Shocker alert…since we have moved into our house, it has not snowed.
We live in Georgia y’all (emphasis on the y’all’s third syllable). This past January we got to the point where Will was confused on what snow really was…he thought Santa was bringing it to our house, then he told us that snow is in books but it’s just pretend, and then one day he started praying for it. Talk about tugging at the heart strings!
That’s about when we decided that we would need to go rent a cabin for a night up in anywhere-it-had-snowville and let him and Weston play for a day to learn what it really was. But first we decided to try to create a snow-day here in the dirty south….Jeremy and I planned it all out, complete with snow donuts for breakfast (white powdered sugar!), spraying our living room windows with fake-snow-in-a-can (why I thought that this was a good idea, I have no clue), and making a snow craft (cotton ball snowman anyone?!). And then we hit up Winter Fest.
Our favorite little town of Monroe was hosting Winter Fest at the end of January and we had gone last year (Weston was wrapped up on me the entire time) and handed out marshmallows, played on the ice-slide, and had a really fun time. This year, the entire event was a little larger and they had to spread it out in different areas. I didn’t like it as much but probably because I am not a huge fan of walking in my current swollen state. My friend is Monroe’s Mainstreet Director…next year, I’m gonna beg for dog sleds for pregnant or nursing mothers at Winter Fest. I’m practicing saying “mush” as we speak.
Granted…it was super cheap…like $5 per kid and they got to play on all the jumpies and had hot chocolate and marshmallows…Weston was free so really it was like what we pay for parking at state parks. #nocomplaints
The snow area was totally new and for the bigger kids it probably was really fun…but Will had a little harder time. It was that fake doesn’t melt kinda snow that is really just tiny gel solution that gets mushy. It wasn’t even cold but the little gels stuck to EVERYTHING. Will immediately climbed in, fell down because the white tarp was so slippery, hopped back up when he saw big kids and wanted to join in on the ‘snow ball fight’. As a native of New Jersey, this whole fake snow experience kinda broke my heart a little. I think my grandparents would have cried. Or laughed. Or both.
When we got home, we had to strip them down completely because the gel had dried onto everything making their clothing super stiff. Seriously…the gloves stood up by themselves…as did the pants, jackets, everything.
All in all, they had fun…and that is what really matters. Jeremy and I both hopped on our computers that night and priced out last minute cabin rentals. We considered the Snow Mountain at Stone Mountain which is local but when we added it all up…it just was a little more to rent a place for a night and the boys are really too little for the big slide at Stone Mountain anyway. My mom took Cole one time and it was an epic fail.
Well, dontcha know that God must have heard those three-year-old prayers because it has snowed TWICE in the last month here. I have to go through my thousands of REAL snow pictures and post about that next so stay tuned (spoiler: Will loved it, Weston, um, notsomuch)…but the whole WinterFest thing got me thinking…did you ever think an event was gonna be outstanding and it turned into a nose-wrinkle? You know…the kinda thing where you tried really hard to enjoy it and built it up in your head, got excited, only for it to end up being something that you barely want to remember?
I think of a lot of my lipstick choices that way. and dark chocolate bacon. and the American Idol tour concert circa 2006. Yeah….I don’t think the eleven year old girls that were completely surrounding Jeremy and I even stopped to intake air between screams. It was like a miracle. I should have had it on video…it could have been a YouTube sensation 🙂
Haha @ chocolate covered bacon. I love chocolate and I love bacon. I tried it once – it tasted like dog food.
I live in middle TN and we got a really good snow this month too. It my son’s first time to really play in snow too and he’s 3. He loved it too and did not want to come inside. By late evening the snow was all gone. 🙁 One year we planned a trip to Gatlinburg to take our son to that big aquarium up there. Well he got sick on the way there and was running a temp but we didn’t really realize until we were already there and checked in. (He was fine just had a bug) Two days later we decided to give the place a try and our son hated it (the aquarium). In his defense it was not what I expected. It was really dark in a lot of places and they played this weird music the whole way through that would get really loud at times. I know they were trying to set the atmosphere but it was a little much. Oh and it was so crowded.
Hawaii. My kids were 4 and 2 and cried on the long flights to and fro. They didn’t care about the beach/ocean and sat in the heated pool the entire time. After seeing the aquarium, my daughter said that she has seen the same fish at Petsmart!
We should have waited for them to be a little older. The things they enjoyed the most in Hawaii could have been done right here in CA.
Lol, I misread the last paragraph and thought your latest lipstick choice was called “dark chocolate bacon”…. Which kinda sounds perfect actually 😉
We had 3 kids in less than 3 years, so most of our earlier outings were like that. It looked so fun on paper…
that “snow” looks like wet sand 🙁 poor guy. So glad we had a few snow days so now he understands. My 12 month old is like Weston— just cried EVERY time she went out in it haha.
We had a very similar experience on our trip to Gatlinburg. My son got the stomach bug on the way there (passed it around to all our kids) and when we finally felt good enough to get out, we went to the aquarium. It was march (the end of march) and it was snowing, so EVERYONE was at the aquarium to get out of the snow. We were sleep deprived and hungry and it was so dark in some places. My kids didn’t get to enjoy it as much since it was crammed with people and we were basically just trying to get to the food court to eat their mediocre food. My kids do still talk about it all the time so even though it was not what I had in mind, we made some lasting memories.
I’ve had enough of the WI winter. How warm is it there? I’ll house swap! The kids can enjoy all the snow they want!
That is pretty much how I feel every single time we get legit snow. (Also in GA). I wish for snow, think I’ll love snow…
Then we get snow and I remember how cold and wet it is.
Come on spring!
I can’t imagine no snow (I live in MN where the snow won’t stop – please make it stop)! I was reading another blog out of Miami, Fl around Halloween and she said they shipped pumpkins in and created a fake pumpkin patch where you pick your own. Makes me appreciate the 4 seasons I live in when I see that (although, I wouldn’t mind a shorter winter season). Especially when there is so much media around the seasons and holidays (ex. snow and Christmas – how do those kids in HI feel when they see those commercials – do they see the same commercials I do? Maybe not). Ok, I am apparently rambling here… perhaps it’s the 47 days we’ve had below zero here.
How awesome that a little boys prayers came true!
We have freak weather. One day will be snowing…the next is in the 60’s.
xo – kb
Yes! Disneyland! We were excited (no, stupid excited) to take our almost 2-year-old! The magic! The rides! The Mickey & friends! Even got her a cute little Minnie shirt. Reality: she was scared of the characters, couldn’t understand the concept of waiting in lines (um duh, because she’s 2!) and hated the crowds. Oh, and that cute shirt was “toooooo scraaaaatchy.” It was a disaster. And yes, we’re doing it again this year. Gluttons for punishment.
I was looking at your home tour pictures and it seems like they havent been updated in a while, are you planning on doing an up to date house tour anytime soon? love your style and would like to see how things have changed.
I should! Maybe I will after I do a little cleaning…
xo – kb
If you decide you really want snow and a vacation of it, you should try coming up to the Poconos in PA. In the winter not only do some of the skii resorts have skiing and snowboarding (duh) but most have snow tubing and some have indoor water parks and great rates for family/multi night trips. Just an idea 🙂
Seriously with all of this snow. I love it, but I’m glad I don’t live where it’s year-round. ha!
We are snow lovers that live in Oklahoma. Big problem. Thankfully we usually see some once a year and all of our family lives up north so we make a trip in the winter to play in the snow and visit family. The fake snow pit had me chuckling though. I have never heard of that! We went to a festival when I was 7 months pregnant and it was HOT, all I could think about was the next year I was making my husband carry 30 pounds of baby around in the 100 degree temps 🙂