Life in the Great Outdoors

It was so gorgeous out today. On the way home from my folks' house at 3:00, our van read 56 degrees! That would be 60 degrees warmer than it was when we woke up on Wednesday morning. We're definitely not complaining.

After such a cold winter, we're loving going outside, exploring the woods, and playing in the remainder of the snow. Isabelle & Henry love snowball fights. Today Isabelle told Mark, "I know, let's have a snowball fight!" Then she ran into the garage for her umbrella and held it up to protect herself.

But, that snow is slowly disappearing (I'm not wasting any tears about that!), and lots of it is draining through the creek bed on the side of our house. Mark had this ladder thing from a different project, so we put that across the stream as a "bridge". Isabelle is very proud that she can walk it by herself.

The water running in the creek.

Isabelle & Henry sitting on the "bridge."

We also had a bonfire to burn some of the down tree branches on the side of our lawn.

Lucy just got to hang out in the backpack.

The acreage behind our house was recently logged. You can't really tell from our house (thank goodness!) but they did leave behind a mess of treetops. Mark has been cleaning that up--we'll have lots of wood for bonfires this summer--and burning some of the treetops. The kids love to help stack the wood and play nearby with their trucks. Last Friday, we packed up a picnic supper and went out there to roast hotdogs & marshmallows. It was a huge hit, and the kids are really careful around the fire. Isabelle kept exclaiming, "Good thing we have the fire. It keeps us warm and helps us to see, but it sure is hot!"

Other favorite outdoor activities lately: riding the 4-wheeler, checking out the barren gardens, just tromping through the woods, and trying to find the perfect place for the playhouse that Mark is building.

One thing is for sure: we love Mother Nature and our own big backyard. How very blessed we are to live here. We'll just keep loving it--frigid temps and all. (Oh, how much easier that is to say when the themometer's reading above 50 degrees!)