FEBRUARY - snow & the Wiggers visit

February was the month of snow, more snow, and a visit from our wonderful friends Mim, Scott & Alex Wiggers de Vries (who came all the way from Australia, only to be snowed in to our apartment for most of their stay). Steve & Nikki also celebrated their 20th Wedding Anniversary on the 1st of February with an overnight stay in Washington DC (the girls got to stay back in Annapolis).

Jacqui in the spa in Ohio, outside, whilst it was snowing

Before the Wiggers arrived in Annapolis, Jacqui headed off to New York to spend a few days with them (so she could get out of Annapolis before the big storm hit), on her way to Ohio for a homeschooling "convention" at an indoor water park. She went with a bunch of friends from New York, and met up with some friends from Chicago and had a great time. Because of the snow storms that continued in Annapolis, she was stuck in Ohio for an extra day (her flight home was canceled) but eventually got home - handling all the travel arrangements & delays in her stride.

Whilst Jacqui was in Ohio we had a really big dump of snow over a few days, totaling around 90cm. This winter we've had a total of 210cm of snow - Thredbo would have loved it!

Hannah in waist high snow

local kids snowboarding on the hill behind our house

after the snow was plowed, it had to go somewhere - into the parking spots

pretty (but scary) icicles hanging off the roof, right above the front door - but 4 stories up

Even though we were all snowed in, we had a fabulous time with the Wiggers staying with us - it felt just like being at home, and really raised up our spirits. They actually left New York a day early, as all buses and trains were about to be cancelled to Annapolis, and they didn't want to get stuck up in NY (although it sounded like they had a good time there) - so we got to have more time with them!

Steve, Hannah, Scott, Alex & Mim - all of us using our laptops (and when Jacqui got back from Ohio, there was one more).

The snow gave us lots of time to play games

Scott & Hannah (only the Aussies went outside in the blizzard - we had cabin fever, and wanted to explore)

Alex, Mim, Hannah, Nikki & Scott on our front stoop

When it stopped snowing we were able to venture out a bit more (although it took a few days until the roads were plowed enough to be safe to drive on). The best part about having 20 y.o.'s staying with us - they helped us dig out the car! (Thanks Scott & Alex)

Jacqui on the slippery dip

We finally got into DC for some sightseeing, and it was a "winter wonderland" - here you can see people walking on the ice on the reflecting pond (not very safe). All the rivers around our house were frozen over (which is impressive because they are mainly brackish (salt and fresh water) rivers).

This is what the local roads looked like after the big storm - not very safe to drive on. The highways were plowed first, and then the emergency snow routes (this is one of those). Because most of the snow was dumped on the weekend, the local authorities didn't plow fully until the Monday (so they didn't have to pay overtime - the financial crisis has hit here hard), making the roads unsafe to drive on (we found this out the hard way - the roads on base were properly plowed and salted so we assumed it was safe to go for a drive, only to discover this main road around the corner from our house - don't worry, we turned around and went home without any major drama's).