Simplicity of Childlike Snow

Everyone has been posting these beautiful pictures of snow all over the country 

and it's made me a bit jealous!

I grew up snow skiing in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Northern California and this year especially, I've been a little sad that I'm not giving my children that same experience.

My son is about to turn 7 and he's never seen "real" snow before!

Something had to be done about that!

So with a random day off school this week, we took the kids to the snow!

Because this is supposed to be an El Nino year for us Californians, there actually is a bit of snow on our mountains, even in Southern California.

So we drove through absolute desert, like sand, cactus legit desert, and the mountains that rose behind the desert were covered in snow!  As we headed up the incline, anxious to step out into the frothy fluff, my husband and I looked at each other with a bit of a grimace, thinking, "um, is this it?"

The kids were about to jump out of their seats, "CAN WE GET OUT NOW??"

But no, we kept driving, looking for the "prefect" spot to stop and play.

We assured them that we were not going home until we got to play in the snow, but we were just looking for a good spot to sled.

After pulling over to survey several spots, only to return to the car and move onto somewhere else, we finally found a decent area to play and allowed the kids to get out of the car.

The same grimace came over our faces as we stepped out, almost slipping flat on our backs on the hard, icy, snow.  As the kids ran ahead of us, my husband and I began picking apart this experience, "this snow is terrible, it's so hard and icy, we're all going to break our necks!  it's freezing out here, I have a headache already, this is miserable!" 

 Just then a kiddo ran back to us, "Come on!  This is amazing!  Hurry and grab the sleds!"

They were beaming from ear to ear.

They couldn't be more ecstatic with this "snow."

I looked at my husband and said, "Let's not say anything.  They're totally happy.  They've never been to the snow before, they have no idea that this sucks!  Let's not ruin it for them."

So we kept quiet, walked extremely gingerly so as not to fall and break anything, 

and let them have the time of their life!

 

On the ice, amongst the dirt, rocks and branches, they slipped and sledded down some hills and couldn't stop laughing and smiling.  It was a solid 35 degrees and I was grateful for all the snow clothes our neighbors lent us, even the pink boots for my little dude!  

(that's how much he loved the snow - he didn't even care that he was wearing pink girl boots!)

Such a great life lesson was once again learned!

Kids don't have a huge file of previous life experiences.  They aren't constantly comparing.  

They are totally present in the moment, loving every bit of it!

Every moment is a gift, even if it looks different than previous moments!

There is a new gift in every experience.

Look for it!

Find it!

Then ride it like you've never done it before!

Happy Friday