When it comes to school closings due to inclement weather conditions it's usually because the weatherman has called for snow, sleet or hail. Usually. A school in Washington turned the tables on its students on Friday, excusing them from classes for the first ever "Sun Day."

Students and staff at Bellingham Christian School (BCS), a non-denominational Christian school serving Pre-School through 8th grade children a few hours north of Seattle, don't generally get to enjoy the sunny skies and warm weather typical of other areas in the country like southern California. But today was an idyllic Spring day with blues skies and temperatures in the mid-70s and the school's principal, Bob Sampson, thought the beautiful weather was cause for celebration.

"SCHOOL CANCELLED DUE TO GREAT WEATHER! WAHOO!" read a message posted on the school's Web site. "Yeah! It's a Sun Day today and everyone gets the day off from school. Thank you teachers and students for working so hard. Enjoy your day and send me your creative pictures of you playing outside in the sunshine. We will share them at our Monday assembly."

The 205 students enrolled at BCS did not get to take advantage of any of its earmarked snow days during the decidedly mild winter this year. So after conferring with parents and the school board Sampson decided to cancel classes in order to offer up a "Sun Day" instead.

"Kids just love the anticipation of sitting around to see if school is cancelled when it snows," Sampson told the Associated Press in an interview. "You know, we haven't had any snow days, so I thought 'How fun would it be to create that anticipation for kids when it's nice out?'"

The day off from school was originally scheduled for Thursday but the weather was cloudy so "Sun Day" was switched to Friday, giving students and staff an impromptu three-day weekend.