A winter hike

The boys and I went on a hike at one of our favorite spots today. The weather was very decent! Best it has been in a few weeks, temp-wise. It was about 35 degrees. We were curious to see what our favorite places looked like under the snow and ice. We also went to the bird blind at WWSP and saw lots of nuthatches, black capped chickadees, woodpeckers, and cardinals.

Holden is sitting on some drift wood which is buried in sand and snow!

Raccoon River at Walnut Woods. S.P.

After Walnut Woods we went to Brown's Woods for a quick peak.

The water fall is frozen

water fall area at Brown's Woods Forest Preserve

The creek bridge at Brown's Woods

I love the snow running up or resting on these fallen trees.

 It was a great hike! We also saw about 10 deer. As we pulled up to WWSP we saw about 5 deer and then we saw about 5 more when we left. It felt good to get out into the sun. We have been sledding a few times this winter, but the sun was not out. Holden went ice fishing last weekend with a friend and their grandpa at our lake. The friend's grandpa has a fishing tent and heater. They caught some catfish and the grandpa filleted the fish on his tailgate and let us fry it up for the boys. I don't think there is anything tastier than freshly caught fish!

I'm hoping this is the first winter I don't get the winter blues! Cliff and I started walking when the weather is decent enough out. Yay!


~Heather