Apparently any snow is good snow to kids who have never seen it before.

When I took my kids to see snow for the first time last month in California, they were so excited they started splatting each other with gray slushballs in the parking lot of a tubing park as soon as they jumped out of the car. It didn't occur to them we weren't at the snow yet.

Luckily, a patch of clean white snow was right around the corner and my kids eagerly crowded in with other snow-deprived children to pelt each other with snowballs, build and destroy tiny forts and test out all those snowy activities they remembered hearing about.

The snow was too old for snow angels and too sparse for snowmen, but that didn't matter. It was real, and as far as my kids were concerned, it was perfect.

When she's not being a journalist, Treena Shapiro is busy with her real job, raising a son and daughter. Check out her blog at www.HonoluluAdvertiser.com/Blogs.