Snowmageddon, February 2010

February 5, 2010. The forecasters were pretty sure the storm headed our way would be a big one, so Washington started to shut down about noon Friday -- just as the snow started to fall. But it didn't really start to stick until after sundown. And even then, it didn't look like there would be the huge snowfall they are calling for. But it did snow all Friday night, coming down harder and harder -- not that you can really see that in the pictures.
February 5, 2010. February 5, 2010.

But if you look at how the snow was sticking to the smallest twigs Friday night, you can start to understand the likely mess when it was all over.

We woke up to a lot of snow Saturday and it was still coming down steadily all day. Robert helped with the snow shoveling -- the first pass was kind of tough since there was over a foot from Friday night. Note the snow embankment Robert is standing on behind us -- it's now a snow wall separating two driveways.

February 5, 2010.
February 6, 2010 (phonecam). February 6, 2010 (phonecam).
February 6, 2010. When I peeked around back Saturday, I was really impressed we had both phone and power -- we were lucky. The snow was extremely wet and weighed down all the trees; we have several branches down (one I took off the phone line) that we'll clean up whenever the snow permits.
By Sunday morning (the snow stopped about sunset Saturday), the phone line next door was on the ground and they had already temporarily fixed the fence that a branch knocked down. But the sky was bright blue and it was time to play (after admiring the destruction in the back yard -- and the fact that we still had phone and power). February 7, 2010.
February 7, 2010. February 7, 2010.
February 7, 2010. February 7, 2010.
February 7, 2010. February 7, 2010.
February 7, 2010. While we piled up a new snow fort out front, this time we started out tunneling in the back yard. Then, after some thawing out time in the house, we took the sleds and headed to the Masonic Memorial (otherwise know as Castle Roberto).
February 7, 2010. February 7, 2010.
Check out the form Sarah has been teaching Robert (I missed some sledding from the little snow last week). Apparently Robert has become fascinated by snowboarding. We'll have to make sure to watch some of the Olympic snowboarding... February 7, 2010.
February 7, 2010. February 7, 2010.
February 7, 2010. We moved on from the tracks next to the road to the steps. Robert and Sarah both decided that was too steep for standing, snowboarding style (I'm sure that will hold true with Robert for at least a couple more years -- then he'll be one of the crazy ones).
February 7, 2010. February 7, 2010.
February 7, 2010. After some penguin tobogganing on his tummy and Sarah's traditional shared lap technique on the steeper slope of the steps, I decided to try the piggy back technique -- that worked well too. No injures and another day off tomorrow means more snow play...
February 7, 2010. February 7, 2010.
February 7, 2010. February 7, 2010.
Photos from February's second big storm, the blizzard.
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