Forest surprise

After a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with delicious food from breakfast to dessert, we all needed to get out on Friday and stretch our legs. We drove to Beaver Lake Nature Center to hike off some turkey and trimmings, and to enjoy the gorgeous day.

We received snow on Thanksgiving, and the brightly shining sun made the fresh powder sparkle:

We saw our friend the grouse (or his cousin) but he was busy getting a handout from some children and I did not stop to say hello or get pecked.

Aidan likes to stand under tree branches that are laden with snow, then have one of us pull on the branches until the snow showers down on him:

 

Can you see the smile peeking out?

It is interesting that no matter how many times we have walked a particular trail at Beaver Lake, each season we see something new, like this tree:

As we got closer, we noticed that there was something nestled underneath the exposed roots:

 What a lovely surprise.