We All Scream for [Snow] Ice Cream!

We had another snow last night--about 1.5 inches. This is only the third snowfall this winter. The kids know that snow is fleeting around here. They make it a point to get out and enjoy it before it melts. We didn't get out today until after lunch, so as you can see most of it was gone. We skated on the ice-covered driveway and Nate invented a game called walnut curling (using nuts gathered from the walnut trees in our yard). We did have enough snow left in the shade of our front yard to make snow angels and gather a big bowl of fresh snow for another batch of snow ice cream! I liked this recipe better:
Big bowl o' snow
1 14-oz can of sweetened condensed milk
Chocolate syrup to taste

Yummy AND easy-peasy!
It got rave reviews from the critics as well! :)

Today I Hear...BIG WORDS!

At 70 degrees, today was an absolutely perfect day for a picnic and a hike at one of the plethora of parks around town. Hmmm, but which park should we choose? Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial at Battle Gardens, of course! (Today being MLK Jr. Day and all!)

We played tag with a family who was there for the official MLK celebration (I guess we missed it by 10 minutes!), had our picnic, read a short bio about Dr. King from our "Tales of Famous Americans" book and read quotes (taken from a variety of his speeches) chiseled on granite pillars in the park. After our short commemoration, we hiked part of the MKT trail. Highlights? Throwing rocks from the old RR bridges to see if we could break the ice (it was deceptively thick!), seeing the red-tailed hawk grab a mouse scampering atop of the ice, and racing to the next exercise station.

Not only did we take advantage of this gift of warm sunshine in the middle of January, we were able to pause to honor a hero of our national history on the day set aside just for that purpose! What better way to meditate on his big words than on a peaceful stroll through a tunnel of trees with the ones we love best?!