finding special places

Rick is so good at finding special places for us to walk to and discover.  He takes us off for a walk, doesn't tell us where we are going and then suddenly, we are there, in an amazing place which we never knew existed before.  He did this with us on Saturday when we decided to take the children up to see the last of the snow in the forest.
This is what we found.

The hill is the one we can see from our bedroom window and which  inspires me each morning to think about the glory of God's creation.  It has become very meaningful to me so to see the little loch tucked in here was doubly special.  A truly lovely place

7yos really enjoyed jumping in this really soft pure snow.  He made some lovely patterns and jumped quite far.

23yos enjoyed taking some impressive arty photos - I like this one of him concentrating

Rick and 23yos provide a splash of red against the snow

12yod not qute as adventurous as jumping into the snow but enjoying herself non the less

It was a lovely sunny day although still quite cold, and the children had a great time jumping in the snow.  We promised ourselves that we would take a picnic up to the small loch in the spring.  It's so near to us, about a 3 mile drive and a 2 mile walk into the forest, and yet I had never discovered it before.  The joy of living in Scotland!!
This week is school holidays and there is an intensive swimming course on at the local pool which 7yos is attending.  He is such a good swimmer and is nearly ready for the swimming club so hopefully this will fill any little gaps.  While he was there this morning I went for a 2.5 mile run.  Enjoyed it in the cold sun and now it is getting almost warm - well around 6 degrees anyway!  I want to be ready for my 10 mile road race on Saturday!!