Pomerleau Family Blog: Snowmageddon 2016

The week after Brandon's birthday and 1.5 weeks before winter break was to start, the forecasters started getting all hyped up about the weather changing a "huge storm" brewing to bring ice and snow to the Portland Metro area. The storm was to hit mid day on Thursday and in anticipation of the storm, the school ended up canceling school on Thursday for the day. There was no snow in sight mid morning so I decided to take the kids over to Brooke's house to play with Addie and Logan for a few hours before the storm hit. On our way over to Brooke's house at about 10:30, it finally began to snow lightly. We played inside for an hour and half and then went outside as the snow began to accumulate more. The kids enjoyed the snow but it wasn't deep enough really to sled in. We left and it was good we left when we did because freezing rain started just a few hours later. Sean left work at about 4:00 and we had a fun afternoon making gingerbread cookies together and listening to Christmas music. The next morning they ended up canceling school due to freezing rain although it was much better by the middle of the day and Brandon and I were able to drop Olivia off at daycare and go to the YMCA and I was able to get a work out done. After wards, I picked Logan up so Brandon would have a buddy to play with while I worked all afternoon. Then the next day the snow was gone and the city was back to normal!

Olivia and Brandon on the way to the Mowery house

Olivia and Addie playing in the newly accumulated snow

Olivia walking in the snow

Discovering snow it had been a while

Walking in Brooke's neighborhood

Brandon enjoying the snow

Walking down the street with Logan's neighbors

Having fun playing on the street

Olivia enjoying the snow

Our Winter wonderland home

Baking gingerbread cookies

Making the shapes

Olivia enjoying her cookie

Brandon decorating the gingerbread cookies

Brandon was my big helper with the cookies

The next snow event happened only 6 days later. They were calling for snow most of the day but thought it would happen later in the day and the kids might be able to make it home from school and not have another snow day. The snow started coming down around 12:30 PM when they predicated it and it was just lightly snowing. I thought we would have plenty of time to get stuff done so I ran into Costco and then to Winco to grab some stuff for our trip to Sun River. I left Winco at 1:45 PM and it was snowing harder. Never did I know though it would take me an hour to go 4 miles. I barely crawled along with terrible traffic going about 5 miles and almost got stuck on a couple hills going over the I-5 pass but finally made it up Bull Mountain Rd in my terrible Nissan work van that has tires the size of a sedan. I was about 1/3 of the way up Bull mountain rd when I started skidding and going backwards. I wasn't going to make it up the steepest incline of the hill in my work van. I need up calling Sean and then parking my work van on a residential side street where it was safe and Sean picked me up an hour later. We finally got home and I really had to go to the bathroom by then! Later on that night, Brandon and I had a blast going night sledding for an hour together before dinner. There still was not quite enough snow but we were still able to make it down some hills.

Night time view of our reindeer in the snow

Brandon next to the reindeer while we were night sledding

Night sledding in our neighborhood

Going up the hill

Brandon and I selfie so much fun!

The next day there was about an extra inch of snow added to the snow that was already there from the day before. It had pretty much stopped snowing but was very cold in the 20s. My mom had come the night before the storm hit luckily and was able to get Brandon from school during the whole snow fiasco when it first started so he didn't get trapped at school. She was able to help watch the kids while I worked a bit in the morning. Then we all headed outside and went sledding in the neighborhood and had a lot of fun. By the afternoon, the roads had been better plowed so my mom ventured back to Corvallis and made it home safely. She was worried about getting stuck here further. The next day we had to leave for Sun River so we were hoping the weather would improve! They canceled school again which meant we could leave earlier. It was much better conditions luckily and we made it to Sun River with no problem. It is pretty crazy to see how Portland can just shut down with such little snow. It really was a Snowmageddon and has prompted the city to consider using slat now on our roads when it storms.