Gulf Coast Family's primary purpose is to encourage families along the Gulf Coast by providing worthwhile information that deals with family life right here in the Tampa Bay area.
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Parent to ParentAfter spending exactly one afternoon playing in the cold at ICE! this month, my kids think that the cold weather thing is a cinch, and I must be a complete wimp for telling them that living in a state where cold weather is the norm isn’t as much fun as they think it would be. After all, they survived the 9 degree temperature just fine, and they had a great time doing it.
But since all my kids have lived in Florida for their entire lives, they think living in a snowy climate would be great fun – they could go sledding and build snowmen and drink a lot more hot chocolate. But what they don’t realize is that, unlike ICE! where you go in for a little while and then come right back out into the warm lobby and return the winter parka, winter in the North lasts a really long time and gets pretty miserable. After all, it isn’t cold and snowy only when you are going outside to play. It’s also cold and snowy when you go to school, when you go to the store, and when you have to take the dog for a walk. Your face and hands will get windburned and chapped regularly, and your mittens, scarves and boots won’t dry out until sometime in April.
Don’t get me wrong. I like Michigan a lot. I still cheer for all of my sports teams there (go Red Wings!), and I enjoy going back to visit, especially during the summer and fall. But I have no desire to live there, especially with four kids who would need to be bundled up every time we needed to go somewhere – after all, it takes us long enough to get out of the house as it is!
Until next time, Jennifer Gulf Coast Family Publications - Encouraging families along the Gulf Coast in Pinellas County |
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Ever since I moved to Florida, many years ago, I’ve always told the people who ask me if I miss cold weather and snow that I do miss it – for exactly two days each year: Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. And during the years I go back to Michigan for Christmas, I don’t even have to miss it at all!
So it’s always around this time of year that I am reminded of how thankful I am that I live in the great state of Florida, where it snows approximately once every twenty years. And the snow melts as soon as it touches the ground. And thanks to Gaylord Palms and ICE!, we can still get a taste of the cold right here in the Sunshine State without ever having to worry about whether the salt trucks have cleared the roads or whether our car door will be frozen shut when it’s time to go home.
