I am not from Minnesota. In fact, the thought of dressing your kids in snow pants and boots for school every day is so far from my childhood that the fact that people lived like this never crossed my mind. Not once. Not ever.

When I tell outsiders that we live in Minnesota. I usually get the response: "Why?" Followed by a discourse about how hard it must be to hole up inside 8 months of the year.

I am here to tell you that Minnesota Winters are the most glorious thing ever to a 6 and 4 year old. I asked Jackson and Bennett last week what their favorite season was. They both cheered out in agreement: "Winter!"

So I am here to tell you that we love Minnesota for the Winters, not in spite of it. I am also going to clarify why it is not borderline child abuse to move a child here.

1. Summer: Yes we all love summer. It is beautiful here. Everything is green. Everyone in the entire state is soaking up every last bit of sunshine: walking dogs, going for runs, gardening, biking, and I could write an entire post just on the water sports. Our city probably has 5 recreational lakes within a 15 minute drive. What better summer could a child ask for than playing in the sand on a beach at a minutes notice? We love Minnesota Summers.

2. Fall: Crisp fall nights and Autumn leaves aren't exactly how we do Fall in Minnesota. It's pretty much Winter already. But there is nothing as magical as that first snowfall. The kids build snowmen, dig holes with shovels, sled, and all kinds of normal snow activities. They stay outside until the sun goes down. And as a bonus I don't even have to bundle them up because they are already in their snow gear from school.

3. Winter: Just when most people are starting to get sick of the weather (January, February) my kids are bursting with excitement for one thing: the lakes and ponds to freeze. Then instead of getting sick of the snow, they get introduced to an entirely new activity: Ice skating heaven. And with a pond in our backyard, they ice skate all the time. And it's not just me. Many many homes have ponds in their yards. I love looking out the window to see the kids skating around, pushing each other on the sled, running and sliding, and even hitting a puck around with a hockey stick. They stay out way past dark, thanks to a good neighbor who turns on his flood lights so that they can stay out until the last possible second. I never imagined this kind of winter wonderland where my kids ice skate out back, but I LOVE it. Yes it gets cold. Sometimes too cold to go outside. But those days we start up the fireplace and watch our winter wonderland from inside. But then again, what is cold to regular people is not cold to Minnesotans. I just took the kids to the doctor last week in -8. And tons of people were out.


4. Spring: Oh Spring. Glorious Spring. I would venture to say that nobody appreciates Spring like a Minnesotan. I get a kind of euphoria when the ice gets slushy and the ducks come back. It's like the warmth goes straight to our soul. Everyone is chipper, sitting on porches, emerging like butterflies. I wish I could explain in more detail or with better words the feeling that Spring brings after a long Winter, but all I can come up with is joyous. Spring is joyous.

 So there you have it. This is a GREAT place to live, and especially raise a family. I probably didn't convince anyone the joys of long winters, but I at least achieved some kind of satisfaction by writing this. And if a girl who spent her entire childhood in California can make a case for Minnesota, there's hope for everyone.