Outside Time

 We're in a thawing period, which is a nice change from the bitter cold of January. One afternoon I took the kids and some of their friends out on the ranch to look for cattails. After digging up roots for a little while, the kids spotted ice nearby and wanted to go play. So off we went. The water under the ice had been absorbed by the land, so the ice cracked and crunched as we walked on it. It was pretty awesome.

 We had to go through a little mud to get to it, and go under a barbed wire fence. The bigger kids were off in a flash, and I stayed with the little kids.
 
Isaac was off after the big kids in no time.

 My little princess (apparently you are a princess if you have the right hairstyle), was a little more cautious.

 I spotted Ava running in the willows. Willows are such a fun place for the kids to go and play. Although I'm always glad to have our dog Henry along so he can sniff out any animals in the willows and keep us from surprises.

 As Ava was running, she reached a particularly slick spot of ice and down she went.


It didn't faze her at all, and next thing she was checking out some ice close up. (Sorry for all the mud that day, Jenny! Hopefully it came out!)

 The boys trailed Ava, but eventually emerged from the willows. Then it was time for another adventure--searching for bones. They found some, but I made them to adhere to our rule: if the bones still have hair on them, then they need to leave them till another time. And all the ones we found were a little too fresh.


They had their sticks, though, and that meant plenty of adventures ahead.

 Off they headed, toward those big mountains.

Oh my, this makes me want to be five again!