Lucas Camilo

It’s been quite a snowy week in Seattle. Even the New York Times had an article about our snow accumulation + freezing temperatures which are quite rare for our city.

On one hand it’s been fun to get out with the kids and explore the snow. On the other hand, multiple days of cancelled and delayed school means LOTS of family time around the house, and the nasty road conditions mean we’ve had a lot less help from nurses for Lucas and babysitters for Ida.

Of course, everyone else in and around Seattle is going through the same thing so I don’t mean to complain. Rather, I’m here to celebrate the good times and the fact that we’ve managed to get out with Lucas in his wheelchair every day since the snow started more than a week ago. Sometimes we only make it down to the bottom of the ramp and then sit there for a while watching it come down… but usually we walk for a block or two or even to the nearby park. We built a snowperson, tossed snowballs in the air for jumping dogs, made music videos of Lucas going down a snowy ramp, and got Ida on the hill for her first ever sledding runs. (Check out some pictures and videos below.)

And now we’re ready for it to be over! Back inside it gets tough to keep our kids busy. If only they could agree on some movies then we could just sit back and binge-watch Disney on Netflix. But no, they’ll rarely watch more than 20 minutes of the same thing together.

We have been playing lots of card games which everyone can get into. And listening to Lucas’s favorite rock music. And I’ve managed to get some work done through it all, and I think Krista has too. Best of all, we haven’t lost power which of course Lucas needs for his ventilator and suction machine. We do have lots of extra batteries and a generator just in case… but the thought of no heat sounds pretty brutal.

Someday we’ll look back on this time fondly, especially if we just check out the pictures which make it look like it was all fun and games.