Vacation On! and Snow Cream!

The next day, after being woken up waaaaaay too early in the morning by eager kids, we began our first day in Tahoe. There was plenty of snow, so finding enough for snowballs was not a difficult thing for the kids. After the kids ate, they quickly dressed for the outside. And suddenly, the cabin was quiet! The great outdoors?........not so much.

I stayed happily, and cozily, inside with my dear friend Rachel as we cleaned up the breakfast dishes and straightened up before the kids came back inside to tear it all apart again. Yes, it was official, we were on vacation!

the view from the living room

That first day was somewhat lazy, after a trip into town for lunch and supplies. The kids played countless games of hide-and-go-seek as the adults talked and played a few games around the fire.

The next day, Tuesday, was Caleb's birthday! He turned six this time. And it seemed that the day was celebrating him right along with us. The day before had been a beautiful snowy day with clouds and huge chunks of falling snow, but Tuesday dawned bright and clear and laden with at least a foot of fresh snow! And what else should one do (when celebrating their birthday) with tons of fresh snow????.....sledding! That's right! So sledding we went!

But first.....we had snow cream!

What's snow cream, you ask? Well, let me tell ya....it's wonderfully, delicious, icey mounds of goodness. What'd you expect?? Ok, fine, I'll indulge you with an explanation.

My friend Rachel, grew up in a place where it snowed a couple times a year and it was always a treat. She tells me that when it would snow, her mother would gather up the fresh snow and make snow cream. I vaguely remember Rachel tell me of this when I lived in Michigan. I think I half listened and blew it off because, at the time, I was sick of looking at the snow, which I had affectionately named white crap. (gasp! I know, sorry for such harsh language, but it's true, I was tired of the snow and the thought of eating it was just abhorrent to me - sorry Rachel!). If I had listened, I may have found a piece of enjoyment out of the stuff.

Here's a basic recipe, then I'll explain;

Mix together:
1 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
scant 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
large bowl of snow (about 3 quarts)

The only problem with this recipe, that we had, was that there wasn't any vanilla in the cabin. So we improvised and used the peppermint mocha creamer that was in the cabinet. Oh boy!!!!....I like to call this a happy accident! The snow cream was light and icy with a nice aftertaste of peppermint. It was fab-u-lous!!!! There aren't words to describe how absolutely wonderful it tasted. All I gotta say is......if you ever visit the snow, take some peppermint mocha creamer and make yourself some lovely snow cream!

Rachel made one batch late that morning and it was gobbled up in no time (by everyone!). Then I asked her to make some more after we got back from sledding. This was certainly an unexpected highlight for me on this trip. Oh to have one more serving!

Then, we went sledding........