Rolling Snow Balls

December 31 2009 10:11am. I'm sitting on my bed, feeding my baby boy and watching the world outside turn white. For someone who has lived in Sunny Sydney, Perth & LA snow is still a beautiful novelty. And I am still getting used to all that goes along with living in a city that snows.

It now takes me half an hour to dress me and the baby so we can go to the park over the road for 20 minutes for a swing and a slide. There are beanies and mittens and scarves and jumpers and coats and boots and snow suits. Inevidably once we are all dressed and geared up I realize my keys are back in my bedroom. So the boots come off and I go searching. Meanwhile the baby is getting restless from overheating in all those layers.
Slowly I am rearranging our apartment to be more "snow-day" friendly - or just cold-weather-friendly. But it's a slow learning curve.

But right now I am just enjoying the view. And watching 3 boys roll snow balls. I didn't actually think you rolled snow balls. In the movies they do it sure, but that's the movies. But I have learnt something here. 3 boys started pushing small snow balls around and around the playground. Each time they pass my window their balls are bigger. They started no larger than a volleyball and now one of them is so big the boy is struggling to push it. It's at least 4 feet in diameter! Impressive! That is going to be one fantastic snowman!

Now I just need my husband home, the baby awake, and we can roll our own snow balls.

Winter Wonderland

Our first snow!

Not just our first New York snow, but for Nathan, Noah and I it was our first EVER snow. What a special moment to be shared by the 3 of us.

Walking through the cobblestoned streets of SoHo together as the first snow flakes fell. Except that Noah was asleep, and therefore oblivious. Still it was romantic and beautiful and picturesque.

After ducking into Patagonia and joining the queue of people also purchasing last minute cold-weather gear, we emerged to find a world transformed. A thin white blanket covered the dirt and grime that usually defines NYC. We walked along with our tongues out, trying to catch snow flakes on our tongues. We heard a few sniggers, and saw a few raised eyebrows from the long-term New Yorkers as we took photos and chattered excitedly about the snow - "Tourists". But no, we live here too, just never seen it snow before.

It snowed all day and soon the whole world was transformed. We ran over to the park when we got home with Noah and made snowballs with the few centimetres of snow on the ground, trying not to scrape up the dirt and grime just below the surface. Noah laughed at us - a lot. I am pretty sure he was thinking, "Crazy parents!" But we didn't care. We posted pictures on Facebook and sent them home to our family.

But we peaked too soon. This morning we awakened to a Winter Wonderland. Almost 11 inches of snow had fallen since yesterday. The world was transformed completely. I made Nathan and Noah dress as soon as we were up and raced over to the park. We made the first snow angels. We made the first snow man. Actually we made the first footprints in much of the park. Noah laughed and giggled. He cried a couple of times when we sat him in the snow. But he pointed and chattered away and seemed to think it was all very fantastical. We made snow balls and never even saw the grime which we knew was down there somewhere - just beautiful white powder.

An hour later and from the warmth of our apartment we saw the park filled with children and families. Each vying for a place to build a snow man or make a snow angel. Ours of course did not survive the onslaught. But they were there. First. That's what counts.