Snowshoeing

Nighttime snowshoeing right out our front door.
For living in a city (a BIG city, says this small town girl) we sure do live in an ideal location, right on the creek with a wooded area straight across the creek from us. Perfect for trying out new snowshoes!
It was an exploration in Antarctica. We saw tons of penguins and had to map out unexplored terrain. Or at least that is what Adventuring Anna was doing. I asked Ruthie if she saw the penguins and she said "Where? I don't see any penguins, Mommy. I just see a log." The three year old realist. Josie and Mitch were our cartographers. I was Cook Kate in charge of provisions. Trekking into the moonlight:
Ruthie did plenty of this:

See! I really was on this expedition! There's proof in the pictures.

Our next exploration was in the daylight. I brought the backpack to put Ruthie in if she got tired, but this intrepid explorer made it the whole way (with the help of some M & M's that I used to bribe her). She had to hold my hand the whole way or else her snowshoes would trip her up, but she did it all on her own.

Down the trail they go! We were looking for a Mama Moose and her calf. A snowshoer coming towards us told us it had been sighted up ahead of us, but by the time we got there it was gone. We just saw the tracks.

The lunch spot.

It was a bit of a winter wonderland listening to the sounds of nature around us, the wind in the trees, the few birds, the water of the creek rushing along below the ice as we trekked along at our slow pace taking it all in and enjoying each other's company.