We had quite the cold spell in mid-February. I could hardly believe it when I saw a high of 11 degrees. Um...excuse me Mother Nature...I live in Dallas...this is not the weather we signed up for when we moved. As you read you'll see what started out as a fun day off school became a lot less fun as the days continued.
The boys even missed some school due to icy road conditions. I was grateful school cancelled because on one of the local highways there was a 133 car pile-up. It was awful!!!
All the plants froze and looked beautiful!
The boys did a great job of creative play during the extra time home. They created a Lego war in the family room and built a fort in the game room. I love listening to them play together (when they're getting along).
I loved seeing them reading in their fort. They all finished a book or two over the extra days off.
We played lots and lots of games as family!
The first day of snow and ice we had blast. We went to the park and found on icy, downhill road that was perfect for "sledding." We probably played on that stretch of road for 45 minutes. We all took turns sledding, skim-boarding, and belly sliding.
How hott is my hubby in his winter gear?!
For some reason the silly boys finished the fun by rolling own the road. I don't get it but they had fun.
This is our house before sunset on Sunday.
This is what we woke up to on Monday morning. Tons of snow, low temperatures, and the less fun part began...no power!
We bundled up in our winter gear and had fun playing in the snow at our house. It felt like we lived in Utah instead of Texas. It really was surreal.
The boys made snow angels, snowballs, and gave their best attempt at a snowman.
Since was had no power the pool pump couldn't run and the pool and spa froze over. The spa ended up with about four inches of ice and the pool had more like two or three inches. Luckily our pool guy advised up to drain all of our pipes and we were able to keep our pipes from bursting.
The entire Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex was having rolling blackouts. However we seemed to be in the small number of people with no power at all. We put the food in coolers and the freezer items outside. We let water drip out of our faucets to prevent the lines from freezing and tried our best to stay warm.
We were grateful for the fireplace and a generator so we could at least have one light. The boys slept by the fireplace. Chad and I slept in our bed with extra blankets but we took turns waking up every hour to put wood on the fire so the boys would be warm. The boys slept great. We were exhausted!
When we woke up the next day we still had no power and the house was 45 degrees. On top of that the water lines were freezing. It was a cluster. We went to a friend's house for a much needed warm shower and to get ready.
After about 30 hours without power, it finally turned on. I was frantically trying to used the short spurts of power to be as productive as possible. As I was tidying I went in my closet at the perfect time. Our water line to the master shower must've just burst because there was a tiny bit of water leaking onto the floor. I was able to call my dad and he immediately ran out and shut the main water valve off. In just that short amount of time my closet had an inch of water and the bathroom floor was covered. You have got to be freaking kidding me!!!!
We prayed the burst pipe was on the back shower wall so we could just cut a hole in the sheetrock. After cutting a small piece of the wall they were able to determine the burst pipe was not on that wall.
Then Chad had to hammer and saw out our brand new shower tile. It made me want to cry so I just walked in the other room and let him do his thing. He found the leak and our contractor said hopefully it wouldn't take us too long to get on his schedule!
In the meantime we had no water. So to summarize we finally have power for short periods of time and now we have no water. Great. In order to be able to flush the toilets, Chad hammered the ice that had frozen on top of the pool. Then he used buckets to fill up the bathtub with pool water. As we flushed we would use the bucket to fill up the toilet tank. So, so glamorous.
In the midst of this, Chad and I were both unable to work which added another layer of stress.
Grandpa gave us all some much needed fun. He pulled the boys on their sleds behind the Razor. They had a blast and didn't mind the cold on their cheeks one bit.
One evening Chad and I were cooking dinner while the power was on. We thought we had enough time but the power went off. We quickly improvised by setting up the propane cooker we use for camping and finished cooking on the patio.
There have been quite a few dogs drowning in pools. We have been super careful to watch ours closely because their new favorite thing is to eat ice on the frozen pool.
Finally the sun was out and the snow started melting. Just when it seemed like we could exhale we busted a sprinkler pipe. It took us a bit to notice because the yard was already wet from the melting snow. Eventually Chad realized it seemed like too much water and found the water spewing out of the pipes. We were without water again until Chad could get it fixed. He was able to get it fixed enough to turn the water back on but we still have work to do on the valve. Plus I'm not excited to see the water bill...
A friend posted this and I feel like it summed up the situation fairly accurately:
"Texas is a vast wasteland of white. There are no plows, no salt trucks, and a sheet of ice two inches thick on the roads. Rolling blackouts for days and many without hot water (some with no water at all). Temps inside are old and candles make you feel like a pioneer. No netflix or internet has been an adjustment for sure. You hold your breath and kind of wait for another problem to arise. Many schools, churches, homes have flooded. Millions on boil mandates. Flooring has been ripped out and put on the front porches or driveways around the neighborhood. What they call winter everywhere else has been Snowpocalypse 2021 in Texas. And it freaking sucks."
To say we were thrilled when higher temperatures were finally back is in understatement. This weather is for the birds and we will never, ever live in a place where it regularly snows and/or freezes.
