WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-Vermont Kids Get A Final Snowy Play Day

Vermont Kids Get A Final Snowy Play Day

Shelburne, Vermont - January 1, 2008

It seems this Baby New Year is getting overshadowed by Old Man Winter.

Vermont is already off to a snowy start, with as much as a foot forecast in some parts of the state.

The holiday meant there wasn't a lot of traffic on the roads to contend with the snow. But there was some traffic -- on the sledding hills.

"I'm going sledding!," screamed 5-year-old Jasmine Bombard, who was racing her father down a hill in Shelburne.

"She's been itching to go sledding all day," Charlie Bombard said. And they had plenty of company.

As in other snowstorms, we saw traffic jams and collisions -- but the drivers were on sleds, not in cars.

"We usually fall at the end," 8-year-old Jaime Vachon said.

"Which is really fun," added her friend, 9-year-old Abigail Weimer.

Call it a last hurrah: The first day of the new year was the last day of school vacation.

"I don't really want to go back to school, but I have to," 7-year-old Natalie Senior said.

With learning on hold, kids could teach each other strategies for getting to the bottom the fastest.

"Put your arms out and just kind of crawl so you go fast," Jackson Konowitz suggested.

Nine-year-old Ryan Senior demonstrated his strategy: "I like to jump off my sled and lie in the snow and get to roll around in it. It's fun."

Ryan's mother said sledding with her kids was a fun way to spend the last day of vacation. "School's starting tomorrow and they're going to be gone, so we have to enjoy it while we can," Deidre Senior said.

From sledding to cross-country skiing and snow-shoeing, people found ways to burn off those holiday calories.

"Absolutely!" Tawnya Pell said, as she snow-shoed across Shelburne Farms with her kids and a another family. "It's the alternative to being on the couch eating who knows what."

"It's a little hard to get through the fluffy parts," 9-year-old Darcy Lavoie said. But her family had fun anyway.

"We've been loving it. It's why we live in Vermont, so we can enjoy the winter," Sarah Lavoie said. "We've had a lot of winter to enjoy and it's only just begun."

Forecasters were predicting four to ten inches across Vermont, but with this being a holiday, the snow was something to be enjoyed.

Wednesday, though, it's back to reality -- when the commute won't be in a horse-drawn sleigh. And Jasmine Bombard won't get to race her dad down the hill.

"I'm going back to school tomorrow," the kindergartner pouted.

Kate Duffy - WCAX News