The Rhoades family snow tube lasted only one day, but that was one more day than it was used last winter.
Tracie Rhoades explained that the snow tube was purchased in preparation for snowfall that never came in winter 2011-2012. That changed Sunday, when she and her children, along with Shane Wolfe and his children, all of Taylor, took to the hills at McDade Park as they, like many other area residents, enjoyed the first big snow of the 2012-2013 season.
"We didn't get to use it," Ms. Rhoades said with a laugh as she pointed to a discarded tube alongside the child-made trails. "They busted the first tube already."
The kids agreed emphatically that lots of snow was preferable to last winter's conditions. Matthew Rhoades, 9, pointed out that the only snowfall he saw last year was in October, which didn't allow him to partake in his favorite activity - sledding.
Kyrstine Wolfe, 11, agreed that she also enjoyed sledding. "Or doing this," she said, tossing a snowball at Matthew.
In the parking lot below the hill, Kristin Martelli of Scranton watched her two sons from her van.
"I have the flu, so I'm sitting here in the van with my coffee," she said, her eyes darting toward the hill.
She had already been at her post for an hour and said she planned on staying until her two boys wore themselves out.
"It's been a worldwide roller coaster," Gabriel Martelli, 11, said excitedly of his trips down the slippery hill on his backyard snowboard. "We're going down really fast."
His younger brother, Aiden, 8, had bumped his head on a recent run, but luckily, he had plenty of snow to help with the pain, Gabriel told his mom. He agreed that last winter paled in comparison to the adventures he'd had so far Sunday afternoon.
"There's lots of snow, and it's actually really fun," Gabriel said, grinning.
At Connell Park in South Scranton, Ryan Sarajian, 35, of Mount Pocono, was spending the afternoon with his four-legged "child," Laila, a boxer named after Laila Ali.
"She's 11 months old. This is the first big snow she's ever seen, and she's having a blast," he said, explaining that Laila spent the first half hour of their visit running laps around the dog park.
Mr. Sarajian said the dogs enjoyed the cold because they could run without getting too tired, like they do when it's hot outside. But he and the other owners who braved the wind to let their canines get their fill of the weather weren't as keen.
"They like the snow," he said of the dogs, smiling. "We don't."
Contact the writer: rbrown@timesshamrock.com, @rbrownTT on Twitter