This was the wacky week of two seasons: rain boots and sleds, mud and snow, lemonade and hot chocolate! No matter the weather, we always seem to find something to do. Though I was sad to see the warm weather go, the snow was beautiful! We decided to start our day with a winter nature hike. Donning our cold weather gear, we marched outside to see what we could see!
The first thing my oldest son noticed were pine boughs gently curved to the ground from the weight of the snow. He gave them an intentional whack with a stick and giggled at how they popped up from the ground like toast from a toaster!
As we continued to walk, I challenged the boys to find 5 interesting things. “What’s interesting mean?” my 4 year old asked.
“Interesting is when something catches your attention and you want to look at it a little longer.”
Ice formed on a wreath, snow melt that resembled a Valentine’s Day heart, a Black-capped Chickadee boldly singing his winter song, and a ragged Gypsy Moth Caterpillar nest frozen on a cherry tree—all interesting! To them, the most interesting thing of all was the stream, and they played “beaver dam” near it until we were good and cold and ready for hot chocolate!
annjay1 says
Hi Melissa, I loved reading this post. Your life looks a lot like ours, expect you capture it with much better pictures than the ones I take! 🙂 We’re in eastern Canada so our winters are similar to yours. We love getting outside and exploring the woods here. I agree with you that the simple things make childhood magical.
firefliesandmudpies says
Thank you for the compliment and for stopping by!
Linda says
Great idea to have the kids look for five interesting things – I think I’m going to try that with my kids! They need more distractions when it’s cold outside, especially my 3-year-old. Lovely photos as usual as well:0) Thanks for linking up to the #outdoorplayparty.