The Biggest Snowstorm of Our Lives

Greetings from snowy Princeton!!

We've been gearing up for a "big storm" for about 3 days, with all the media hype and chitter-chatter throughout the town. And would you believe it? It actually happened. :)

Brant and I have only seen snow like this in the Cascade Mountains, but never outside our own front door. The storm hit the greater mid-Atlantic region, affecting Princeton, but not nearly has hard core as it did in places like Washington D.C., and even the Jersey shore.

I took this picture at 10:00pm last night, at the sight of the first flakes from our window. You can't tell, and it is a bit blurry, but at least this serves as an appropriate "before" picture.
We woke up a few times throughout the night to use the restroom. There is a window in the bathroom, and it was very exciting to watch the snow accumulate throughout the night, with wild flakes flurrying around. What fun!

This morning, we took our showers, ate our breakfast, bundled up and ventured out into the snowy scene. We accumulated around 1 foot of snow, in approximately 12 hours. The maintenance crew from the seminary has been busy plowing walkways and streets around here all day long. Every bit helps, but it certainly is not clear pavement! The wind has really started to blow out here, making big drifts while it burns against your face. The snow is quite fluffy and soft, so not so great for making snowmen. However, that hasn't stopped the kids around here from having a good time. Just outside our window, there are a number of kids who have gathered and are sledding down a "hill" they created. They also took some big cardboard boxes and piled snow all around them to create little snow forts.

Maddie is not quite old enough to enjoy the snow to the extent that the other children are. But we brought her out just the same! :)

Here she is getting bundled up...and not too sure about it.
My sister gave us this warm suit for Maddie to borrow. It is meant for a 6-9 month old, but it is still incredibly large on her. :) She really is not this big, as the picture kind of shows. It served it's purpose well all the same, and we are very grateful to have it! Thanks Sarah! Maddie seriously reminds me of Randy, from "A Christmas Story". She was yelling at me for a while, because she couldn't move on the floor. She was trying her darnedest to roll over but couldn't in this fun suit!
Brant and Tucker in the snow.
Tucker LOVES the snow. He would jump into a pile that had been created from plowed snow pushed on top of already existing snow, and would simply disappear! A moment later he would shoot out of the pile, snow flying through the air. He also loves to run through the snow with his mouth open, trying to eat it all up!
Maddie did well in the backpack. She made "cooing" noises the whole time we were outside. It was pretty cute!

And finally, some pictures of the snowy scene around our neighborhood.

Our car...under the blanket of snow - 4th from the left. Our apartment windows are the two bottom ones in the picture.
The playground.
Documentation that will eventually make it into one of our flicks!
And the "after" picture taken just outside our window (several hours after the shovels had come through the walkways, and the snow had started to slow down).
Happy Snow Day! :)