first snow/thoughts on coats

Well, after a beautiful indian summer in Bozeman, winter is finally here.  We had our first snow.  Not that much accumulated even though it snowed for a full day.   George wasted no time getting acclimated.  Eventually we'll need to figure out more... "fun for the whole family" activities - other than rolling around in it like a bank robber might roll in their newly acquired loot.  But in the mean time, this will have to do.  

With help from aunts, clearance sales, ebay and garage sales - getting the Pulsiphers outfitted for winter truly has been a team effort.  We came to Montana with hardly any winter wear.  Now, for the most part we feel ready for it.  It reminds me of when I was in 5th grade and we moved from southern California to Colorado.  The first time it snowed I wore a sweatshirt, a light polyester jacket I got from my participation in little league baseball, and shorts.  It was an early snow that year in Colorado, and it caught us all off guard.  I'm sure the teachers at school were seconds away from calling child protective services.

We quickly got winter coats by going to the great... Burlington Coat Factory.  Me and my brothers had so much fun going, running around in what seemed to be an enormous "factory" searching for the right coat.  We all got coats, but the experience was so fun, that every time we needed new coats we practically begged our parents to take us to the BCF.  Pretty funny.

That experience is starkly contrasted to another experiment... the time they took us to "Bearly Worn."  The title/pun was certainly lost on the 5th grade mind - all I could think of was that somehow the clothes in this store were related to bears.  Maybe the proceeds helped fund a bear preserve?  As I cautiously perused the wares, the wheels began to turn...

bears.

bearly.

barely.

barely worn

BARELY WORN! THESE WERE USED CLOTHES!

Confident I was the only one who had cracked this divinci code, and not wanting to start a food riot, I calmly approached my mom to tell her the bad news.

"Mom, these clothes are... USED!"  (It would be many years before I would come to appreciate the treasures that awaited me in the regions of "pre-owned" clothing.)  My mom still cracks up everytime we tell this story.  Needless to say, I did not consent to buy/wear anything from that store, but my parents got a real big laugh out of it.

So here we come, full circle.  George is outfitted in a mishmash of "bearly worn" goods.  Both Ashley and I found our coats on eBay.  Finding ourselves moderately unprepared for a winter in Montana - I hope there's a shining Burlington Coat Factory out there, or something like it, for George some day.