Although the slopes at Van Dyck Park were filled on Friday, Feb. 28, with children racing on sleds, Fairfax resident Adrian Fremont has seen the park more crowded before. With two to four inches of fresh snow that fell last week in addition to the estimated two feet that fell on Presidents Day weekend, she and some other residents may have had their fill of the winter weather.
"I’m getting cabin fever. The novelty of the snow has worn off, I think. But it’s fun," Fremont said.
Children also seemed to be tiring of the snow days, but not fully.
"I don’t want to go into the summer too much," said Fremont’s daughter, Rachel Schagrin. Yet when asked if she missed school, Rachel abruptly replied, "No."
Parent Lisa Doyle stood nearby and watched her child sled down the hill. She shrugged her shoulders. Because the weather forecast predicted morning snow on Thursday, Fairfax County Public Schools had decided Wednesday evening to close in anticipation. Yet as Thursday arrived, no flakes came. They came on early Friday morning instead.
"I think they make the best decision they can make," Doyle said.
At Vienna’s Nottoway Park a few miles north, Oakton High School history teacher Catherine Browning was watching her son take on the slopes. She had given her class plenty of reading and Web research to do for the week, just in case.
"Like everybody, you just assume there’s going to be a snow day," Browning said.
— Joanna Franco