Falling in love, again, with the mountains

We have been waiting all winter. Waiting for a gorgeous weekend to go snowshoeing. Before the baby E and I would go snowshoeing in all conditions: snow, wind, sun. Now with the little man we have to wait for the conditions to be perfect. Because he's not exercising, it needs to be warm enough for him.

So we waited.

And waited.

And I was getting antsy. Because I love snowshoeing with the baby, remember?

Well this weekend finally delivered. It was gray and cold in the valley but the mountains offered clear skies, warm sun, and clean air! Thank goodness we were out of the inversion.

We decided on White Pine again (the same spot we went last year) and it was glorious. Just glorious.

We went with E's brother David and the two men spotted a ermine in his white winter coat. I didn't see him and I was so bummed. I really love the woods, maybe one day I'll live in the mountains. Doesn't that sound like a dream?

The best part about snowshoeing? Other than James was thrilled to be out of the house and was filling the mountain air with his happy baby laughter? The dark blue sky. It almost looked purple it was so rich and beautiful.

James loves snow. Like seriously loves it. It is quite tasty, you know.

Yum yum yum. Whenever we go outside he grabs a big handful of snow with his little chubby hand and shoves it into mouth.
Looking like the little rascal raccoon that I love.
The sky to the south was the bluest of blue. This is not edited. This is how it looked. Amazing.
Off we go, across the big White Pine meadow.
Family photos.


The snow was frozen into little beautiful crystals. I love this type of snow because as you walk across it it makes a beautiful tinkling sound, like millions of tiny bells.

Isn't it crazy that it was so warm James didn't even need gloves? None of us hiked in coats, it was divine. And David needed an action photo for a photo class he is taking. I was more than willing to jump off a snow bank.

The next three photos are courtesy of David. Here I am jumping again.
And this is how I landed. At least my camera was safe.
And isn't this close up James the sweetest? Thanks David for capturing it.
Perfect little prints across the snow.

Me, self portrait.
On the way back to the car across the beautiful untouched meadow.
And a video I took (notice my reflection in E's sunglasses). Simply glorious.

PS - If you have not voted in the JJ's Space name change poll (to your right) please do so. I see that I might have been wrong in wanting to change the name, so glad you like what its been. New name change (or lack there of) will be in 8 days when the poll closes. At that point I'll have a new Valentines header too. :)