A Walk in the Woods

OK, so I won't say I didn't enjoy being outside on such a beautiful day, but man, oh man, on the other hand, the warmth today was a tad depressing. I felt like I could see the snow melting away before my very eyes. Today was a Sam and Mama day, so no running for me, but we did take two walks. We headed over to Pineland this morning for their Monday Story Hour, and then took a short walk around the grounds, stomping through puddles and walking in the snow, basically getting soaked while wearing total inappropriate footwear :-) After lunch, I got Sam dressed in her snowpants and boots, with a hat and mittens but no jacket - it was 50+ degrees after all! - and we drove over to Highland Green for a walk down to the river.

Sam stomped in the mush, stopped to make snowballs and eat snow, we looked at animal prints along the way, enjoyed being out in the sunshine without jackets, walked to the river to watch the water roar by, and in general, took advantage of a beautiful spring-like January day. Sam did really well - although we only walked 3/4 of a mile, we were out for about an hour and 15 minutes, dawdling, exploring and just being out in the woods. The perfect kind of walk with a little one!

Out enjoying the sunshine!

Pondering the rushing water, rising steam and ice along the river

Out walking

Snack break! She was getting quite tired on the way back and kept just plopping down in the snow saying she needed a break. Ha :-)

Late afternoon light as we head back up towards the Ecology Center. She insisted I find her a stick for the final stretch to help her along.