Mr. Frosty

You ever wonder why it seems that our family never goes outside and makes a snowman? If you look back on our pictures, we have only one or two of snowmen in our yard in the last 5 years. Why? Is it because we don't like doing fun activities with our kids?

Fact: Making a snowman in Michigan is more difficult than making a snowman in Washington.

I mean, come on, right?! This is MICHIGAN. The Great White North. The uninhabitable frozen tundra. Where some years we have snow on the ground from October till April.

You'd think making a snowman would be a piece of cake, right?

Wrong.


Here's how it goes in Washington:
1. Temperature drops.
2. Rain reluctantly turns to snowfall.
3. Snow falls overnight.
4. Kids run out into the snow in the morning as the falling snow begins to turn back to falling rain and make a quick snowman in five minutes flat by grabbing a big handful of snow, roll it around on the ground, where it picks up every single tiny bit of snow along the way and bits of grass and mud with it, repeat 3 times, call Daddy outside to stack the enormous, heavy snowballs on top of each other, throw on a couple of rocks, two twigs, and a carrot.

But snow in Michigan is different. It's DRY snow. Laugh all you want, but it's TRUE. Even when the snow here gets "packy" it's not really that packy. It's just sort of packy. When it's really cold, it's more like sand than snow and doesn't stick together at all.

How it goes in Michigan:
1. Temperature drops.
2. Temperature drops some more.
3. Snow falls for several days straight while a cold wind blows from the northwest.
4. Kids run around in the snow making a few dozen snow angels while Momma *tries* to make a snowball big enough to start rolling around on the ground.
5. Momma rolls teeny tiny snowball on the ground around the yard.
6. Momma rolls tiny snowball on the ground back and forth, back and forth, back and forth attempting to get it to pick up more snow and get big enough to actually make a snowman out of.
7. Momma rolls small snowball out of the yard, halfway across the field and back in an attempt to MAKE A SNOWBALL big enough to stick a few eyes on and call it good.
8. Momma rolls basketball sized snowball back to the yard and attempts to straighten out her poor back after 30 minutes of looking like a dork chasing a snowball around the yard.
9. Momma grabs a bunch of snow, forms a small, crooked snowball and slaps it on top of the other snowball for a head.
10. Son triumphantly decorates snowman with scarf, hat, eyes, and buttons while Momma hobbles back to the house with a red nose, frostbitten ear, and clutching her lower back.

But hey, we're in the early hours of a snowstorm that's supposed to dump 8-14 inches on us today, so at least Mr. Frosty will get a little taller all on his own!

Maybe next year I'll build a fake Frosty and just set him out in the yard when it starts snowing. Maybe I'll paint it white, stake it to the ground, and leave it there till July.

Sounds reasonable to me!