Winter

So I guess I may never post pictures of the Caves in Missouri. Maybe I'll keep everyone guessing as to when they will be posted? I guess it's kind of funny that my break lasted over a month. I do like to blog but my days are only 24 hours long and I need more time!!! Well...winter has finally hit ND. I don't like it. You know in AK I never really got the winter blahs. Sure I wanted to go to somewhere warm and tropical in the middle of FEB but who doesn't no matter where they live. Except maybe those who live in the tropics, but I can't say they wanted to come up to the frigid north. Anyway....I have the blahs here. With -22 on the days without wind and -45 or more on the other days...we are stuck inside. Not exactly my favorite place to be. Well on Friday we got a weather service warning that a blizzard of massive proportions was going to hit us on Saturday night and continue on until Monday AM. Normally the weather man lacks the ability to be right so often, but with no geographical changes in the landscape here (read: flat as flat can be) anything that starts our way usually makes it with full force. So Saturday night we started getting wind. Not really snowy up by us but Minot got 11 inches so we expected something like that. Well Kevin was supposed to fly out at 3pm on Sunday to WA for the week and earlier sat we received emails saying that church was going to probably be cancelled on Sunday. The weather service site said to stay home and not travel and that the hwy would probably be closed soon. So Kevin left for Grand Forks on Sat night and made it just fine. The roads were still good at 10:30pm so we thought he might still get out in the AM. Well his flight got cancelled until Monday and he spent Sunday in a hotel. Not so bad for him I'd say. Me the the children (the dears they are) were stuck here in the house. Now I guess it wouldn't be so bad but after about 5 hours of knex, videos, dress up, etc...they start yelling and running and pushing and shoving and crying and whining etc.. you get the picture. Needless to say we made it through (barely) and awoke to a nice sunny Monday AM. We got ready for school (which was delayed an hour) and headed out. Now in ND with all the wind we get drifts that are huge and also deceiving. I looked out on the driveway where it usually drifts pretty badly, and it appeared that it would be passable. We load up and make it about 5 feet before I high center on a drift as deep as my knees. I get out and assess the situation. I get the shovel and start shoveling. I shovel and try to get the car out. Payton suggests I push while he drives. He simply couldn't understand why I wouldn't go for this. "But mom, I know how to push the gas". At this point, pregnant, cold, mad, frustrated, all I could do was laugh (or cry) and tell him I would just keep shoveling. So on I went for an hour. Each time I got in the car the boys would say "we said a prayer but our car is just a dumb car" or just yell "Hit the gas mom, Go like 30 mph. That will get us out" or "Mom, I don't want to be late for school" to which I said "then watch for the bus" Not realizing that while I was lying on the ground scooping out snow it had passed. So I know I sound like a cry baby (and that is what I felt like) but I really could have done without this trial. I guess I am thankful for:
1. We were home
2. We got out
3. And mostly...I'm not 40 weeks pregnant.
It was quite the morning. So tonight we have Payton's holiday concert. Given the morning, it should all go smoothly.
Kirsten