Fatherhood is about opportunity and experiences. Sometimes you have to seek them out and find it. Sometimes they literally fall from the sky. Like snow.
I pretended to have trouble with my camera as their butts froze from the giant snowball.
Today was one of those days. It is a rare snow day in Houston. The kids were released from school at 1 o’clock. The school basketball tournament that my daughter was scheduled to play in was canceled because of the “winter storm”. I was disappointed. I haven’t seen any of the games and I was looking forward to it.
I picked my kids up from school and we started looking for firewood. I had our chocolate lab, Daniel, with us as we checked the major grocery stores and convenience store for wood. We weren’t having any luck until I remembered the guy who sells mulch and landscaping rocks not too far from my home.
We get the wood and head for home. Snow flurries were coming down at a good pace at this point. The snow was not firm enough to stick to the concrete roads, but everything else was blanketed in snow.
As we approached one of the lakes in our neighborhood, I was awestruck at the marvel of the snow. For those of you that live in the north, you’re probably thinking, “Big deal.” For this Texas, this is a rare occurence. We have hurricanes more frequntly than we get snow.
The lake was beautiful, so I stopped to get a picture of it on my cell phone. I get out of the truck and Bae comes along. The Boy and The Dog stay in the truck for warmth.I am admiring the white, cold banks of the lake when, all of a sudden…
“SPLAT!”
I feel a cold wetness coming through my hoodie. I look down at my side and I see a blob of ice hanging there and my daughter in the background laughing and saying, “I GOT YOU!”
It was on! I scooped up the freezing mush and quickly formed a ball and hurled it at her. This went on back and forth
Adi throws a fastball.
for about a minute until we heard The Boy yell out to us, “Hey! I wanna play, too.” I planned to play in the snow at home, but what an opportunity we had in front of us right at that moment. We had a couple of acres and a lake covered with snow. In Yoda-speak, jumped on it we did. The Boy and The Dog got out of the truck and we began to throw snowballs at each other while The Dog ate the snow and sniffed around for something to gnaw on.
The Boy and The Dog try to make a snowman.
We make it home to try the WeaselMomma Snowman Making Method (by the way-please click this link after reading this post to read a touching story from WeaselMomma) . Take a small ball of snow and roll it around on the ground until you have a large ball of snow. Repeat twice more until you have a base, belly, and head. I have to admit, that was hard work (for the kids, at least. Mr. Man was contemplating a smooth cigar) We rolled the base successfully, but the middle collapsed upon stacking. We tried to rebuild it by rolling it into an even bigger ball for a bigger base. However, this was abandoned as my wife, Adi, began another snowball fight. All that was left of Frosty was a mound of ice that The Dog turned into a popcicle.
After a while, we all came in. Nicely soaked as the snow melted, Adi directed the fam where to take the wet and messy piles of clothes as The Dog Ate My Snowman.
Mr Man
P.S. Sorry if this post feels rushed. I just lit a fire in the fireplace and the kids are making s’mores. I’m trying to get back to family time. 
