Ivy Creek with the MMs

The MMs came to stay with us for a week over New Years. We had grand plans to hike in Shenandoah National Park, but Skyline Drive was closed due to snow and ice. So, we decided to hike a bit more locally. Ivy Creek was a favorite spot when the 3 bigger kiddos were littler, so it seemed like a reasonable plan for the 8 of us. We even managed to fins a few trails that the MMs had never hiked before!

The first picture is of Zara tree climbing during our "winter-nic" aka winter picnic. It wasn't crazy warm, but warm enough we had a nice light outdoor lunch. Quite a novelty in December. The next picture is Amity holding hands with Luke, everyone's favorite Toddler Whisperer. I don't know if the shine will perhaps wear off as she gets older, but for now Amity is extremely enamored of Luke. The third picture is the kiddos during the hike, relatively bundled up. By the end of the hike, as you can see in the fourth picture, the kids had pretty much doffed all of their outer layers. It wasn't really *that* warm, but it probably wasn't as cold as their earlier outfits would indicate, either.