On the {Frozen} Lake

We hadn't been down to walk on the ice all winter, so when Gregg asked me what my priorities were for Saturday (Feburary 15th), that was at the top of my list (after vacuuming the living room, which he did, because he's amazing like that).  The kids were less than thrilled to set out on our adventure but once we got out of the car and started tromping through the snow they were running and frolicking and having a grand old time (which is par for the course these days - they can't fool us with their complaining and whining about staying home - ha!).  It wasn't clear ice like a couple years ago, but the thin layer of snow on the surface definitely made it easier to walk on.  We went out to a buoy and then decided to "connect the dots" to all the buoys we could see in a line across the lake.  It was a fabulous little outing and a fun view of the valley from the middle of the lake!

Holy cow, could they be any cuter?!

And what about us?!

Yes, I did promise she could pose by every buoy
all the way across the lake so she'd happily come
along with the fam.

And don't leave out this poser!

Group shot at the last buoy (not pictured).

My heart!

On President's Day (February 17th) we weren't sure what to do with yet another day off.  We threw around a few different ideas ranging in scope/distance/cost from a last minute overnighter to Vernal to a day trip to Salt Lake to a hike on Antelope Island to a hike in town.  I bet you can guess where we went, seeing as I am writing and posting about it on the same post as our first venture to the frozen lake?  Yep.  Cheapskate homebodies win out again.  And yet again we had complaining children (probably just one child this time) who ended up loving it once we got out there.  Hmm... funny how that works.  But this time the sky was the most brilliant blue you ever did see!  We got some new snow followed by rain all day Sunday, so the surface of the lake was very different than when we were there on Saturday.  But still not too bad to walk on.  We brought our sled this time, planning to walk across the lake from the Old Highway parking area (same place we went on Saturday) and hit up the same hills we sledded down last year onto the lake.  Turns out that snow then rain then freezing temps combo we had last week that made for really bad skiing was repeated with this storm and made for really bad sledding.  But we tromped across the frozen tundra anyway and climbed up on the old highway on the other side of the reservoir and sunk to our waists in some pockets of the crusty-then-loose snow and had a marvelous time.  Gregg spotted a cliff he wanted to climb and slide down and Sam followed him the whole way up, climbing like a little mountain goat.  Cal was not to be outdone by the boys so she soon joined in.  And even old fuddy duddy Mom got in on the fun.  Whew!  That was hard work!  But a fun ride down the hill.

Aren't those pock marks the craziest randomest pattern you ever
did see?

I'll let you guess who was the grumpy one for the first half of
our outing.

On any slope we saw today there were little rivulets in the snow
and they looked so cool!

Heading up the last stretch of the old highway on the opposite
side of the lake than we started.

I couldn't get enough of the shiny strange snow.

Everyone was smiling!  (And the sunglasses were an absolute
necessity on this sunny day on the snow!)

The top layer of snow broke off in perfect slabs
and of course Gregg had to try to get the biggest
one he could without breaking it.

I spy two boys on yonder cliff!

And now Cal has joined them.

bonus videos!

"snow slide"

I don't know if we'll be back on the lake again this winter, but I'm sure glad we had a weekend of exploring before the spring thaw that is sure to come soon!