Valley Mama

Planting Seeds, Growing Green

Wow!  It's been a while since my last post...

Sometimes it's nice to step away from the computer, put the camera down and just live life's moments with a little more presence.  

And then there's the warming weather and coming spring, which call us out, out, outside, to play, swing, climb and explore.  

I cannot remember a February this warm since I've lived in the San Luis Valley. During the winter months I often get asked if I miss the garden; if I'm just waiting impatiently for the winter to be over so I can get back to growing food again. My answer often surprises people: not really. I adore summer and growing food for my family and my community. I love fall with it's garden bounty harvest and beauty. I relish winter for the rest and rejuvenation the season brings. And when spring comes, I embrace it with renewed enthusiasm for gardening and growing...but not until the time comes. No, I appreciate the snuggly, slow days of winter (even more now), and I'm in no hurry for them to be over...and then it happens. The light returns, days lengthen, we go outside without our warm winter layers, mud from melting snow oozes everywhere, and those first brave bits of green begin to peek out from sheltered places.  

This is the first awakening of spring (for me at least).  It's playful...reassuring. Our freezing valley nights will prevent gardening from beginning in earnest for another couple of months, cold snowy days will creep up sending us back inside, the restful time is not quite over, and we welcome the warmth and light back with excitement for what is to come.      

When February's warm spell first appeared, I thought, oh, this will pass soon, no reason to go getting spring fever.  And then it just got warmer, and though we still have our cold valley nights, the days this past month have been amazing. One day a couple of weeks ago I said, "that's it, I'm planting the greenhouse." I could no longer resist the temptation to get out and plant. Just like the warmth, the urge to "come out of my winter shell" came quicker this year, but I'm not fighting it.

So, I pulled on my rubber boots to wade through the mud, and the littles and I went outside to play in the garden. We did a little spring cleaning, and even a little planting.

And now, in these first days of March, we have little seedlings, emerging from the warm soil in the greenhouse.         

I have the two best helpers in the world. The garden calls to them as well, and has become the focus of much outside play and work (they're really the same thing, right?).  

The chickens are certainly glad that the snow has melted, and also spend much of their time in the garden, pecking through last year's stalks and seeds.

Given the coming warmth and awakening, it seemed like a good time to get outside with our friends for co-op day to plant some seeds and enjoy the sunshine. You can hardly keep these little ones inside these days anyway (not that we want to). Our inside time consisted of preparing a yummy snack of fruit and seed bars, a brief circle time with one of my favorite rhymes (below) and one of my favorite books, The Story of the Root Children.  

This rhyme is fun for the children to act out, starting as seeds tucked into bed and "sprouting" at the end.

"Sweet baby seed so small and round
Time to rest deep underground.
Under the earth you safely hide,
Stay there now, don't peak outside.
I've dug a wee hole and I've put you to sleep,
but soon your leaves will come up and your roots will grow deep!"

Then it was outside to play and plant. Soil was mixed, pots were filled, seeds planted.

I brought out some of the sunflower heads Melissa stashed in the greenhouse last fall and the children picked out the seeds. Oh, and this was after that moment when I was searching the box of seed packets for sunflower seeds until realization struck that we had all the sunflower seeds we could ever need just a few feet away, still on the last years heads... Winter does leave us a little hazy sometimes.  

And when you get tired of planting seeds, there's always pot stacking...

After a beautiful time outside we came back in to eat the snack we prepared together earlier and have our closing circle.  

Spring, I welcome you, whenever you come, in all your layered, trickster ways.

 

Nature Explorer's Club: Pike's Stockade

"The doctor and myself ascended a high hill, which lay south of our camp, from whence we had a view of all the prairie and rivers to the north of us; it was at the same time one of the most sublime and beautiful inland prospects ever presented to the eyes of man."  - Lt. Zebulon Pike (February, 1807)

These words are from the sign at Pike's Stockade, the beautiful location of our second Nature Explorer's Club outing.  They are taken from Pike's journal, and I imagine, had we climbed the mesa south of the Conejos River to take in the view of our valley home, we would have had to agree with him.  

We began our Nature Explorer's Club last month with a wonderful trip to Zapata Falls, an icy wonderland in the winter.  We had so much fun, and could not wait for our next trip.  The vision for our club is simple - to get out and explore nature as a group of families.  We meet once a month at different locations around the San Luis Valley to explore, hike, play and learn in this amazing place in which we live.  

For our February trip we decided to explore a little closer to home.  South from my house about fifteen miles, nestled against the mesas and the beautiful Conejos River is one our favorite local spots to play. While we primarily go for the nature aspect, it is a National Historical Landmark, marking the spot where Zebulon Pike raised the United States Flag on Spanish soil during the second expedition into the newly acquired Louisiana purchase territory in the earlier 1800's.  There is a reconstructed fort that was built based on Pike's journal entries.  They sat up camp here, built a fortress, and endured most of a brutal valley winter, completely unprepared for the cold.

Strangely enough, our valley February has been unusually mild and warm, and so most of us were not completely prepared for the chilly, windy walk to the site.  I know, we're Coloradoans...we should know better, right?  Despite the chilly wind from a front moving in over the mountains, we had a wonderful time.

Nestled among the cottonwoods and willow, along the beautiful Conejos River, with a view of Mount Blanca, Pike's Stockade is perfect for birdwatching, balancing on fallen trees, throwing sticks in the River, and exploring nature.  And that's exactly what we did!

Here is our group, heading down the dirt road between willows to get to the site.

With all our trips, even when a "destination" lies at the end of a trail, we enjoy the journey.

 There was running...

And birdwatching...

And lots of smiles, even though the valley wind was ripping hats from heads and hoods from coats.

Oh, and there was climbing.  Lots and lots of climbing...

This monument lies right beside the reconstructed fort and a natural spring.

We balanced on logs...

Sat on logs...

Climbed over logs...



And enjoyed the less windy conditions under the cottonwoods.

A small section of the area burned in a fire last spring, and many of the burned trees have been cut, leaving lots of stumps.  This provided the perfect opportunity for an impromptu lesson on tree rings by a new (to most of us) friend.  

 A magnifying glass from Mason's gear bag came in handy for counting the rings and learning how old some of these trees were.

 

Stumps are also great for standing on, of course.

 

And then there is the river.  Little ones are always drawn to the water, and what with the river and the frozen marshy spots, Pike's Stockade has a lot to offer.  

There was a little frozen (mostly) pool alongside the river, where the ice has frozen into these little needle-like formations.  We had a lot of fun investigating this pool...

Like this Mama and her kiddos are doing.

Beside the pool was a stand of willows, with new shoots growing out of the burned plants.  They made a great willow forest to walk through.

I love the color of the bare red willow against the blue valley sky.  It is one of those magical places that just calls you in to play, to walk through the sea of orange/red, to explore this little world, recovering from fire, sending forth new life into the world.  It's irresistible to little ones...and their grown-ups. 

Seriously.  This is where I live?  

Another mama with her little ones, enjoying a sweet moment in the sunshine.

And he's off...this one does not hold still for long.

The children discovered many interesting things while exploring the area, including these jawbones.  I'm a little bit in love with this photo...

I also love good informational signs with maps.  

On our walk back to the cars, a chilled out River gets all bundled up to brave the wind.  They are standing by one of the only remaining trees charred from the fire...

And oh does Mason get lucky...a piggyback from Renee!

How is he not asleep yet?

And if all of that was not enough, we pulled over to the side of the road on our way back to watch and welcome the return of the cranes to the valley.  

We had a wonderful (chilly, windy) visit to Pike's Stockade.  As we drive away from the cranes I am so thankful for this place, this community, these people, this landscape...and I wonder, what other valley treasures await our exploration this year?

Co-op Day: Winter Birds and Trees

We've been slowly getting back into our home school co-op rhythm this month.  Two weeks ago only a few people were able to come, and we mostly just built castles and drew pictures.  Not that there is anything wrong with that, of course.  Last week I was inspired to tell one of my favorite winter stories, and our other activities fell into place around the story.

The story that our day was based on is a folk story about why evergreen trees keep their leaves.  I use this version, with a few changes of my own.  The biggest change I make is to use trees from the valley, like aspen, cottonwood, willow, spruce, pine and juniper.  I just love this story, with it's theme of kindness and helping, and it sets the stage nicely for learning about how we can help take care of birds in the winter time.

Here is what we did last week:

As usual, more information on our Waldorf-inspired home-school co-op can be found here.

Arrival

As the children arrived we began to prepare our snack.  This week, since we were talking about birds in the winter, we made seeded foccacia bread.  Foccacia bread is so easy to make, and always a hit with the littles.  I just use my basic pizza dough recipe, and when the time comes the kids help spread the dough in the pans, "paint" it with olive oil and add seasonings, seeds, and any other toppings we're using that day.

As you can see, even our youngest littles can participate in this process!  Speaking of the youngest, River and Cohen (exactly one month apart) are so completely adorable together lately.  Here they are "helping" in the learning tower:

Seriously.  So.  Much.  Cuteness.

Circle Time

Once our bread was finished, when headed to the rug for circle time.  I could not find my circle time cards (I'm still not sure where they are), so we just did some of our usual circle time verses and sat down for a song and a story.

Last year I made some little finger puppets for The North Wind Doth Blow song, so I brought those out again.  There are several different verses added on to the original nursery rhyme, here are the ones we usually sing, adapted for our area (since robins fly away South where we live):

The north wind doth blow,
And we shall have snow,
And what will the sparrow do then,
Poor thing?

He’ll sit in the barn
And keep himself warm,
And hide his head under his wing,
Poor thing.

The north wind doth blow,
And we shall have snow,
And what shall the robin do then,
Poor thing?

Oh do you not know?
He left long ago,
For a country much warmer than ours,
Poor thing.

The north wind doth blow,
And we shall have snow.
And what will the door mouse do then,
Poor thing

Rolled up like a ball
In his nest snug and small,
He’ll sleep till the weather turns warm.
Poor thing.

The north wind doth blow,
And we shall have snow,
And what will the children do then,
Poor things? 

When lessons are done,
They’ll jump, skip and run,
And that’s how they’ll keep themselves warm,
Poor things.  Poor things.  Poor things. 

After the song, I told the story of the little bird and the evergreen trees, using the robin bird puppet, an evergreen bough, and a stick from our backyard as props.  We also talked about the differences between winter trees and summer trees.  Here is a photo of our little story teller with the puppets (of course).  Please ignore the dog hairs clinging to the felt...

Art Time

After the story the children found a place at the table to color/draw a picture of the story.  Their pages were filled with trees and birds...

Snack and Play time

The foccacia bread was a big hit.  I served it with little bowls of olive oil and spices and the littles ate it up. This is all that was left of two pans of foccacia bread:

Activity

While the children played after snack, we set up the day's activity - cardboard tube bird feeders!  

The children took a place at the table and each one got a couple of carboard toilet paper tubes.  We demonstrated how to spread peanut butter all over the tube and roll it around the birdseed, and then they got to it.  Both butter knives and hands were used to spread the peanut butter, and much licking of fingers ensued...

This craft is so easy and so fun!  You don't even need to attach a way to hang them, since you can simply slip them on a branch.  

Here is one of Mason's finished feeders on a branch on our tree...

We had a lovely morning talking about winter birds and winter trees!

 

Nature Explorer's Club: Zapata Falls

I have wanted to start a Nature Explorer's Club with our little ones and friends for a while now, and this past weekend we finally made it happen!  The vision for the club is simple - to get out and explore nature as a group of families.  We plan to meet once a month at different locations around the San Luis Valley, with plenty of time to explore, hike, play and learn in this amazing place in which we live.  It seems appropriate that our first hike together was in the first month of the new year...

For our January hike we decided to go up to Zapata Falls, near the Great Sand Dunes National Park.  It is a short, easy hike up to the falls, perfect for little legs.  Winter is an awesome time to visit Zapata Falls, as the waterfall is frozen into beautiful formations, with flowing water visible underneath the ice.  Getting back into the cave is quite easy as well, with a frozen creek to walk on.      

We met at the trail head, which is at the top of a snowy road that switchbacks up the mountain.  On hindsight, we probably should have met at the bottom and carpooled up to the top, as not everyone had a vehicle that could make it up the road...now we know for next time!

Our family arrived a little early, and so we pulled out the sled and took in the view.  The photo at the top of the post (taken by Aaron) is of the view from the trail head parking lot, looking out across the valley. Mason got a nice sled run going, and River enjoyed walking around in the snow.

Soon we were joined by the four other families and we headed up the trail.  

After a beautiful hike we made it to the creek and the falls.

It was so much fun to see the children as they excitedly began exploring this little frozen world.  They found holes in the ice and watched the water flowing beneath.  It's not often you get to "walk on water" on a frozen creek, and they loved it.  We began to carefully make our way on the slick ice up the creek to the little cave and the icy waterfall.

It was not long before the littles began attempting to climb to the base of the frozen waterfall, and parents assisted the children with climbing up and sliding down.  Upon approaching the cave, one little girl was not so sure about "going in the cave", but as soon as she saw the waterfall she said "It is magical!"

 After spending some time enjoying the frozen waterfall, we headed out of the cave to the giant ice flow slides.  At least, that's what they became...

 

Then we hiked back down the trail, examining tracks in the snow and looking at the view of the sand dunes and mountains.  When we arrived back at the trail head we managed to get everyone together for a group photo and then the littles were off to sled down the hill by the parking lot and climb trees.  

We all had so much fun.  The children did not want to leave their magical castle/home/hideout in the trees, but we eventually got everyone back in their respective vehicles for the ride home. 

It was a beautiful day for a hike, and a couple of the kids were already asking when the next one would be. There is something very fun about exploring nature with friends, and I can't wait to do it again.

On the ride back home Mason was drawing in his notebook and he said, "Ahhh...Zapata Falls was great!"  

I could not agree more.  

 

A New Year's Day Hike

Well hello there 2014.  I know we've only just met, but I can tell that we are going to be friends.  

We had a wonderful start to the new year today, full of blueberry pancakes (and a few special chocolate chip ones), solar robot building, doll-making, hiking, hot chocolate with friends, black-eyed peas (of course) and lots of time for play.  

When Aaron asked me if I wanted to go hiking with our friend Danny on Mosca Pass Trail again this year, I only thought about it a second before saying, yes!  This was our second annual New Year's Day Mosca Pass Hike (I'm hoping to continue the tradition forever), and I can really think of no better way to greet a new year.  Cold mountain air, warm sunshine, a beautiful trail, hiking with people I love, and a view across this amazing valley I call home...hello 2014.  

It was a beautiful day, perfect for a winter hike.  Mason was especially interested in spotting possible gnomes homes under roots and in hollow logs, taking pictures of interesting things, and stopping to rest on fun rocks (which he learned are quite hard to climb in snowshoes...). 

River took in the view from the backpack, and had a bit of a nap as well.  

Sometimes, especially in the winter, getting little ones suited up with necessary snacks, water and equipment seems like more trouble than it's worth, but I've learned that really, it's always worth it.  Getting out and exploring this beautiful place we live is always worth the work of getting us ready and out the door, worth the "my legs are tired" complaints on the way up the trail, even worth being taken out by a boy on a run-away sled going back down the trail.

And what is the only thing that can make a winter hike above the Sand Dunes even better?  Stopping for hot chocolate at Charlotte and Joseph's house on the way back and tiny capsules that turn into dinosaurs when you soak them in hot water.  Just ask Mason about those.    

Happy New Year's Day from our family, to yours!

Yule Elf Mission Fun - Part 1

I turned the computer off most of last week to focus on doll-making work, finishing up projects for our little people, and playing with those little people.  This, as I'm sure you can imagine, did not leave much time for blogging.  Blogging daily about our Yule Elf Missions, on top of actually doing them, became a little too much.  But what about the missions??  What happened with the Yule Elf?  I do know that some of you were enjoying following our Yule Elf story, and I don't want to leave you hanging, so, if you're wondering about how the rest of our Magical Advent season went, here comes an overview...in Two Parts!  

Yule Elf Mission #15: Sweet Treats

"The holidays bring many good things to eat -
Spread Christmas cheer with a special sweet treat!
Pie, cake, tart - which will you choose?
Give thanks for each ingredient you use."

 

We always have a great time with baking projects around here, and after hearing the Yule Elf card read Mason insisted that we needed to make an apple tart.  I agreed, and we decided to make a chocolate pie as well...just because.  It just so happened that we were going to a dessert and wine party that very night, so we were also able to share our yummy treats with friends!                                                                

 

Yule Elf Mission #16: Handmade Gifts

"Spend time working on a special gift
For someone you hold dear.
Use your hands and the love in your heart,
For Christmas time is near."

After reading this card, we sat down for breakfast and made a list of gifts we wanted to make.  Mason had already been working on several different things, but this gave us dedicated time to spend on them.  I love that Mason and River are growing up in a "handmade home".  When thinking of a gift for others, the first thought is always "what should we make?", instead of "what can we buy?"  

Mason knew that he wanted to make a ball for River (the girl loves balls), but he wasn't sure how.  We came up with a sewn ball make with felt and stuffed with wool...something he made almost entirely by himself.  He lost steam on this one a little, and he ended up making a football instead of a round ball, but she loved it just the same, and I know he was proud.  

 

Yule Elf Mission #17: Time Together

"With so much to keep us busy this time of year - 
Holiday parties and fun events with good cheer,
Take time today to rest and renew.
How about a game and hot cocoa for two?"

After some busy holiday days, a little downtime was needed...luckily that wise Yule Elf knew just what to do!  A game and cocoa with my boy was the perfect way to spend an afternoon (while River was napping). Mason chose a couple of his favorite games (The Kids of Carcassonne and Wildcraft) and we headed to the dining room.  I made the cocoa while he set up the first game, Wildcraft.  If you love plants, herbal healing and games (everybody loves these things, right?) you have to check out this game.  The behind this cooperative board game is that everyone has to make it to the huckleberry patch and back before sun down.  Along the way you gather plants and heal yourself as various troubles arise.  It's awesome.    

 

 

Yule Elf Mission #18: Winter Walk

"It's easy to stay inside when the weather is cold,
But a winter walk is nice with a hand to hold.
Bundle up the family and head outside,
Explore the season of stillness and quiet."

 

 It really is easy to stay inside on these super cold days of winter, but even a short time spent in that beautiful Valley sunshine and fresh air can bring a whole new level of awareness and shift of perspective to our days.  The little ones and I picked up Papa at the office and headed to one of our favorite it-town trails on the river.  It was a cold, lovely walk, and we had a great time.  I look at this photo and think, "is this really where I get to live? Where my children get to grow up?"

Feeling thankful, even for these cold days of winter.   

 

 

Yule Elf Mission #19: More Gift Making

Stitching, knitting, sanding baking - 
Time for little elves to get creating.
With the spirit of giving alive in your heart,
Make gifts with joy to brighten the dark.

 

I guess the Yule Elf thought we needed another day of dedicated gift making, and I had to agree with him. Mason spent some time in the day helping Aaron with River's Christmas gift (a Papa-built learning tower!) and then he spent much of the evening sanding some of our favorite branch blocks to gift to a special little boy.  I later discovered that he also worked on his gift for me...finishing up an embroidered sun he began in the fall.  I love seeing him work on projects like this...they are special gifts, indeed.

   

Up next, Part Two of our remaining days of Yule Elf Missions!

 Visit our Magical Advent post to learn more about what we did this year.

 

Yule Elf Mission #8: Tree

"When the days get short most green does flee,
But not so with an evergreen tree.
A reminder of the green that will return once more,
Choose a tree for your home to decorate and adorn."

"Mama!  You'll never beleive where the Yule Elf card is!  You've got to come see this," came Mason's excited voice from downstairs.  That silly elf had left the mission card hanging from the loft by a ribbon! Now how to get it down...

Once Mason sorted out how to reach the card (got it swinging then grabbed it from the couch), we read it to him.  Oh was he excited.  "Does this mean we can get our tree today, and decorate it?!  Oh boy, oh boy, we get to get our tree today!"  And so it went for the next few minutes.  

We set out in the afternoon on our tree finding adventure and headed towards the mountains.  We jumped out of the car in the frigid cold and began suiting up the kids.  As sometimes happens, I brought every article of snow gear the little ones might need and got them suited up, only to discover that I didn't really bring snow gear for myself...oh right, I need to be warm and dry too...

We started hiking up the trail, snow coming to our knees and higher in some places.  Next year we'll bring the snowshoes.  It was really cold when we started, and I wasn't sure if Mason and River were going to be able to handle it, but you know, they both did great.  River was on me, which made walking through snow difficult, but at least she was warm.  She was not so sure about this cold, windy outing, and spent much of the time nursing...

Warmed up from the exertion of walking through the snow, Mason had a blast.  He did request carries a couple of times, but pushed through and ended up carrying a big armload of boughs all the way back to the car.  We found a beautiful little tree growing in a big clump of trees and decided that was the one. Time to head back to the car to warm up, gathering boughs along the way.

 We brought our lovely tree back home and had a quick dinner.  Then it was time to decorate the tree!  Mason has been ready to bring out the boxes of ornaments and decorations from the closet for a while now, and was overjoyed that is was finally time.  He began looking through everything while Aaron and I got the tree all set up.  River quickly caught on to how much fun this was, and began dragging everything she could find all over the house.  Aaron put on the Beach Boys Christmas album, which was his families tradition growing up, and so has become ours, and the fun began!

 

River may have had more fun trying to climb the ladder than decorate the tree...

At one point, when we were almost finished with the tree, Mason said, "Mama, it's like the card said, sometimes it's for my own spirit to nourish."  It took me a minute, but then I realized he was remembering the line from the Yule Elf's first note, and he was recognizing that this act of bringing in a tree and decorating it as a family was nourishing to his spirit.  

 

One of my favorite parts of the evening was when Mason asked me to please not look at what he was doing, and went off to do something in secret.  This is what his came back with:

He said he made it for me to bring me love and joy all year round...not just at Christmas.  Oh this boy.

We sat around for a while with the lights out admiring the tree, then went up for storytime and sweet dreams, a beautiful end to another magical Advent day.

 

Visit our Magical Advent post to learn more about what we're doing this year.

 

 

 

Yule Elf Misson #4: Birds

"For the winter birds that remain when the cold wind blows,
It is hard to find food under a blanket of snow.
Fill up your bird feeders with plenty of seed,
To help our feathered friends find the food that they need."

The Yule Elf likes to leave Mason's mission notes in different places each night.  This morning Mason found the envelope in one of the plants in our loft bedroom!  "Mom, guess what I found in the plant!  The Yule Elf left the envelope in the plant!"...was what I woke up to this morning.

He let me wake up a little before asking me to read it, which was sweet of him.  After I read the card to him he excitedly told his Papa, "We have to feed the birds today!  I can do that!"

We decided that besides just filling up the bird feeders for the birds, we would make a few more as well.  What to make them out of...

How about pumpkins? 

Turns out, making bird feeders from pumpkins is a blast.  I highly recommend it!  We chose one with a sturdy stem to hollow out with a door and little window.  Another, smaller pumpkin we simply cut in half and hung up like bowls.  And we thought those pumpkin carving tools would sit in the drawer until next Halloween...  

After making the birdfeeders and filling them with seed, I hung them in the tree.  Luckily River was sleeping, or I'm not sure how I would have managed this.  Mason then used the ladder all by himself to fill up our other bird feeders.  He was so proud.

 

When I heard the wind howling outside in the early morning, I thought maybe the Yule Elf was a little crazy...this is not the weather for being on a ladder with birdseed.  However, it turned out to be a beautiful  afternoon, perfect for feeding the winter birds.  Perhaps we witnessed a little Advent Magic?  Only the Yule Elf knows...

Visit our Magical Advent post to learn more about what we're doing this year.

Yule Elf Mission #3: Nature Table

"The nature table honors the wheel of the year,
Let's celebrate that King Winter is here!"

"So we need to decorate our nature table for winter?"  Mason says after hearing the note.  

"Sounds like it to me," I say.  

This is the 3rd Yule Elf Mission Mason has received for Advent.  I think we're all a little smitten with the Yule Elf.  

Since this was our home school co-op day, we worked on today's project this afternoon.  We decided to put away the fall things that were still out around the house, and slowly work on bringing out winter decorations, starting with, of course, giving our nature table a makeover.  

I love our nature table.  It has had quite a few different locations over the years, and is now at home on the top shelf of a bookcase in the living room.  We change it with the seasons, and add to it over the course of a season, with items found in nature and little things we make just for it.  

Here is a photo I took before the fall table was put away:

The table needed some dusting, which both of my children are always eager to do...

And then we got to work on a winter scene.  We played around with some of our winter characters, wool for snow, and a blue play silk for a background.

Then we decided that we did not have enough "nature" items, so outside we went.  I had not been to the garden since the big snow, and it was lovely to take a walk out there in the late afternoon light.  A few stalks still stand here and there, so we gathered up a bouquet of dried plants and came back inside.

This is what our nature table looks like now, with our needle-felted King Winter and snowflake fairy (made two years ago), snow-child doll, wool snow, dried plants from the garden and paper snowflakes...

Welcome winter!

Snow Days

While the Valley Papa was away at a conference, I packed up the little people and we headed up to Grandma and Grandpa's house in Creede.  A winter wonderland awaited us up in the mountains.  The boy was delighted, and spent many hours in the snow.  

Our first day we went on a great adventure with Grandpa, which involved snow shoeing and animal track investigation.  We saw so many tracks, which we think included moose, mountain lion, bobcat, coyote, raccoon, deer, chipmunk, bobcat, and who knows what else.  We took photos of a few of them for identification later.  Then we made a quick stop at the sledding hill on the way back down the mountain for lunch.

Mason wasted no time in taking his sled up the hill and flying down...River even had a little sled ride of her own.

The next day it started snowing again, and didn't really stop for several days.  Mason spent a lot of time shoveling snow off the deck and helping bring in the firewood...

Exploring animal tracks in the snow was one of my favorite parts of the week.  I think we'll print out photos once we're home and help Mason to identify them.  Then we'll add them to his nature book.  Here are a few of them (click on the photo to see full size):

Now, if we can get my car out of the snow and up the driveway, we'll be home soon, full of fun stories for Papa.