The Universe has a sense of humor...

Let's flash back a few months when my darling husband said "I think I got us order to Japan".  After my first response of stunned silence, Phil tried to ease my worries and fears and said "it will be great".  Hold on there Mister.  I will be the judge of that.  First things first.  "Where in Japan?"

I know you are all thinking "why does it matter?".  Well, it does.  To give you an idea, Japan is roughly the size of California, meaning it offers a range of different and volatile climates.  Knowing that there are several US bases in Japan, location (to me) is everything.  Had my brilliant husband said "Misawa" (in a northern prefecture) he knew my answer would have been "Sayonara.  Have a good time".  But like I just said, my husband is brilliant and he said Yokosuka.

As the planning for this massive move began, my first stop was Google where I promptly searched
"Average Climate for Yokosuka, Japan".

I was pleasantly surprised.  Average lows of 44 F in the winter and mid 80's F in the summer.  Comparable to the temperatures of South Carolina.  South Carolina is nice...I can do that.  So, when it came time to pack up our clothing, I diligently laid out jeans, long sleeve shirts, sweat shirts and fleeces for all the kids.  But hey, I am a good mom so I remembered to throw in some hats and Lila's new winter coat for good measure.

Fast forward to Monday, January 14th.  I send my motley crew of men folk out the door for school and work while planning to spend the day with Little Miss.  Having a perfectly good, nothing wrong in the world morning when...BAM!  The Universe lets out a mighty chuckle.

IT'S FLIPPING SNOWING!!!!

Are you kidding me?  Snow?  Not impressed.  We aren't supposed to get snow here.  Maybe it's just a passing snow shower.  No!  It's four dang inches of irritating white stuff dumped on my unprepared ass.    I haven't had to deal with snow in over three years.  And there is good reason for that.  I do NOT enjoy!  However, Little Miss is giddy with excitement.  She has never seen snow and wants to go out and play in the winter wonderland (read "wet nightmare").  But her eyes glisten with anticipation of snow angels and frolicking she's only seen on TV, so I bundle her up for her first snow adventure.

I do the best this unprepared Momma can do and I dress her up as warm as possible.  Remember, I am a good mom, so I did pack her winter coat.  Crap!  Shoes.  A quick checklist of what footwear I brought...crocs, sneakers and ballet flats.  None of which are adequate for playing in the snow.  Pleading little eyes look at me..."please, mommy.  I want to play in the snow".  Well, girl, it's gonna be a white trash play day.  Yep, I put bags on her feet!  Not just any bags.  Navy Lodge laundry bags secured with hair ties.  I knew I would be thankful for the Lodge one day.

The day continued and the white crap continued to fall.  It took 5 (!!!) hours for the boys to get home from 7 miles away, leaving this Momma a worried mess...without any wine in the house, nonetheless.  Everyone finally arrived home safely and I was able to let out a sigh of relief.  The boys were safe and had an unexpected snow day, Little Miss had her first taste of snow that she thoroughly relished , Phil was able to come home early, and I was relieved knowing this was rare weather occurrence and my unpreparedness left no lasting scars.

Until the next day when I had to scrape off the car windshield with a spatula.  True story.