a place to play

 "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks. " John Muir
Before we left for Yosemite, the kids and I read a couple of books about how Yosemite became a national park and all of the hard work put in by a man named John Muir.  Without his love for God's earth, and desire to save it, Yosemite might not still be the same beautiful place here for us to enjoy.  I found myself spending so much of the trip reminding the kids that every step we took in this place was a gift from God.

 We started the trail to go see the lower Yosemite falls, and began a series of snowball fights which would last for the next two hours!  I think Bill had the biggest one of all!

It's funny because you can't see where this picture ends, because it just blends in the white background!

 This picture makes me so happy.

 While the kids and dads were throwing snow, I just kept taking more pictures.  I had never seen anything like this before in my life and I found myself just continually being in awe of God's creation.

 Needless to say that the waterfall was amazing!  You could hear it from a long distance away and the spray from it hit us all the in face but no one seemed to mind!

 Dylan didn't seem to notice or care that is sweatshirt was soaking wet from making so many snowballs!  My kids kept talking about the "Arthur" episode in which D.W. takes home her snowball and puts it in the freezer.  I knew they were trying to come up with a way to keep their snow...

 Those who know me well know that I am always cold!  Thanks to Joy I had a super warm ski jacket and snow boots.  I never once felt cold and I was so thankful!

 Can you tell they are having fun?  They carried around these snowballs and even named them!  Bill kept telling them not to get attached to the snowballs because we weren't going to be taking them home!

"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in..."  John Muir
That was what was so awesome about this trip. We had time to play and time to reflect and pray together. 
More snow pictures to come!