Thane: “Do you like Baseball, Daddy?”
Jay: “Yes, I like baseball.”
Thane: “Do you like spitting, Daddy?”
Jay: Silence
Thane: “Do you like to spit? Baseball players like to spit.”

We were watching Dinosaur Train at the time. Not a baseball player in sight.

Since the blizzard, we have been stuck in about a 4 block radius of the house, unable to move the car even until yesterday. To add insult to injury, Mara’s cold turned into a need for more breathing treatments, so my desire to take her outside even for short spells was greatly diminished. So, here we are, stuck in the house, snow all around, sick child at hand…What to do? BUILD SNOWMEN, OF COURSE!

Thane has a friend that lives upstairs. One of their first conversations went like this…

Thane: “I go to Greek school. Do you go to Greek School?”
Melina: “Yes, I go to Greek school too.”

Gotta love NYC.

They spent about 45 minutes outside building and breaking down snowmen. Melina’s mom watched them while I stayed with Mara, making quick trips out to take pictures.

Nashville had a white Christmas for the first time in like 200 years (according to Dolly Parton).

Living in NYC, we of course missed it.

NYC being what it is, it could not allow another place to outdo it, so it decided to plow 18 inches on us the very next day.

On Sunday, we were a little antsy and decided to get out and do some shopping. The snow was already beginning to come down. At a four way stop on the way there, we witnessed a car rear end an SUV because it could not stop in time. Our plan of lunch, Kohl’s, Target and Best Buy morphed into lunch and Target, all in the same plaza.

When we got home, the snow was in full force and our steep driveway was deemed not a suitable parking spot. We decided to park in front of the drive instead. Our next door neighbor came by and said he could not get in (we had given him enough room, we thought) so Jay pulled out so he could park in his drive. No such luck. He decided to also park on the street, next to a hydrant, therefore forcing us to parallel park to get back into our spot. Parallel park with 2 foot snowdrifts and 3 inches of snow coming down…um, no. We had him move (again), moved pappou’s car up, moved our car in, and then he finally followed in behind. Did I lose you? That’s ok, I was completely lost at why we were asked to move in the first place.

Helping Daddy Shovel

Jay’s shoveling act #1 quickly ensued. With the kids and me warm and toasty inside, we watched daddy shovel a path in the driveway, the front steps and path, and the sidewalk. He came in and looked like a 6’4″ icicle. Some dinner and TV later, Jay went outside two more times to repeat the shoveling, with the snow continuing to fall. It is rumored we got 28″ total in some areas, with winds in the 60 mph range.

Our cars

Our street the next morning

Jay’s office has an emergency hotline set up for office closings. I was certain that as I was reading the NY Facebook updates that his would be closed. No such luck. When he woke up the next morning, he found out the office was in fact open (but business casual only–only dress shirt and khakis, not suit and tie). He bundled up for one last shoveling (the snow had stopped by this point) and left after the sun rose, around 6:45 am, a little later than usual. This was his morning:

Walk to Train Station (~ 1 mile)
Find out trains are not running
Walk back home (~1 mile)
Look up MTA website and find trains are running
Walk to Train Station (~ 1 mile)
See same people waiting for bus that told him trains were not running originally
Get on train
Get stuck on train
Train moves, 3 stops
Get stuck on train
Train stops/no longer running (while on train)
Get off train
Walk this route home…aka almost 4 miles

Did I mention that we have not found/unpacked his snowboots and that this whole thing took over 4 hours? He was a trooper though, came home with a smile on his face, pictures, and a tale to tell.

Mets Citi Field

The kids played with the upstairs neighbor and then we got a call from a friend, John, who was in town for the weekend. We had seen John and his mom and daughter on Friday at the Museum of Natural History and had a nice time with everyone. I checked in on them yesterday and things seemed ok for their flight today. Then NYC airports canceled over 1400 flights and they got stranded for over 48 hours!!! Their newly scheduled flight is for Wednesday night. They trudged their way here (and I cannot wait to hear about their journey) but found a Sheraton before us, so they are camping out there tonight. Hopefully we can see them tomorrow to show them a bit of Queens for a different New York experience.

So we headed to dinner and an adventure walking in the snow. This is probably the first year that I have felt completely prepared with winter gear (except for Jay’s boots). The normal 5 minute walk to our favorite pizzeria took much longer because of a) the snow mountain climbing we did and b) Thane and Mara wanting to walk in everything and make snowballs everywhere.

Winter Hugs (unprompted!)

Can we go play yet???

Mara loved the snow, in fact capturing her on film proved very difficult, she would not stay still long enough to snap a shot.

Drift taller than daddy