Living my whole life in Florida, I could count on one hand the number of times I had seen snow. That all changed three years ago when we moved to Tennessee! Since we've lived here we've had quite a few significant snow days and 2016 looks to be no exception! Last week we had our first ice and snow "storm" of the year which included lots of school closings and cancellations.
Wednesday morning was when it all started, beginning with lots and lots of ice. That just happened to be the same morning that I had an appointment for a procedure at Vanderbilt in Nashville. Our plan was to leave the house at 5:30 a.m. in order to arrive by 8:00 a.m. I got up at 3:30 that morning and looked outside to see freezing rain and slippery road conditions. I considered cancelling my procedure but my Mom was in town to help out, I had already completed the prep and I just really didn't want to rearrange our schedules to do this at a later date. So, at 5:30 that morning my mom, Kyndall and I set off for Nashville. It wasn't long before Matthew called me and told me that I-40 was at a standstill due to the fact that they weren't allowing anyone to cross the Tennessee River. The bridge was iced over and the conditions weren't safe. He knew this because several of his drivers were stuck in the standstill as they tried to make their way from Nashville to Jackson. (Inside info....one of the perks to having a husband in the trucking business!) Despite encouragement from my Mom and Matthew to turn around, I kept driving. The roads were slick and covered in ice and we saw many, many accidents along our way. Still, I kept going. SLOWLY. It wasn't long before we hit that standstill that Matthew warned me about. We sat for several hours just waiting for them to open the bridge so that we could continue on. I called Vanderbilt and explained what was going on and as expected, they were most understanding and told me to just take my time and to get there when I could.
What is normally at 2 hour drive turned into nearly 7! By the time I got there I was so tense I was READY for my IV so I could be put to SLEEP! It was an intense morning.
Despite being super late, I had my procedure and even woke up to a surprise visitor in my bed. Normally they don't let kids in the recovery area but things were so slow that day that the nurses bent the rules a little. I love Vanderbilt so much. I also love propofol. I love it a lot. Probably a little too much, actually.
High as a kite thanks to the lingering effects of propofol
I had two more appointments that afternoon before we left Vanderbilt and headed back to Jackson. My Mom drove since I wasn't allowed to after being sedated. The drive back was much better than the drive over because most of the ice had melted throughout the day.
The next day we ran around town completing all of the obligatory snow storm preparations like getting groceries, filling our cars with gas and picking up prescriptions. We even went out and grabbed a few sleds and some snow boots because we were so excited about the coming snow storm!
That night while we slept, the snow began to fall and we woke up on Friday morning to a winter wonderland!! Everything was covered in a blanket of soft white and it was beautiful!!
The view from our front door Friday morning
I took this video in slow motion to show how big the flakes were
As soon as we could get our gear on, we were out the door and ready to play! Unfortunately Matthew had to work but me, Mom and Kyndall made the most of the day.
We were so glad Grammy happened to be here from FLORIDA to experience the snow with us!
My Mom took this video of me pulling Kyndall around our front yard. I definitely got my cardio in for the day.....
The snow was pretty deep!!
Everything looked SO beautiful all covered in white!
Our yard didn't offer us big enough hills for sledding so we loaded up and made our way to Medina Methodist! (I am friends with the Pastor and she gave me special permission to do this, just FYI!)
My favorite video from the whole day....
It was 32 degrees with a wind chill of 18 degrees and the wind was brutal, so we didn't last too long. We decided to go sight seeing around Medina while we warmed up.
We found ourselves at the middle school which seemed to be the hot spot for locals and sledding. We stayed there as long as we could stand it before jumping back in the car to thaw out. We even ran into a few friends and enjoyed a couple of races down the hill with them.
Medina looked like a giant blanket of white powder
This is the road to our house. So pretty!
We warmed ourselves up with fresh chocolate chip cookies and hot chocolate.
My Mom made chili for dinner that night and we spent the rest of the evening INDOORS staying warm.
Kyndall came bouncing out of her room bright and early Saturday morning, ready to go play in the snow again. I was excited for Matthew to go sledding with us so we didn't waste any time getting out there.
We ventured into Jackson looking for the perfect hill to sled down. We started out at Fellowship but ended up at USJ, which turned out to be the perfect spot.
Julie and Camden met up with us for a bit which was a lot of fun!
A few videos I took.....
From sledding to SWIMMING! We spent Saturday afternoon at the Lift for Riley's birthday party at the pool.
I got my baby fix with sweet Chandler!!
Kyndall and Micah
The snow has all melted away now but the memories we made this past weekend will never be forgotten!
Love all the snow pictures! How fun!
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