Snow Day

For a month, my kids ran to the kitchen each morning to ask, "Alexa, what's the forecast in Julian?" Each day when I picked them up from school, they would ask, "Is there snow yet, Mom?" And they whined in unison when the response was always, "Not yet, Honey. I'll keep checking."


Then, on a magical Monday in February, it finally happened! There was a 100% chance of snow in Idyllwild, the cutest little town in the mountains beyond Hemet (about 2 hours away). I called the office to let them know that my kids would NOT be attending school, Kyle blocked out his schedule for the whole day, and we headed up to the mountains!


My kids sang their hearts out to Taylor Swift, in between telling us all the things they wanted to do when we finally made it to the snow. Henry wanted to build a snowman, Juliette wanted to make a snow angel, London was excited about literally everything, but mostly wanted to eat it, and Elle kept asking if it was going to be cold. As we drove, we watched the temperature gauge    s l o w l y    drop. We stopped for gas at the base of the mountain, and the temperature was 41 degrees. I said a silent prayer that we hadn't come all this way for nothing.

Sure enough, as we approached the town of Idyllwild, there wasn't any snow at all. The temperature was 34 degrees, and the rain was freezing and wet. The hills at the public park I had planned to play at were brown and snow-less. Kyle ran in to a restaurant for help. "Continue up this road," they said, "If there's any snow at all, that's where it will be." The kids were growing restless. "Mom, where's the snow?"
"Right up this road, Honey! We're almost there!"
Kyle looked at me with his practical eyes and whispered, "I hope you're right."
"Oh my goodness, me too," I said.
I prayed out loud this time.

And of course, you know what happened next. The road twisted and winded up, up, up, and the temperature started dropping and the snow started sticking and the kids started cheering! We found a little place to park, and the kids jumped out of the car and immediately started laughing. They opened their mouths to catch the snow falling quietly from a grey sky.

Henry scooted around on his stomach eating the snow nearly all afternoon. Juliette thought throwing snowballs was the most hilarious thing in the world. She laughed like I've never heard her laugh before, throwing snow balls at everyone, missing almost every time, but squealing with pure joy anyway. London and Elle helped Kyle build a snow man, and slid down the mountain on their bottoms.

I can't believe it all worked out, and I don't know the last time I felt so complete, content, and genuinely happy. I think days like that Monday in February are what life is all about.