Well now much removed from the horrible snow storm of 2014 it doesn't seem as bad..but wow what a day that was. Tuesday morning Reese left for school and then about an hour later I was loading up these two to head to the church with me while I had a meeting. We were greeted by some snow flurries.
When I told them it was snowing outside they were jumping up and down and screaming inside the house to go out. We then stood outside for 10 minutes trying to catch snowflakes on our tongues.
During my meeting the snow continued to fall, and to be honest I did not think anything of it. We never get much snow...but I knew Reese's school would probably close soon, but it would be fine because our church is literally across the road from her school street.
Reese's school called to announce they were letting the children out...we walked outside the church...to a beautiful site, I had no idea that this beautiful site was not going to end pretty.
To make a very long story a little shorter...we drove across and picked up Reese and then headed home....but sadly I nor did the entire city of Birmingham realize how dangerous this snow would be. As I headed down the road on the other side of the school (which is a hill, there are pretty much not a whole lot of roads in Birmingham that are not hills) I saw a parking lot of cars that had slid into each other or into things.
It was too late...as I slowed down, the car continued to go...we were sliding. I was panicking for sure (on the inside I was dying) on the outside I just said ok girls...its ok we are sliding, just stay in your seats, its ok. We slid, I had zero control over the car, the steering wheel was doing its own thing. We finally came to a stop by way of a large brick mailbox which we knocked over! I could not believe that we knocked it over...nor did I know what to do.
I had no cell service, my phone could not call anyone. I finally texted my friend who lived near by, her husband drove to us (he has an all terrain vehicle) and took us to their house. The girls were freezing and I was in shock. After a few hours and realizing that we would not be able to get our car, that Jason was stuck downtown...Brad (my friend's husband) tried to drive us home...we got stuck...so he walked with us about 1.5 miles to our house.
Sweet Brad put Brynlee on her shoulders and Reese walked behind...I had been holding Bryn, but Hadley decided she could not walk so I was carrying her.
I was so proud of the girls, they were freezing, and we walked what felt like 10 miles and they did great.
When we finally got home, our yard was blanketed with snow it was beautiful, but hard to enjoy knowing that most of the city was stuck in their cars without family and without communication.
Hadley, Brynlee and I were frozen solid and when we got home I stripped them down to defrost before putting them in a warm bath. Reese, however wanted to fully enjoy the snow in our yard...this had been a fun adventure to her!
Trying to keep the girls mind off of daddy not being home with us we made some delicious snow ice cream with almond milk...it was great!
Jason finally made it home the next day. He luckily stayed with his boss the previous night after leaving his car on the road and walking to their house.
So for the next few days since school was still out we enjoyed sliding down the hill in our front yard and down our icy street.
We are beyond grateful that we were all ok and so thankful for all of the people who helped us and helped so many others. Kindness wins...love wins. The big ole Sequoia took quite a beating from hitting the mailbox and then another car slammed into the side of it...but metal can be fixed!
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