-pictures in a second post.

Since the move, I have learned that "shoveling the walks" is a common occurrence, and something that has to be done in the evening as it snows so it doesn't pile up TOO high overnight, and again in the morning, while it's light and fluffy enough to shovel easily so you can get your car out of the driveway and walk to your mail box.  (If my Colorado friends are reading this, you're probably laughing hysterically at the novelty in my discovery about shoveling.  Well, don't laugh too hard, because I'm sure you'd learn a few new things visiting the San Juan Islands and all of it's ferries and salt water and sea creatures!).  Tyson has quickly come to love his very own snow shovel, and as a first born male, he LOVES to do anything that daddy does, and works quite diligently when you let him take part in these tasks!  I know I'm biased...but these guys are the cutest things in the world when they're at work together.

Daddy had his work cut out for him with the amount of snow accumulation!  He started out with his boarding jacket and a scarf, and kept taking off layers because he was getting a work out.

For the most part, Ty is a great helper, although he doesn't always get the concept of where daddy needs to shovel and staying out of the way ;-)

Serious work.

He looks like a teenager to me in this picture, lol!

I love this one because you can see how much snow piled up after shoveling, AND the beautiful open space next to our house, giving us stunning views of the mountains every morning from our breakfast nook in the kitchen.  Oh, and that little kid in the picture is pretty good lookin, too...

There you have it - snow day part one.  I may have over-documented this day, but I don't care because I didn't grow up with this kind of snow, and I always want to have pictures of what it's like!