Winter at Ridley Creek State Park

After a perfect spring in which Max was born and an even better summer, I was beginning to look forward to the coming winter. Last year, I spent little time outdoors during the cold months and only made one single trip to the mountains to do a little snowboarding. The winter this year has been seriously lacking. As I write this in early February, the temperature today is expected to top out at 50, a trend that has continued since November. We’ve had little snow and little days of cold weather. After two winters in a row of record-setting snowfall, I’m sure many of my fellow Philadelphians are rejoicing, but I’m starting to get concerned I’ll never get the snowy black and white images I’ve had in mind this year.

Despite my lamenting, the warmer weather has been great for getting the baby out of the house. Rather than sit indoors all day every day, he’s gotten tons of fresh air without freezing those chubby little cheeks. We headed out to Ridley Creek State Park for his first tolerable hike (the first time we tried an actual hike with him it was super hot and he did not dig being stuck in the Bjorn).