For some, the summer months can’t come soon enough – but for this dad in Cincinnati, Ohio, snow days are an opportunity for brilliant fun with the family.
Gregg Eichhorn decided to build a giant snow fort for his 19-year-old daughter Zahara, with a door big enough to accommodate her wheelchair.
A friend of Gregg’s posted photos of the igloo to Reddit, and users of the website loved the home-made winter wonderland.
Gregg and his wife Katie have eight adopted children, with another adoption being finalised later in January. Two of their children, Zahara and 11-year-old Elijah, use wheelchairs.
Mr Eichhorn said: “This was the first snow fort she has ever been able to get in. When we started to build it, me and the other kids decided that it would be a good idea to make it handicapped-accessible so that my oldest son and she could roll in in their wheelchairs.
“Zahara is always very happy to receive pretty much any attention. She stays consistently happy and I thought that she and Elijah would enjoy the experience of getting an igloo like everyone else. In our family we like to include everyone in fun.
“We built a large igloo which creates a dome-like structure and can bear a lot of weight that transfers to the wall bases. Afterwards we built up the sides and made a top railing. Today we added a slide because the kids would have more fun.”
The post reached over 71,000 upvotes from Reddit users, and plenty of positive comments.
Mr Eichhorn said: “Our family is composed of 11 people. Myself, my wife Katie who is the best person I’ve ever met in my entire life, and nine children. Eight out of the nine of my children have medical and/or special needs.
“We are not angels sent from Heaven or the best people you will ever meet. We are average Americans who love our family dearly and believe that every child deserves a loving home, especially children with medical and special needs.
“I’m glad people have enjoyed a little bit of strange creativity. I also enjoyed building it [the fort] because I’m a big kid at heart.”
