Our first real Michigan snowfall

Avery and I were at my mom's house on Saturday with plans to stay til Sunday. Well, we heard a blizzard was going to be coming through within the next half day or so and after a frantic worried call from Greatgrandma we decided to leave early. So Sunday morning the kids and I were getting up and the power went off at around 7 am. Of course it was still dark out so I got Jamie up and we rounded up some candles, stoked the fire and sat and played Go Fish. After a couple hours we'd had breakfast and it was light out. The snow was coming down heavily, but it was soft and fluffy and it wasn't very cold out so we went out to play. We noticed the snow was really wet, which was excellent for making snowballs. I think Asher threw 800 at me and laughed harder and harder with every one. The first thing Jamie did was fire up our new four-wheeler with the plow on the front so he could clear the driveway. We only had three or four inches of snow but since it was so wet it was heavy and it was good he cleared it when he did. The kids rode on it and I shoveled the steps and walkways. We spent a couple hours out just playing in the snow, making snowmen and sledding. Then it was time to come in. The wind was picking up, the snowflakes were getting smaller and it was getting cold fast. We were all a little wet but the power hadn't come on yet so we had to stand in front of the fireplace (which doesn't kick out much heat without the fan!). We managed to warm up and eat cold pizza and played more cards. Jamie took the kids to the mall for a couple hours to play and I piddled around the house picking things up where I could. The day dragged on and the house got colder and colder, with no answer to when our power would come back on. Finally it started getting dark again and I didn't have much on hand for dinner that didn't require cooking. By that time we were all getting a little tired of playing cards and opted to go to a hotel after eating dinner. I hated spending the money on that, but we all got a good night's sleep and by the time we got home in the morning the power was on. It was sort of funny, because EVERYthing was on. apparently the kids had gone room by room to see if *that* light worked by turning it on, then left if on. This was a really good lesson for us. I think we'll start thinking seriously about purchasing a generator. We need to have lots more drinking water on hand as well as food that doesn't require heating. I've heard many people here say that they've lost power for days at a time, and I don't want to get stuck unprepared again. It wasn't an ideal day and it was tough for a while, but we all made some pretty good memories of our first snowfall in Michigan!