An Accuweather Winter Warning Wonderland

Happy 1214 Day, brothers and sisters.

Teaching definitely has its perks, folks - don't let anyone tell you it doesn't.  Without a doubt, one of the greatest perks has to be paid Snow Days.  A paid day off of work?  Don't mind if I do.

This stretch of Waldo is horrible.  I don't think salt trucks know it exists.

We're half-way through December, and so far things have been pretty quiet up here in Central Michigan.  Yesterday, however, we saw a full-scale winter assault blast the Tri-City area, dumping a crapload of snow on us in a matter of hours.  The morning was actually pretty uneventful, so the kids ended up going in to school and I had to go in to work. . . but by the late morning, the district higher-ups must have realized that the buses wouldn't be able to run their routes by the time school let out in the afternoon.  We were getting dumped on, inches per hour, so they made the call to let us out a few hours early.

Cowabunga.

A beautiful blanket of crap that makes my commute to work a living hell.

That drive home from Saginaw to Midland was downright brutal, so I opted to pull the girls from school early so I didn't have to go back out on the roads a couple hours later when they'd be even worse.  It was no surprise at all to anyone when they called today off, so while Kris had to fight her way to work through horrible road conditions (like a sucker), the girls and I got to enjoy an awesome (and paid) day off.

Check it out - the First Snow Day of the school year:

Most of our day off today was pretty quiet - we basically sat around the house and watched movies, played video games, and otherwise not attended our respective schools.  In the late morning, however, the girls decided they wanted to play outside in the snow, so I seized on the opportunity to try out my new 24-105 Canon lens.

Watson has a hard time staying above the snow, which, today, reached up past his shoulders.

These two attempted making a snowman, but it wasn't really packing snow and they gave up after awhile.

Still tearing around the backyard.  He usually avoids the snow, but it probably had something to do with the girls running around and shrieking like a bunch of Apache that made the dog run multiple victory laps across the yard.

Today would have been an amazing day to ski.  Not that we would have survived the drive to a ski hill or anything.

I'm across the yard from her, for reference - I love the zoom on this lens.

Portrait mode on this lens is okay, too, besides being a bit on the backlit side, here.

After about a half an hour or so, the girls got cold and we came inside. . . and resumed our previous positions on the living room couches, in front of the TV.

Hot cocoa.  Kind of a given after playing outside in the snow.

Watson alerts the family upon the arrival of his arch nemesis. 

This is what a snow day really looks like, America.

- Brian