A Sunday afternoon in mid-April. What to do, what to do? Snowshoe! We ventured out to the Oberholtzer Trail in Voyageurs National Park for a 3 hour adventure. Most of it was spent on the trail actually snowshoeing. The other part was spent inside the Visitor's Center making bead bracelts, coloring and finding Parker's Art Contest entry. It was a gorgeous sunny day that was calling for 8 inches of snow later on.
Daddy and Emmitt. Emmitt was less than excited towards the end of the hike. He started saying "I just can't take another step," to be followed by flopping in the snow and getting his snowshoes tangled up. Dad reminded us all that the kids are not ready to walk around Disney World for awhile.
Mommy and Parker. My big guy has long enough arms to be the button pusher on the self shots! He was a trooper. Running, sliding, falling down hills and looking for tracks everywhere.
My mountain man. He thought this tree was so cool. It's crazy how different the same trail looks in different seasons. I walk this trail in the Fall a lot with the kids while Bear is hunting. And in the winter I am so used to skiing, mainly with my head down, that I forget to look around me. Snowshoeing lets you look while you walk.
Emmitt getting a lesson on what mouse tracks look like.
I am pretty sure this feather came out of one of our jackets (from a hole Bella bit in it), but Parker assured us it was squirrel fur!
The fallen leaves left their mark in the snow.
A couple of snowshoes
We are getting pretty good at this whole self timer shooting.
Our Family shot
One bummer about being in a Park is the boys had to resist climbing this fallen tree. It had the perfect limbs and just a tiny angle. One reminder of why they can't and they kept on walking.
One hazard of snowshoeing in April is some of it isn't covered in snow anymore.
What's a hike without a stop on our favorite bench to snack?
He actually launched a pretty good one at me!
More tracking. We saw some dog/cat like prints that were pretty big, but didn't break through the snow crust. Bear is really good at identifying what all tracks are. But this one had us stumped. I asked at work yesterday and was told Bobcat tracks have been spotted on the trail recently. I made sure I told the boys right away!
What made this big hole? Parker knew the answer! Everything is an adventure with kids. I love that mine enjoy exploring them!
Even with the random complaints about tired feet and wet snowpants, the kids did great. We are on a mission to do all kinds of fun things that are available to us in our own "back yard."
