Snowed In!

We've been snowed in for several days now. We did make a big trip out to the grocery store the other day when they actually decided to do some plowing and put some gravel down. Actually they've done an impressive job of keeping the roads pretty clear for a town that only sees this kind of snow every ten years.
Luckily we really have no place to be. Jon is able to log in and work from home, which is much nicer than trying to make the commute up to Seattle. I guess even the train took forever on Friday.
We enjoyed a snowy solstice yesterday. Opened the last of the presents. The kids get seven presents leading up until solstice. Sollie finally got the telescope he's been dying for, for some reason. Not sure what he thinks of it now. Ahhh, the longing is so much better than the actual gift.
He is pretty thrilled about his new watch though, we've been getting reports every twenty minutes or so about where the hands are. Maybe he'll actually learn how to tell time?

We decided to build a fort for the kids in the front yard. Took a cue from our neighbors who were using plastic bins to form bricks. Sollie pretty much just rolled around in the snow. We could not talk Margo into going outside. Although we did the day before and she actually had fun... for awhile. We took our little sled that Jon has all geared up for snow shoeing- with an old backpacking belt and pipe over the ropes to keep the sled from running into you. The kids had a great time on their ride and we got a lot of cute looks from passers by. Then we found a good hill up at UPS and they did some sledding. Even Margo, who ws actually was having fun... in the snow. Until her toes got cold and then she screamed the whole way home.
As you can see though after much negotiating we got her to go out again for a solstice walk with lanterns. And she actually had a great time. She kept voluntarily dropping in the snow to make snow angels and was getting her hair and hat all covered in snow and didn't complain. So maybe there's hope for her yet.

It looks like we might try to make the drive over to Moscow tomorrow if things look okay. The pass and the freeways look good, it's just the roads over in Eastern Washington, it doesn't look like they are seeing very many snow plows. From Jon's brother's report it was pretty miserable and took them forever going 30 miles an hour. They actually stopped in Colfax for the night- which isn't that far away from Moscow, so it kind of tells you how horrible it was.
Wish us luck.