Thursday, February 10, 2011

HNT - It's Snow Fun When You Do It Right

Ever since Halloween was over, Alexander has been itching to have a nice big fun snow tunnel/snow fort to play in. Given that we didn't get any real deposits of snow until just this month, he has been very patient.


But he demonstrated even greater patience when I kept telling him to wait while I slowly built up a nice pile of snow in our back yard.

It wasn't easy, and it took quite a while.



What I did was not only move all the snow off of our back deck, but also from more than half of the backyard and kept piling it up in a single gigantic pile between the deck and his play structure. No matter how large the pile got, I wanted to keep piling it higher, and keep waiting while the snow packed down.

But finally, this past weekend, it was ready.

I wanted not only to build a fun snow cabin/tunnel for him, but this time, make it so that he could slide down from his play structure and right into a tunnel.  After the snow itself was ready (ie packed high enough and of the proper consistency for digging tunnels through it) the task was complete, and we had a blast with it. 


Of course, Alexander insisted that we make a "bunny door" just big enough for Earl the rabbit to get through, and we've since also dug another secret entrance to the backyard snow structure that allows you to get into it from a passage under the climbing wall and the slide.  Earl got into the fun the other day and had a blast running in and out through the three different entrances he could fit through (unlike Alexander and I, Earl wasn't able to make it up the slide) -- he and Alexander played a game of "bunny follow the leader."

Of course, Alexander kept getting thwarted by the fact that he couldn't fit through the bunny tunnel.


Of course, we've begun packing the snow up high off to the East Wing of the structure so we can make a small room there. Maybe we'll put in a few bookshelves and a sunlight so we can sit in there and read.

We have big plans for enjoying winter while it's here.

Thus, this week's HNT picture is a shot I took of Alexander and I having fun playing in the snow in the back yard.

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