Winter Storm Leon in S.C.

OK, in other places Storm Leon hit a lot harder, bringing temps down into the negatives. In South Carolina, it brought snow and ice which was enough to shut down the city for 48 hrs. Tuesday, most places closed early. Paul was sent home at noon. On Wednesday, the entire city was shut down. Stores, shops, schools and other places were all closed. Thursday (today) everything is on a delayed schedule. Paul's work was a 3 hr delay and schools are on a 2 hr delay. It has been fun and a great opportunity to play in the snow without having to worry about other responsibilities. :) Here are some pictures of our day. :)

Wednesday morning around 7am, walking out to see the snow! :)

This is how much snow we got.... my thumb and the snow on the trampoline. ;)

Arwen... not a fan of snow. She ran out, went potty and ran back to her bed where she licked her paws. They were just too cold.

Baker didn't seem to care too much. He pranced a little more in it than normal but no big deal. 

Our house covered in snow.

Our neighborhood. The picket fence on the left side of the picture is our front yard.

Out our front window.

Ryanne doing school. She just looked so old in this picture and position.

Ryanne was assigned homework and insisted on doing it in front of the fire. haha!

The kids built their first snowman! A few years ago, the last time it snowed, Collin and Paul built one but this is the first time they did one together.

Collin, preparing a snowball for a snowball fight. It was an exciting brawl. I even got snow up my nose which was a very strange feeling.

Another shot of the front yard from our window.

The fire, where we hung out when we weren't playing in the snow. Paul kept it going all day and burned $10 worth of wood. LOL!

These are shots of the kids playing in the front yard. This one, Collin was hitting the limbs of the tree and making the powdery snow fall all around him.

 The snow began melting as the temperatures hit mid 30s on Wednesday. Wednesday night the temperature dropped back down into the teens so Thursday morning there were lots of beautiful icicles everywhere.

Aren't they pretty?

They are so long... well, for SC. Paul has a story of a HUGE icicle when he lived in Canada, but for SC, these are quite large. 

I thought this one was cool. The one forming diagonally..... there's a little twig and I guess one drop fell on it at a time, allowing it to form upward and diagonal instead of down. haha! I thought it was really cool. 

It's hard to tell but I was trying to show the 1-1 1/2" of ice under the snow on the roof. Quite crazy. I guess our roof is well insulated right now. ;)

OK, Paul thinks I'm nuts but I never realized this. In fake snow, they have glitter. I just always thought that was to make it more fun. But... what this South Carolina girl never knew was that real snow glitters too!!! :) So, I tried to catch the beautiful glittering that was happening in the sun. 

The carport drain is just at the top of this post. So, as snow melted and dripped down this drain, it froze. The entire post is frozen along with the base of the little tree growing beside it. So funny!

A Day at the Zoo

For Christmas, my mom gave us a year membership to the zoo. This means that our family can get in for FREE any time we want to during this year. So Exciting!! Going to the zoo, for our family of four, costs about $40. Holy cow!!! So, now it doesn't!! Unlimited visits to the zoo. Yes, please! :)

So, the kids were out of school today and I figured we needed to do something fun. So... the zoo!! I invited my sister and her family, my mom, and my mother and father in law. None could go. Paul was working so... it was just the kids and me but it was still fun!!! :)

Picnic lunch before we went in the zoo. We all started off bundled up because it was 52 degrees. It quickly warmed up to, according to the van when we were getting ready to leave, 70 degrees. Those layers came off! haha!

The kids wanted to go to the aquarium first -- eel!

This croc was freaky! He just stared at us with his nose pressed into the glass. Yikes! haha!

I didn't realize snakes lived UNDER the water. I mean, I knew they lived in the water but anytime I've seen a snake in the water they have been swimming on the top of the water. This one lived UNDER the water. There was no where in this tank for him to get out of the water. I found that interesting. I cannot remember what it was called though.

I just thought these frogs were so pretty! :)

Sharks!! Those shadows are my kids. :)

Jellyfish. OK, I am completely fascinated with jellyfish. I wanted to be a marine biologist because I am fascinated with sea life but jellyfish were where I wanted to study. I just think they are amazing!

Seahorses. There were several Mr.Moms in this tank too. :)

This kangaroo cracked me up. He was rolling around on his back. haha! The sun must have felt really nice. :)

Meerkat!! Cute, right? Can you find it?

I tried to get a pic of the turkey but then he started coming at me and I freaked a bit so the picture is blurry. I didn't want him to pluck out my eyeball.

Feeding the goat. Collin made me laugh because he did not like the feeling of goat saliva on his hand. LOL!

We had to go on the carousel. Collin is on the inside with the green shirt on the ostrich and Ryanne is on the row behind him, on the outside on the baboon with a brown shirt. 

As we walked across the bridge over the river we noticed turtles sunning on the rocks. We counted 6... not sure if you can see it on this pic or not.

Ryanne on the tram.

Collin on the tram.

At the gardens. 

koalas!!! I just want to snuggle up with one.

Penguins!!! Ryanne couldn't wait to get to these guys and then she only stayed there for a few seconds and was ready to move on.