Scenes From the Storm

Pure Heaven

While winter storm was pure magic for 14-year-old Stephen Larson and his friends.

Thanks to the ice, Stephen did not have to go to Lanier Middle School in Fairfax, which meant he didn't have to take a Spanish test and he had time to have eight slices of French toast, his all-time favorite meal, for breakfast. But the best part was the extra-slick sledding paths he and his friends carved into the snow on a hill at a Fairfax park.

"It's really good because of the ice on top," Stephen explained as he jumped on a purple sled. "You go really fast."

"Yay, no teachers, no school," Stephen yelled.

"No getting yelled at in the halls," a friend chimed in.

"Hot chocolate and movies, anything that doesn't involve work," said Alexander Le Floch, 10.

By early afternoon the boys estimated they had made about 50 or so runs down the hill, including a few near misses with trees. They pelted each other with snowballs and wrestled in the soggy snow.

"It's pretty much impossible to get tired of this," Alexander said.

--Maria Glod

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