Our first snow in Brussels and what a story that is! It all started on Thursday, December 17th around 1:00 pm. Light flurries that were so pretty. I was Skyping with my mom and singing, “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.” The snow steadily increased and when I left to pick Lindsey up from school I was shocked at how much snow was on the car and then the road. When I swerved on the slick ice for the 3rd time in 5 minutes, I was a little panicked. I called my friend Anna and asked her to pick up Lindsey. She had beat me to the punch and ask Daniel to pick up Lykke so she called him back and he agreed to pick up all 3 girls. I felt much better knowing I just had to drive to St. John’s. It took longer than normal and a few more swerves, but I made it. The snow continued to fall. It was gorgeous!
Then the gridlock began. People were stuck in the parking lot at St. John’s for over an hour trying to get onto the main road, which was not moving. Daniel was an hour late to get the girls as he was stuck in traffic on the other side of town and couldn’t even make it to St. John’s. It was a mess. Two of my friends arrived at school at 5:00 pm to pick up their children. One had left her car and walked a half mile with her 2 year old to get the 5 year old. By 5:15 we decided to head to our friend’s house to meet Daniel and the younger girls. It took us a half an hour to go a 3 minute distance. It was such a relief to walk in the door and have dinner ready for us and all the kids. By 8:00 pm we decided it was best to spend the night at Stina’s. By us, I mean three families! Daniel and his two kids, Anna and her two kids, me and my two kids. Stina has two kids and a baby. It was a full house!!
This whole time I am texting Paul and getting updates from him. I had called him at 3:45 and said the roads were bad and it would be best for him to head home. It took him almost 4 hours to get there. And it wasn’t even snowing where he works, an hour away!
At 6:00 am we got the call from St. John’s that school was canceled! Our first snow day! :) Things were much better in the morning and I was able to make it home safely. Apparently first on our list of things to do in 2010 is to buy winter tires!
Of course, the kids were itching to play in the snow so after I got things settled in the house (remember I had left the day before at 3:00, thinking I was coming back an hour later), we donned our snow apparel. The snow was very fluffy and not great for making snowmen or hard snow balls, but it didn’t stop us. The kids had a great time and if if doesn’t snow in Kansas, they will be so disappointed. They remember sledding in Nana and Poppi’s back yard two years ago! (Mother Nature, if you are reading this, I know we haven’t been friends in the past, but if you could please arrange for some snow in Kansas, that would be great!)
Since I haven’t lived in a place with snow for over 12 years, I’m enjoying it. Check in with me at the end of the winter to see if snow is still a novelty! :)
