kicking cabin fever

the need to escape and do something finally got to us after 2 days of being confined to the house due to excruciatingly cold weather. temperatures were "warming" up by saturday so aaron, emma and i (tyler was MIA. go here for more details.) decided to take advantage of it and get out.

we decided to visit the rocky river nature center down in the metro parks and took the scenic route through the emerald necklace. i wished we had stopped for a moment to take some photos, because the whole park was blanketed with beautiful white snow. and the bare trees, dusted with snow, made beautiful archways over the winding road ahead of us. i'm not a fan of cold weather, but i must say the snow added quite a serenity to the scenery around us. i guess you will have to use your imagination.

the nature center was very spacious and had kind of a "lodge" ambience about it. there was plenty of hands-on activities for the kids, and apparently there are some fantastic trails just outside of the center. but we'll have to save that portion for when the weather warms up. emma had a fantastic time exploring the facility, pressing all sorts of buttons, studying stuffed (as in the taxedermy kind of stuffed) animals, pretending to be a pioneer, and sitting with dad to watch the birds.