Winter. I loathe it.

I used to love winter. I loved winter sports. I loved shoveling (to the point that I would shovel the neighbors' sidewalks when we lived in Erie just to be nice.) I loved being out in the chilly air. I loved winter. I didn't even mind driving on awful roads. It was just life in the snow belt. You either learned to love it or you were in misery for 4 months each year. So I loved it.

Then I had kids.

5 years ago, when I wanted to go outside (or in the car) during winter, I just threw on a coat & went. Now?

Multiply the following process by 4 (to include me):

Get up, wash, dress, eat breakfast.
Put on socks & boots.
Buckle into car seat.
Arrive at destination.
Stand out in the elements while I:

Put on coat.

Put on hat.

Put on mittens. (can't wear a heavy coat under car seat buckles...)

Hoist children from van because heavy, puffy coat renders their movements unproductive.

Drop something into dirty, nasty slush in parking lot.

Get salt/dirt all over my pants/coat trying to hold a child's hand with each hand all while wearing a baby.

Slosh through dirty slush into building while repeatedly telling children to hurry and they won't be cold once we get inside.

Remove coat, hat, mittens so as not to overheat and sweat while indoors.

Try not to lose any of the coats/hats/mittens while inside.

Repeat entire process to go home.

Clean salt & dirt from floor inside door repeatedly.

Hang coats/hats/mittens to dry so we can use them again in an hour.

See if cell phone I dropped in slush is still working. 

Etc. Etc. Etc.

And you don't just do that once a day, you have to do it lots of times. And day after day after day. It's exhausting.

Winter is just plain old crappy. 

I need some sun and warm to recharge my batteries.