we woke up early saturday morning and putted around for awhile before heading off on our great adventure. apparently we left a little too close to nap time for ellie, who fell asleep about 10 minutes into the drive. this was kind of a bummer because her eyes were closed during the prettiest parts of the drive as we made our way to higher elevations and more and more snow covered the ground.

unfortunately the road to our destination was closed, so we turned around and drove back to a campground where we could get out and pose by some dirty snow by a little icy pond. luckily ellie was awake by then.

it was her first time ever seeing snow! of course she refused to touch it. you know, like sand ;)

after our short stop by the icy pond we made our way to a recreational area we know of with a bridge over a particular fork of the stanislaus river. ellie LOVED it there. loud, rushing water, tall trees and big boulders to climb … what’s not to love?

she could have stayed there all day, just climbing, jumping and collecting twigs and rocks by the river <3

eventually it came time to leave, so we went back to the cabin and my mom broke out the watercolors. ellie has painted before, but she had never used watercolors as a medium until this weekend. it’s one of my favorite paintings she’s ever done.

i did one, too :)

after painting we had dinner and kicked around for a bit before bedtime. another fun day, cozy night <3

until tomorrow!