Spring in January

What a delight to have sun shining brightly, snow melting quickly, and everyone enjoying beautiful spring weather in January - at least until the next snowstorm. The children were excited to finish their schoolwork and go outside and play.

We couldn’t resist a good hike up the mountain while Mom relaxed at home. The baby is due in just a couple weeks.

Two-year old Marianne really wanted to go with the rest of the children. Even though I knew she wouldn’t make it, I said she could come. I ended up carrying her most of the way. When we got half way up the mountain, she started saying, “Home, home.” She hung on tight as we finished our hike.

What a beautiful sight! Up on the mountain everything seemed so small below. We could see the whole Paradise Valley. The children had fun identifying different houses, buildings, farms, and other landmarks.

The descent was faster and easier than the climb. Everyone raced toward the frozen pond to slip and slide and play. It didn’t take long for the children to create hockey sticks out of tree branches and pucks out of ice. We played ice hockey with our homemade contraptions.

As we were playing, the horses came over to drink water from the waterhole. Some of the children went over to pet the horses.

Good sunshine and fresh country air does wonders for the soul.