I feel like the last 3 weeks have been a blur. Did that all just really happen? Were we snowed in for weeks or did I dream that? Did it really snow about 2 feet in the span of just over a week? Unfortunately this all did happen! And I am still coming out of the fog! We went to Andy and Kristy's house for Superbowl Sunday, and although I had heard it might snow that night, I didn't think much of it. We have heard that it would snow several times and it never seems to, so I just kind of ignored it. Driving home from the Daveys, the snow was definitely coming down. All I could think of was, great - snow day tomorrow for the kids! Oh well - kids love the odd snow day, maybe they can even go sledding and enjoy a bit of snow time. Little did I know this was just the start of a crazy 10 days! We did wake up to a snow day on Monday, and we did go sledding, but that was not the end! The kids did go back to school Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of that week, but Thursday was the only full day. The snow started again on Friday (the 8th) and school got out early in anticipation. People had not adequately prepared for the last snow storm, so this time they were ready! It snowed so much, I have not seen anything like it in the time I've lived here. Church was even cancelled Sunday! And then Sunday night, it snowed again! I had just cleared the snow from the driveway and then it snows again! It was so relentless! Of course school was cancelled Monday, who could even leave their house - the main roads were being cleared, but the side roads were not. It snowed AGAIN Monday night, and that was it thankfully. But it affected the whole week. Our school mid-winter break was supposed to start Thursday, and school was cancelled Monday-Wednesday because of the conditions of the side roads. I got stuck driving up to our house on Wednesday - the road was slushy, but not slushy enough for me to easily shovel the snow away and get some grip to get going! Thankfully a neighbor helped me out! We did get new tires on the van Thursday, could have used them a few days sooner lol!
I admit that before this debacle began, I was a bit mocking about how everyone was preparing for this snopocolypse. Bread shelves were being cleared at Costco, people were waiting for an hour to gas up, it was quite frantic. This snow was no joke, even by Alberta standards - and Alberta is prepared for these things! The city tried to keep up but it took several days to get to the side roads, stranding many people. They plowed the streets, spraying snow onto the sidewalks - sidewalks that are STILL covered in snow, causing people to walk on busy roads while they walk their kids to school. This snow has thrown people for such a loop, it's been a sight to behold. It's hard to believe it's really only been not even 2.5 weeks since this whole thing started, it feels like a life time. Thankfully school started again today, although as I mentioned, the sidewalk situation is still a complete disgrace. Everyone is so used to snow just melting right away, they do not realize that these kinds of accumulations can take a lot of time to melt. I would guess that if this happened again in the next few years the city would be a bit more prepared, but time will tell I guess.
We did have a great weekend in Victoria, even though they also got a lot of snow in the last few weeks. We drove up Friday afternoon and hung out with James and Sarah Saturday and Sunday. We did a lot of visiting, got out a few times, but mostly just hung out since the weather wasn't super warm. We did some swimming at our hotel which was fun for the kids. Adam had a lot of high stress times which was unfortunate, but that just seems to be the direction he's been going lately. I am hoping he won't be like this at my niece's wedding this Saturday, we are going up to Abbotsford/Chilliwack on Friday. He is looking forward to staying at the hotel with a waterslide Friday night, hopefully it will compensate for the fact that there is no pool at the hotel we are staying at on Saturday night, where the wedding is.
