A group of kids in Arlington’s Woodmont neighborhood seized an opportunity during the recent snow days to build a heavy-duty fort made from “snowcrete.”
During their days off from school the week of Jan. 25, brothers Kaleb and Logan Sundsmo, 14 and 12, and neighbor twin sisters Zara and Carys Murphy, 13, teamed up to build a structure from icy snow and Amazon boxes.
“They have always loved building forts with whatever materials they have,” parent Aaron Sundsmo told ARLnow. “They usually build forts in the basement or in the woods with branches. When they saw the ice break into blocks, it looked perfect for building an igloo.”
The Dorothy Hamm Middle School students spent about three to five hours each day they were off of school to prepare the snow fort, according to Sundsmo. They had help from other neighbor kids — Greyson Paleaz, Micah Utz and Ben Hutton and sibling Jade Murphy.
Each kid took a different job to streamline the process.
“The icy conditions actually made it perfect for building, so they felt pretty lucky,” Sundsmo said.
All four are neighbors who had grown up together when their families worked for USAID. The four kids most recently lived near each other in Zimbabwe and were reunited as neighbors in Arlington when the Murphys returned from Tanzania as USAID was shut down.
Now that the kids are back in school, the snow fort serves as a hangout spot after school. String lights hung across the fort make it usable at night, too.
The kids plan to use it for a sleepover when the weather gets warmer.
Depending on the snow melting conditions, the kids hope their snowcrete creation will last until March or April.
