Mrs. Lippincott, Mom and PTO Member- A Cold Day in January

It was a very cold, sunny Thursday afternoon. My two children were playing outside in the snow with the neighbors. I was warm inside watching from the window and getting started on dinner. I heard joyful laughing and shrieking as they sledded down the hill outside. For a while it was quiet. 

Suddenly, there were loud screams. I couldn’t make out what they were yelling.

These screams sounded different than the happy screams. 

Was someone hurt? 

Was there an argument?

I looked out the window and saw the two girls wrestling a white pom pom hat away from the playful dog across the street. The girls were ok (relief). 

I started putting on my coat and boots to go check on the two boys and they came running inside, still screaming and squealing. They were gasping to catch their breath. They are not hurt (relief again). The boys told me that they were playing in the woods across the street, and they stumbled upon a mama bear and two baby cubs! The girls came inside and now all four of them were excitedly trying to tell their version of the same story. 

The screams I heard were them yelling “bearrrrrr bearrrrrrrr bearrrrrrr”. They told me they slowly backed away, yelling “bear” until they were far enough away from the bears and then ran. They said the mama was staring at them and the babies ran up a tree. 

The brave one wanted to show me. We took a peek from a VERY VERY safe distance and we left the mama and cubs. We were very surprised to spot bears on this cold day in January. You never know what animals you will cross paths with in Simsbury. Nature is a beautiful thing.