9:00 A.M. Now, pull on a second pair of socks and head outside for a Snow Harvesting Expedition.
Your quest: find the cleanest freshly fallen snow. A prize of some sort is in order for the fearless adventurer who stakes out the richest snowfield.
Hint:
Go for the snow under the topmost layer; it's bound to be cleanest.Once you've found pure powder, fill two mixing bowls with it and put the bowls in your freezer
Then, using empty egg cartons as storage containers, make an arsenal of miniature snowballs. Store these in the freezer, too.
10:45 A.M. Igloos require adult supervision, plus a diligent team of architect-builders, packing snow in large containers and upending their contents.
Build a thick base, leaving a gap for the door. Add each successive row along the inside rim of the row beneath it so the walls appear to lean in.
Continue until the tops of the rows touch.
Alternatively, you can make an igloo of successively smaller snowballs (with the bottom ones at least 2 feet high), like a circle of snowmen leaning on each other. Spritz the finished igloo with water, which will freeze to make a shiny exterior.
11:45 A.M. When you're back inside and thawed out, take the two bowls of snow from the freezer and wet one of them thoroughly.
Add food coloring to the wet snow, stir, and return it to the freezer for sculpturing later. Then transform the "dry" bowl into Snow Ice Cream.
1:00 P.M. Follow your cold dessert with a hot lunch of towering Mount Everest Sandwiches and the soup of your choice.
2:00 P.M. It's show time! Have each family member put together an Endless Summer costume for himself. Then, collaborate on a script about what makes summer so spectacular.
Your script should be camera-friendly if you own a video camera. If you use your tape player to record it, make it a radio play.
These video or audio recordings can be trotted out next summer to remind you that humidity is fun.
3:00 P.M. Take the wet snow out of the freezer and dump it on a tray. The snow and water will have frozen almost solid, but you should be able to chip off pieces with a spoon. If it's too hard, wait five minutes.
Dig right in and create an ice sculpture--perhaps a dog or a meatball still life. Keep your masterpiece in the freezer until dessert time when you will serve--what else?--Baked Alaska.
Shannon Summers, a freelance writer in San Francisco, misses the snow.
