Several weeks ago, the Seattle area got hit by winter weather big time! Our kids had 6 days off of school (including MLK JR day) total because of the weather. The first few days started out fun with lots of great playtime in the snow. We have such a great neighborhood for sledding, and playing as there are so many families around us. Then, the power went out, and the ice came and covered EVERYTHING! The tree branches were all laden with ice, and many snapped like toothpicks under the weight. Unlike Chicago, where we lived before, our city isn't prepared for weather like this. We don't have lots of snowplows, and we don't have flat terrain, but hills which make it so dangerous to get around (especially for inexperienced snow drivers). We were stuck at home for a few days without electricity. All we had was our little gas fireplace where we would huddle to keep warm. We read books, played games, and tried to stay positive, although the situation was more than trying. There were thousands of homes without power according to the news on our battery operated radio, and we didn't know when we'd get it back. We used John's jetboil for backpacking to make small amounts of hot water at a time so we could have hot cocoa or ramen noodles (they definitely don't taste as great as when we were in college). Anyway, we were almost 40 hours without power, but we had friends that went 5 days without power. Once we got the power back on, we were extremely thankful for our heated home, and the ability to be able to run the dishwasher, and washing machine, and to have warm food to eat. We are so spoiled, and it was a good reminder of how blessed we are to have something like electricity. The definite highlight of the week was spending Friday night with our good friends who had a generator running. The kids loved having a slumber party, and we enjoyed playing games until late!!!
