Snowshoeing 2009

I feel some sense of continuity at the moment with this blog thing because I posted about snowshoeing last year. Nice. Our experience this year was different in bad and good ways. The bad ways: Patrick and Xiao Yu weren't there. Even Miranda said, when we got out of the car, "This is the place we went last year! Remember Patrick carried me on his back?!" You were missed you guys! And Fernando was at work and couldn't go. Another major loss. And sometimes Miranda's face looked like this and she let her whole body go limp and said, "Carry me!!!"

But let's cut to the good. She was able to use snowshoes this year! And she did great! And even though we went right during naptime, as soon as I started singing "Into the Woods" and she decided to be Little Red, her listlessness evaporated and she sprung through the snow as fast as the rest of us.

Another bad I forgot about: Mom had to go slow because of her ankle-foot-thing-residue that she still deals with from her YW Corn Maze Activity gone wrong. Good: She didn't mind going slower with the kids :).

Katie was the most spry snowshoer, although she stopped to make a snowbeau for herself. Miranda liked him too. He was VERY cute, if a little "cold". Get it? Had to use the pun there. Forgive.

Sammy's got a great workout as you can see.

Pa is an excellent packhorse. Sam's hat is brought to you by Great Grandma Betty's mad knitting skills.

Do not eat snow or you will turn out like this!!!

Or this!

Sammy did not like being carried while everyone else was free to tromp about in the snow and scoop up snow to munch on whenever fancy struck. So we let him walk all the way back and he did great and loved it. He doesn't weigh enough to need the snowshoes. Not that I do.

It was a lovely outing and worth all the layers we all put on. I wish I were the sort of mom who just woke up in the morning every Tuesday, put her toddlers in the car and drove up Big Cottonwood Canyon, and Snowshoed for 2 hours without an entire team of support for my endeavor. As justification and a comfort to myself it probably wouldn't be safe for us to go up there alone. But still, it would be fun. Maybe when they're teenagers.