I love snow.  I played in lots of it when I lived in North Dakota during my childhood.  Now I live in Chandler, Arizona.  It doesn’t snow where I live.  It almost never even rains.  Come to think of it, the wind doesn’t blow here either….no earthquakes, floods or tornadoes.  Just scorching heat six months of the year.  

So when my husband and I heard that snow had fallen in northern Arizona, we immediately planned a road trip.  We got up early on December 31st and packed our Durango with all the essentials.  My husband’s contribution: a sleeping bag, several beach towels, a bag of chocolate candy that Santa left us, a case of bottled water, sunflower seeds and his GPS.  

I grabbed my purse, a camera, two diapers, wipes and the Krispy Kreme donuts off the counter. 

And the kids…all five of them…in our space challenged Durango…packed:  pillows, blankets, backpack with toys for the car ride, DVD player and two DVDs. 

Please, don’t waste your time googling the size of Arizona.  I can answer your question.  No, in fact, Arizona isn’t that big.  Round trip we were looking at about four hours total.   But you never know when the kids will need to take a nap.  Because my 5, 9, 12, and 14 year old regularly take naps.  Right after getting up in the morning.  Thank God we had the sleeping bag.  Just in case my hubby felt the urge to nap too. 

After packing the car, everyone but me dressed themselves in layers of clothing.  Remember, North Dakota?  We sun tanned in bikinis when it was the temperature we expected Payson to be.  My bikini was in the laundry so, instead, I chose to wear a short sleeve tee with a hoodie. 

My husband had on an undershirt, a short sleeved t-shirt, two long sleeved t-shirts and a sweat shirt.  He packed his “winter coat” with the beach towels “just in case”.  The kids were equally as layered, with the addition of scarves, mittens (okay, socks that we called mittens) and hats.  We piled in the car.

We ate donuts and sang the only snow song we knew…jingle bells…on the way out of the city.  We eyed the non-snow capped mountains off in the distance hoping we would find snow.  It wasn’t long until my husband wiped the sweat from his brow and turned up the a/c to high.  My son threatened to throw his sister’s pillow out the window.  My daughter asked if anyone wanted her blanket.  My youngest cried “no like it, no like it!” for what seemed like an eternity.  I still don’t know what he “no likes”.  Not one of them napped.  

And then we saw them.  Arizonians playing in the snow on the side of the highway.  Off to our right was a huge hill full of sledders, waiting their turn to brave the steep slide.  Obviously, they were all visiting from out of state.  Not only did they have sleds and snow suits, but they had honest to goodness real gloves too!   Fortunately, off to our left, was a small area for those of us who didn’t think to pack a sled. 

As luck would have it, we found a broken plastic sled abandoned in the snow at the bottom of a small hill.  We gathered up the pieces and off to the top we went.  We enjoyed several good runs, despite a bit of butt spilling over the edge of the sled.

kyan in his fav pom pom hat

Later, my husband and oldest son started a snowball fight.  Or war, actually.  The rest of us just tried to stay out of the line of fire.  Which wasn’t easy because apparently eating “just one more” cookie/candy/pie/fudge over the holidays pushed me over the weight limit for the snow covered mountain.  I sank two feet deep with every step I took.   I wished I had my purple and gray moon boots from back in the day.

The kids also made their very first snowman.  My oldest son, who is 14, told his younger brothers and sisters that it “was nearly impossible to actually build one”.  Can you say - native Arizonian?  Our “mittens” didn’t work out very well.  I think they are still rolled up in the belly of the snowman.

After taking several pictures to document the day, we gathered up our coats, sweatshirts, and long sleeve t-shirts from the nearby tree stump and headed back to the car.    We decided that we could have left most of what we packed at home, except maybe the donuts.  Packing dry clothes is on our must do list for next time. 

Whether you live somewhere cold or planning a day in the snow, check out this rad hat by Sourpuss Clothing.  It is my Kyan’s 2008 winter must have.   Maybe we’ll buy him some gloves in 2009.

pink & white pom pom hat

red & black pom pom hat