Snow Day!!!

Today, we woke up to find extreme July weather.

SNOW!!!

It doesn't snow that often in Christchurch.  Usually, if bad winter weather is coming up from the south pole, it gets trapped by the hills of the Banks Peninsula and is merely rain before it hits Christchurch.

But today, we got snow.  And the people in charge of the city were very smart.  The city cancelled all buses and told everyone to stay home for the day.  The University was closed, most businesses were closed, and the whole city had a snow day.

So, we broke out the long underwear and ski gear and got outside.

First, the girls made their first snowman.  Or rather, snowgirl - as they are careful to call it.

Then, as the girls and I went inside to get the finishing touches for snowgirl, a giant tree branch almost fell on Chris.  Fortunately, he heard it cracking and ran before it fell. 

The branch that tried to kill Chris.

Snow days are a great way to meet your neighbors.  We met the people across the street who have kids the same age as mine.  Our other neighbor stopped by to check on us.

Then, we went for a walk at the University.  Which was BEAUTIFUL!

After walking around the University, the girls got too tired and didn't want to walk home.  They were ready for their hot cocoa break.  So Chris carried both of them for a little bit while I took photos.

On the way home, we saw several students on their way to the school-wide snowball fight scheduled for 11 am.  (We opted not to take the kids there.)  We saw one student who got out his skis and had friends towing him behind their car like he was waterskiing, but on snow.

Then, we stopped at the neighbors' house with kids.  Our too-tired-to-walk children suddenly were full of energy when they had the chance to play with other kids the same age!  We stayed outside for another half hour before the hot cocoa break.

Then, we came inside, watched big fluffy snow, followed by the sun melting snow, followed by some frozen rain, followed by more melting and now I'm sure the ice on the roads will be completely evil.

And -- oh -- by the way, we heard that it was 105 degrees in Austin, TX today.  Hmmm.

Do you think that we're homesick?  Maybe not yet.