It has taken me a LONG time to sift through all of the snow pictures I've taken since we had our big snowfall at the beginning of February. The original 12 inch snowfall has never completely melted. We haven't seen a glimpse of the grass since January. We just got about another 6 inches in the last few days, so it may be a while longer. More to the point, it has made for a lot of snow play, snow shoveling and pictures, of course.
On Friday, February 5th, Peter and I looked out our sliding glass door at about 11:00 pm after we had finished up our Friday night movie. What we saw was one of those awesome things you rarely see. Very heavy, wet snow had coated everything thickly. All of the branches in the woods behind the house were drooping low with the weight. When we opened the door to get a better look, there was that amazing silence after a snowfall accompanied by ominous creaks and groans as the trees were beginning to give way to the heavy snow. The sky was bright, almost like day. Even my cheap camera took the above picure with no flash because there was so much light.
The next morning was William's 9th birthday and he knew he'd had a gift from God, 12 full inches of snow!
Time to play and work.
Our plum tree in the front yard had it hard.
Peter shook the snow from the limbs to relieve some weight, but one large limb had already broken.
Even Cecily came out to enjoy the snow a bit!
Shoveling and clearing. Look familiar? Everyone seems to have had a lot of snow this winter.
You're really not enjoying yourself until you're covered from head to foot.
Another day I took some pictures to show how much had piled up on the deck railings.
Everyone wanted to participate! Aren't the trees beautiful?
"Me too!"
Gradually, the boys tried their hand at fort building. We made a huge pile of snow and then dug a tunnel into it. Over the course of several days they kept trying new things and expanding it. I will now begin to show you about a million pictures of the fort as it evolved.
Samuel had seen in a book that a roof could be supported by a board of some kind. He put one in over the main entrance.
Just about ready to go inside for the day. It's tiring work.
Samuel worked hard making snowballs to pile up like bricks to make a wall around the entrance.
The next thing to be built was a tunnel entrance from the right side.
They built their entrance a bit low, but they could crawl in.
The fort is growing.
There is now a tunnel entrance on the left side too. In this picture, there is a boy in each of the three entrances.
Ben.
The fort from the other side. You can see the windows they dug to put their guns through.
The left hand entrance had a tire put over it to enter through. (There are lots of lovely things like old tires throughout the woods behind the house.)
William worked alone to create this gigantic snowball. He was so excited about how big he got it. He is here trying to pull it on a sled over to the fort.
Will and the snowball of life.
With some help from dad they finally got that gigantic ball to where they wanted it by the fort.
A nice shot of the right hand tunnel.
Millie going into the tunnel.
Samuel by a window. This fort was his baby. Everyone ended up joining in due to his enthusiasm, but it was mostly him who toiled away at it. The snow has melted enough now that the roof caved in. Since we got 6 more inches, he's beginning again in the field above our house. What a fun winter for snow play. The Jones Family for one, are grateful for the snow!
On Friday, February 5th, Peter and I looked out our sliding glass door at about 11:00 pm after we had finished up our Friday night movie. What we saw was one of those awesome things you rarely see. Very heavy, wet snow had coated everything thickly. All of the branches in the woods behind the house were drooping low with the weight. When we opened the door to get a better look, there was that amazing silence after a snowfall accompanied by ominous creaks and groans as the trees were beginning to give way to the heavy snow. The sky was bright, almost like day. Even my cheap camera took the above picure with no flash because there was so much light. 
The next morning was William's 9th birthday and he knew he'd had a gift from God, 12 full inches of snow!
Time to play and work.
Our plum tree in the front yard had it hard.
Peter shook the snow from the limbs to relieve some weight, but one large limb had already broken.
Even Cecily came out to enjoy the snow a bit!
Shoveling and clearing. Look familiar? Everyone seems to have had a lot of snow this winter.
You're really not enjoying yourself until you're covered from head to foot.
Another day I took some pictures to show how much had piled up on the deck railings.
Everyone wanted to participate! Aren't the trees beautiful?
"Me too!"
Gradually, the boys tried their hand at fort building. We made a huge pile of snow and then dug a tunnel into it. Over the course of several days they kept trying new things and expanding it. I will now begin to show you about a million pictures of the fort as it evolved.
Samuel had seen in a book that a roof could be supported by a board of some kind. He put one in over the main entrance.
Just about ready to go inside for the day. It's tiring work.
Samuel worked hard making snowballs to pile up like bricks to make a wall around the entrance.
The next thing to be built was a tunnel entrance from the right side.
They built their entrance a bit low, but they could crawl in.
The fort is growing.
There is now a tunnel entrance on the left side too. In this picture, there is a boy in each of the three entrances.
Ben.
The fort from the other side. You can see the windows they dug to put their guns through.
The left hand entrance had a tire put over it to enter through. (There are lots of lovely things like old tires throughout the woods behind the house.)
William worked alone to create this gigantic snowball. He was so excited about how big he got it. He is here trying to pull it on a sled over to the fort.
Will and the snowball of life.
With some help from dad they finally got that gigantic ball to where they wanted it by the fort.
A nice shot of the right hand tunnel.
Millie going into the tunnel.
Samuel by a window. This fort was his baby. Everyone ended up joining in due to his enthusiasm, but it was mostly him who toiled away at it. The snow has melted enough now that the roof caved in. Since we got 6 more inches, he's beginning again in the field above our house. What a fun winter for snow play. The Jones Family for one, are grateful for the snow!
