Snow day

Yesterday, Arlington public schools were closed for the whole day because of the snow we received in the morning, which of course had melted by, oh, 1 p.m. or so. (Two men knocked on the door and offered to shovel the walk if I paid them $10. "No, thanks," I said brightly. Then one of them said that there was ice, and I said again, more firmly, "No, thanks." I should have added, "nice try," because I knew they had tried that trick because I was a woman and, therefore, in their eyes, helpless).

Rachel and I had a nice day together. I got up before she did, had breakfast, and then heard her coming downstairs. She had a frightened look on her face. "Uh, Mom?" she said. "Um...it's late..."

"School's closed today," I said gently, "and I wanted to let you sleep."

We had a leisurely breakfast, I threw in some laundry and cleaned up, and then we went outside quite late -- around 1 or so -- and I shoveled the sidewalk while Rachel carved a "snow seat" out of the front lawn. Then I grabbed her sled and a cracked plastic saucer that Drew had told Rachel she could keep because it had been left at McKinley Hill during the last snow -- and we headed out to go sledding. On the way Rachel stopped and climbed two trees, while I took pictures, and when we got to the hill it was filled with kids. It was also very icy, and Rachel flew down on her saucer, then said,
"C'mon, Mom, you try!" I kept waiting for the bottom of the hill to clear of kids, and then Rachel said, "Mom, you're stalling!" and I answered crossly, "I don't want to run over any kids," but the truth was, I WAS stalling. At last I got on the sled and flew down the solid patch of ice that Rachel insisted I go on -- and it was a fast, scary ride that ended with me flying over some wood beams and crashing down on my backside. I felt it as soon as I got up. "Are you okay??!?!" the moms at the bottom of the hill asked, and I answered, sure, when what I really felt was sore. Not too bad, though.

Then Rachel wanted to visit a friend of hers, Madeline, whose house is at the top of the hill, so we trudged up and Rachel climbed over the back fence. It ended up with her and Madeline going to their friend Samantha's house down the block, and I had just enough time to drag the sleds home, gulp down a late lunch of salad and matzoh, then hop in the car and pick Rachel up.

She had insisted that she wanted Mommy's popcorn and homemade hot chocolate and to watch "Oklahoma!" which she had seen at Ivy's house and Drew rented it from the library. So, at 5:30, we ate popcorn and hot chocolate and snuggled in to watch the movie, with Rachel jumping up every few scenes to do her own interpretive dancing (she changed into a pink dress with sparkles on it) and urging me to dance with her.

Drew got home around 7:30 (Pew was NOT closed, unfortunately, and I didn't have work, so it made sense for me to be the one to stay home), heated up homemade chicken soup with matzo balls and my homemade challah; we ate dinner and then sent Rachel to bed. All in all, it was a nice, non-routine, relaxing day.