Yosemite in winter - a different world

We've been to Yosemite NP two and a half years ago in July and it was a completely different experience. We followed the weather forecast and planned our visit to a 5 days window between 2 storms, so we had a nice sunny weather. The nights though, were very very cold. The only campground that is open this time of year is Upper Pines in the valley. This is the entrance to the park, coming from El Portal:
El Capitan:
Yosemite valley:

On our first day we walked around Mirror Lake, a 9.6Km round trip. Most of the trail was flat and covered with snow and ice.
Mirror lake was half frozen and half not

The kids had to collect one bag of trash as part of their junior ranger program
On the next day, we went to see the lower yosemite falls.
Waiting for the shuttle...
Half dome
At the visitor center, the kids completed their junior ranger program and received a badge and a patch (for the last time in this trip).
A jay on the way
After having lunch in the sun, we joined Ranger Dean for a walk. He explained about the trees of the park. Since we were the only ones to attend the walk, it was a private one

We spent 2 more days at the park but since it's getting late and since we don't want this blog to ever end up, we will write about them on another day.