Snow, snow and more snow

 This winter has been so much fun with how much snow fall we've had. I hate winter, but I love snow. I think we had three storms before January ever hit. Last week we had about 13in. of snow. It was a Tuesday; Lilia got out at noon and there was no school the next day. So we went sledding at Clark Park. It was a lot of fun! We've lived here for 4 years and this was the first time we did it. The kids stayed for about an hour. They had the best time!

 This family came over to where we were sledding and they had a real toboggan. He said he bought on Amazon, but it was hand made in Colorado. He let us go for a ride down the hill. It was very cool. We went slow, but it went far.

Nature in Winter

I went walking yesterday at the Wissahickon. It's my absolute favorite place. I crave nature and this place is only 20-25 minutes from our house, from West Philly. I love it!
Yesterday was incredible! As all these runners would pass by me here and there I realized I could never be a runner. First of all I hate running, but second I would stop every 20 feet to admire nature around me, and take pictures.
The river was flowing but there were icy spots along the banks. The picture above (the first one) was actually where the river completely stopped flowing and just froze until it rounded the corner 1/4 mile away and wound along Lincoln Drive.
I had fun throwing rocks onto the ice to see if I could break it. First of all, most of the fist sized rocks were frozen to the ground. When I could break one away and throw it onto the ice, the rock only bounced away. I know I'm not very strong, but I think the ice was also sorta thick.
It was a perfect morning of getting outside and enjoying the incredible beauty that God creates in the winter!

Horses and Hikes

My brother got Lilia her very own horse brush for Christmas. She brought it to Tony and Patti's house on Saturday. Crem was nuzzling up to Lilia (right).
Promise (below) let her get close with the brush a few times, but quickly walked away.

 Tony and Patti's home sits on 23 acres of land. Twice a day Tony walks their three dogs on the property. We joined him for an afternoon hike. The dogs stayed really close to the kids, protecting them.
As soon as Alex finished running across this plank bridge (below) he went splat right into the mud. He tripped a fell and his knees and hands were covered. Thankfully Dave is a planner and keeps extra clothes in the trunk for such occasions.The day was saved!