First Snow and a soapbox...

Let me first start off by saying that I love most things about St. Louis.  We have a great ward and friends, there are tons of free stuff to do, and it is a family-friendly place to be.  But there is one thing that I do not love, and that is the lack of snow.  When we moved here we assumed that the winters would be similar to what we were used to, cold and snowy.  Well, it is definitely cold, but it doesn't snow that often at all.  I mean, here it is Jan. 29th and we just got our first snow.  It was a pretty good snow fall, about 6 inches between two storms.  We have had fun playing outside and enjoying it while we can.  I never thought I would miss the snow as much as I do.  I miss how peaceful it is when it snows, and how pretty it makes everything look, and I really miss having a white Christmas.  I do not miss the old crusty, dirty snow, the inversions that Utah gets and driving in it can be a pain, but I miss the other stuff.  I think that since we still have to endure the bitter cold here, we may as well be able to enjoy the snow too! So, here are some pics of us enjoying the snow. 

 

Luke LOVED playing in the snow and wanted to stay out way longer than the rest of us! Isn't that picture cute! It could be in a magazine! 

The first day of snow Isaac lasted about 2 minutes, then his hands got cold and he wanted to go in.  I have a better pair of mittens for him, that I have seen everywhere for the past couple of weeks, until we actually needed them, then I couldn't find them anywhere.  So the second day we wrapped his hands in ziplock baggies and he lasted the whole hour that we were out there, he just didn't like it when snow got on his face. 

Sledding down our front yard. 

Another picture that could be in a magazine! Man, my kids are CUTE! 

Luke making a snow angel. 

So, now it is time for my soapbox.  I get really passionate when it comes to education, being a former elementary school teacher, and I have had a hard time understanding why school here gets closed so much for weather related things.  First you have to understand where I am coming from.  All my growing up years I only remember 2 snow days,  one was when we got 18+ inches of snow overnight, and the other was because there wasn't any power at the high school.  So, I am used to dealing with the snow. But, I do understand that this is a different area where they aren't used to dealing with the snow so the road clearing crews respond differently and there are some HUGE hills here that would be impossible to get up without being plowed first. So, I am understanding to some degree. But, I think that they cancel school way too much.  For example, the district that I live in has used 7 "snow" days this year, and as I have said this was the first snow we have gotten.  2 of the days were for ice.  I can understand this to some degree because of the huge hills.  But from what I could tell, the roads were fine by 9:30 or 10, so I think they should have a snow schedule where they just start school later, there are some schools that did that.  1 of the days they cancelled for "weather" was completely ridiculous.  There was nothing on the roads, at all.  They closed school because of the "unpredictability" of the forecast. Another 1 of the days was because some of the schools in the district didn't have power, so they cancelled school for the whole district.  I don't know the whole situation on that one, some schools use one school to make the lunches for all the kids and they deliver the meals to the other schools, so if the school that prepares the lunches had no power, I can understand closing the whole district, but if that isn't the case, then school should have been open for the schools with power.  The remaining 3 snow days have all been this week.  The first two, I can understand. We did get a lot of snow and we don't get a lot of snow here. But today, they didn't have school again.  It hasn't snowed for a day and the roads are cleared.  I heard from one parent that they closed it because the parking lot isn't plowed! There has been 24 hours of time to clear the parking lot! That should be a priority because these kids need to be in school! Missouri is in the bottom half of the states for required number of days in school at 174 required days.  32 states require 180 or more days of school, 12 require less, and 6 states only require a certain amount of hours and let the districts decide how many days to spread that over.  And Missouri has another rule that I find ridiculous.  If more than a certain amount of days are missed due to inclement weather, they are "forgiven" and are not required to be made up.  So, not only does Missouri require less school days to begin with, the kids may end up going to school even less that that! 

Now, I am sure there are many people here in St. Louis that think I am crazy for thinking this and that all these snow days are necessary and legitimate. And I wouldn't mind the schools closing so much for the weather, if I knew they were getting the same amount of education as others states, and that those days were being made up.  But they are not, thus getting me up on my soapbox. Thanks for indulging me.  

And on that note, here are some more videos of us sledding! 

Since I was mostly the one taking pictures, I'll post this last video as proof that I played in the snow too!