Snowed In!

Yesterday morning we awoke to the power lines down all over town in an unprecedented Placervillian winter wonderland after a snowstorm dumped down upon us more snow than we've had since forever ago. We did not get our power back until late afternoon today and our roads and vehicles have been frozen solid into snowbanks in our driveway. It has been quite an adventure and I'm glad my camera battery did not run out cause documentation was my main source of entertainment!

Here's the view out front:

What we stepped out into:

front yard:

back yard, check out the stack on top of our green waste bin!

our oak tree and the giant limb it lost:

joey and emily arrive, walked up to our house from main street which was completely shut down for lack of power. It was so cute to see them come tromping up, rosy-cheeked:

While Momma and Darin were doing this inside, ah pure coziness!

I made breakfast of veggie sausage and eggs out on the propane stove on the back patio:

Boys hanging out and eating in the only warm room in the house:

We all got to spent a lot of time comforting our very sick cat Stormy, the big gentle giant who is no giant anymore. He is all skin and bones now and won't eat or drink, just wants to be loved and warmly snuggled all day.

Mom and Emily and I looked at old photos for hours...great entertainment!

Momma was very worried about her brand new car; here she is brushing the heaps of snow off:

and she made Joey use our shovel (it's NO snow shovel, trust me) to try and clear our driveway a bit:

our dwindling wood (SCARY!) until Pops showed up with some oak logs later at night:

As the weak winter sun went down leaving a trail of blackness and ICE in its wake:

We dug sodas into the snow and prepared our camping-stove dinner:

Which turned out quite lovely, beans, rice, tortillas, salsa, and avocado by candlelight (it was SO DARK and my flash makes it look much lighter than it was):

Thus we wiled away the snowed-in winter hours, later playing a vigorous candlelit round of Apples to Apples. It was the parents' first time playing and they asked weird questions like "But what if I can't remember which card I chose" (it's okay, dad, it's only one at a time, we're sure you can remember) and "But what if I can't see my words...Danny can you see that??" (it's okay mom, it's just sort of dark in here) We're like, so this is what it's like playing games with OLD PEOPLE!

It was fun and Em won, collecting such descriptive words as "aged," "unforgettable," "nasty," and "dirty" which fit her to a tee! If you've not played Apples to Apples IT'S TIME TO START. Great Christmas gift for the whole fam.

Darin had to work a graveyard shift at 11 pm and Dad and I getting him there was an adventure in and of itself. Here's how we left Joey and Em having a little sleepover on the living room floor by the cozy fire.

And here's the icy sunlit wonderland we awoke to:

Spent some time downtown where only half the businesses were open and there was a mad rush for Centro cafe's hot drinks and wireless access.

Somebody built these rad Placerville snowfigures on the bench on Main Street.

Walked down to Mel's for a hearty veggie burger lunch because WE NEEDED IT.

Now, if only the power stays on I say BRING ON MORE SNOW! I loved it. I know I've said the word "cozy" about one thousand times, but that is the highlight of this whole experience: cozy long johns, hot tea, firewood, woolen sweaters, children going by on sleds right on the snowy street, red cheeks from cold walks outside and marshmallow creme in hot cocoa, cats purring by the christmas tree, and tonight we even get to enjoy our twinkly lights, propane heat, and blogging priveleges! HOORAY for snow days!