MARK MY WORD: FAMILY DIGS OUT DRIVEWAY ON LIFE'S SLIPPERY SLOPE

"SNOW DAY!"

Becca screamed those words with sheer joy. And why not? Mother Nature was giving our 8-year-old an early Christmas present, a day off from school.

Our youngest daughter, 5-year-old Bailey, liked it too. After all, it meant a day camped out at home.

Such was the great joy of our children and countless others in the area when the winter storm hit Wednesday.

For me, it was just another day at the office. When you're a reporter, you have to trudge through all that snow just so you can report that it was too bad for other people to get to work.

Although the snowfall was small by Frozen North standards, Bailey still couldn't wait to rush outside and make snow angels.

Bailey, who is clearly Nature's child, loves the outdoors even in the dead of winter. She communes with snowflakes. She also likes swimming suits and probably would have worn one outside if only her parents would have let her.

To kids, snow is fun. They view it as something they can mold into snowballs and snowmen.

Of course, the trouble with last week's snow was the accompanying sleet and ice. This was not the snow that sculptors of snowmen desire.

This was more like the Ice Man Cometh. The snow was just for show.

One look at our driveway and you could tell we were stuck with an icecap. Our driveway looked like a mountain slope for much of last week.

While other neighbors got out and shoveled, we watched the snow and ice build up on the driveway. Joni and I both had to work, leaving little time to attack our slippery slope.

Penguins and polar bears would have loved our driveway.

For us, it was a different story. Getting up and down it was a major chore, even in our van. Coming home from work, we would build up speed on our paved street so we could make the mad dash up the driveway and safely into our garage.

Personally, I liked the challenge. Still, getting in and out wasn't a breeze, particularly since we had to maneuver around large mounds of snow at the entrance to our driveway.

They reminded me of England's Stonehenge. I called them Snowhenge.

I watched one evening as a city worker plowed down our street, sending snow flying. He rounded the curve by our house and roared on down the street, leaving a monument of snow blocking part of our driveway.

I returned home the next day to find another snow pillar even more squarely blocking the entrance to the driveway.

Of course, I had to admit, the city did a great job of getting the snow off our street. I just wish it hadn't ended up all in our driveway.

By Saturday, we were down to a single Snowhenge. I marched outside with a shovel; all the while thinking what I really needed was some dynamite.

But after countless body blows with the shovel, I managed to kill the snow creature.

Joni arrived home a short time later. Being a determined wife, she immediately suggested that we go back outside and attack the driveway.

I argued for just throwing some Ice Melt on the ground, but Joni said that wasn't good enough.

"Couldn't we let Mother Nature take its course?" I asked, reasoning that above-freezing temperatures would eventually carry the day and, along with it, all that ice and snow.

Joni wasn't buying the Mother Nature theory, particularly since the forecast suggested more snow and ice could be on the way.

So, arming ourselves with shovels and an old rake, we marched outside and started digging out our driveway.

As it turned out, there was little snow to shovel, but plenty of ice. We pounded and pounded at the frozen lake that our driveway had become. We chipped away at it a little at a time. Every now and then, we managed to break off big chunks of ice.

It was thrilling, like watching glaciers melt. OK, it wasn't thrilling; it was hard work. Our children even joined in the task before retreating to a more leisurely indoor life.

By afternoon, we had managed to clear a path down the entire length of the driveway. We scattered Ice Melt all over the driveway in an effort to ward off a future penguin runway.

Victory was ours. We had our driveway back. We couldn't ask for anything more except perhaps some global warming.