Memories in the making.

Yesterday Benjamin & I woke up with the sun and ventured out into the garden to get the corn planted while Sebastian slept. Sebastian rose up with giggles and smiles & we set about our daily routine of gathering on the porch for coffee/juice, toast/"o's" & bananas. We've been working so hard on the garden + it was such a beautiful day that I suggested we take a break and go for a little drive. Ben was down, so we gathered the kid & a few snacks and headed out on what we thought would be just an hour venture up the canyon. 

We drove up Big Cottonwood Canyon (about 10 minutes from our house to the mouth of the canyon). The roads were clear so we decided to go up to the top and make some stops on the way back. It was a little drizzly once we got up there, so our first stop was a log cabin cafe for coffee and snacks and a picture window view of the forest. Fantastico! With cheesy grits in the baby, a cinnamon roll in the mama and english muffin in the papa we ventured forth. 

The sky cleared up, so Ben pulled off at a place that he remembered visiting once before. We grabbed our gear and just started walking. 

What fun to have no time constraints or destination! We thought we might hit Donut Falls (water comes through the center of a rock), but we got a good 1.25 miles in and met a fellow hiker who informed us that we would be wading thigh deep in the icy creek if we kept going. I had already been ill prepared in my socks and sandals, so the thought of slipping with the baby on my back sealed the deal. We turned back and slowly made our way back down the hill toward the car. 

We trudged through the snow holding hands and stopped to take in the view every 50 feet. Ben scooped up a worm laying still in the ice & it rejoiced at the warmth of his hand... so he found a nice spot on the side of a hill and released it back into the earth. We oooohed and ahhhed as we watch it disappear. All in all, we reveled in the leisure of the day. 

Stumbling upon an Aspen Grove was a highlight for me. :) 

And the highlight for Sebastian? Being released from the shackles of his baby carrier. He ran so fast we could hardly get a picture. When he finally did stop, his eyes widened and he kept saying "wock! wock!". He had discovered small pebbles around the boulders along the path. The kid was in rock heaven. He'd scoop up an armload and drop half of them when he'd bend down for the next find. When we eventually made it to the car, he tried to escape back down the hill yelling about "MORE wocks!". He cried in the car until we hit the freeway. We saved the day with promises of burritos (which he calls Bree-toes). Well, you know... the rest is history. (Or good memories at the very least). We plan to try to make it to the Falls again in a month or so when the snow surely will have melted.