Presidents Day Weekend

After two blizzards in one week (see Snowmaggedon), we were ready for a long weekend away. Elise wanted to visit her Aunt Barbara, who had recently moved to a hospice in Hampton, Virginia. So we decided to head down that way and also spend a few nights at Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg, Virginia. The Lodge has a giant indoor waterpark with a wilderness theme. More a theme park than a hotel (there are animatronic animals that sing and dance and costumed characters that roam the halls), the entire enterprise is designed to give kids (and their parents) a break during the long winter months. Thanks to his swim lessons, Henry enjoyed playing in the waterpark, which has a section just for toddlers. He even ventured into the three-story water fort, the lazy river and the giant wave pool. However, his favorite part of the stay was evening storytime when the children gather around the lobby fireplace and listen to a story in their pajamas. It was a nice change of pace, but after a long week stuck indoors, we were tired and a little out of sorts. Mostly we just wanted to get back to a normal routine.



On Sunday we headed down to Hampton and stopped at the Virginia Living Museum, which was a surprisingly nice little diversion. It was “reptile weekend”, so Henry got to touch an iguana and a boa constrictor. Vivian mostly just slept. On Monday, we visited with Aunt Barbara and her son Barrett at the hospice. Barbara was moving a little slower, but seemed as feisty as ever, especially when dealing with her incorrigible nurses. Elise and Vivian stayed at the hospice and had lunch with Barbara while the boys retired to a nearby playground. Barbara seemed to enjoy our visit, especially seeing Vivian and Henry again. This proved to be our last visit with Barbara. She passed away shortly thereafter. We hadn’t expected her to go so quickly but were grateful for the chance to see her once last time before her passing.

Potty Passport

One benefit of being stuck indoors for a week is that we were able to devote more time to potty training. Henry has been using the potty infrequently since last fall (and usually only after being bribed with gummy treats), but the real breakthrough came during Snowmaggedon, when he suddenly figured out the whole pee-pee thing. One of the parents at Henry’s daycare made a "potty passport" for each of the children where they can place a sticker each time they use the potty. For the last month, we’ve been regularly filling up our potty passport both at home and at school. So much so, we may need to get an insert soon. We’re still a long way from underwear (or even “number two”), but progress is definitely being made!

Snowmageddon

After December’s record snowfall (see Winter Wonderland/Snowstorm from Hell), we thought we had seen the worst of winter. Then the storm that became known as “Snowmageddon” hit. Round One started on Friday afternoon and dumped over 12 inches of snow in Alexandria. Further north, they received as much as 18 inches. When the blizzard finally tapered off on Saturday evening, our front yard, walkways and cars were completely buried. The streets were impassable, and the trees and power lines were sagging (ominously) with snow and ice. Fortunately, our power remained on throughout the storm; many people in the area lost power and had to temporarily relocate.

Not surprisingly, work and school were cancelled for several days, leaving us stuck indoors to spend some “quality time” together. Somehow we managed to keep Henry occupied (and away from his sister) while we slowly dug out. Many a time during the ensuing week, we would wonder aloud: why couldn’t we have experienced back-to-back snow days before we had children?

By Monday, when the sunshine finally returned, we were able to get outside and enjoy the snow. Elise bundled up Vivian in the Baby Bjorn, and we stuffed Henry (somewhat unwillingly) into his snowsuit. Then all of us trekked to the grounds of the George Washington Masonic Memorial for some sledding. Henry was up for several runs on a small hill and then decided he had seen enough of the snow. After all, it was up to his waist! Back at the house, he was more at ease playing with the giant icicles that were forming on the porch.

Just as we were getting back on our feet, Round Two hit. Another snow storm developed on Tuesday night and continued through Wednesday, dumping another foot of snow on the area. All total, we received 24 inches in our front yard. Our 80-year-old neighbor said it was the most snow he had ever seen in Alexandria.

Henry did well throughout the week, but by Thursday, cabin fever had set in and he was climbing the walls. When they announced that the government would reopen on Friday, we took Henry into school, even though we were planning to depart at noon for a weekend getaway. Apparently lots of other people felt the same way because the morning commute was terrible. As a work colleague noted, it was probably the first time before a long weekend (Presidents Day) that the federal workforce showed up en masse!

Click below for more photos from the blizzard.