I know it’s cheesy, but truly….our crew is having SO MUCH SNOWY FUN this winter. We love to ski. We love to sled ride. We love to ice skate. We love snow. And good for us, because living in the northeast means experiencing winter for a quarter-ish chunk of the year, every year. So here’s to making these wintry months enjoyable!
Snow Days!
Teaching from home, I no longer get snow days. But I DO get to have my family home with me on inclement weather days – which happened twice last week.
Like Christmas and birthdays, seeing the joy in special events and days through your children’s eyes makes those special occasions even more exciting and enjoyable. Snow days fall in this category for me as a parent. The joy of my 10-year-old waking up late to find that school has been canceled, and the paralleled joy of his 7-year-old brother realizing he’ll have his dad and big brother home all day, is contagious. Add the sparkle in their eyes when they look out to accumulated and falling snow – magic.
Our snow days here have been filled with waffles, woods walks, sled riding, movie watching, cookie baking, and game playing – both video and board versions. Our family of four finally mastered the Mario Party rafting game (without any tears, I might add! Double success…iykyk on that one), and our two new family board game obsessions are cribbage and backgammon.
I only learned to play backgammon this year, after our 10-year-old was gifted a playing set for Christmas, and cribbage has deep roots as a family favorite on Mike’s side of the family, so he’s making sure the tradition lives on through the next generation. We already have a multi-game chess set that includes backgammon in our camper, and we’re enjoying cribbage so much that we picked up another travel set to play on the go.
Skiing
Our closest, and favorite, Greek Peak Ski Resort is celebrating its 65th season this year. In honor of the anniversary they held a season pass sale last March at what was, in our opinion, an unbelievably low price. At a price per person we couldn’t pass up (and our youngest, being 6 when we bought the passes, was FREE), we bought season passes for the 2023-2024 year.
We used our passes to try out downhill mountain biking over the summer, and have since been chomping at the bit to hit snow-covered slopes. We made it out twice in December, but due to no snow and unseasonably warm temps, the slopes open were limited and the conditions were pretty rough.
But January has brought us colder temps and snow, and we made the most of it last weekend, skiing Friday night and ALL day Sunday.
The temps were frigid both days, with some pretty wicked wind to boot. Sunday’s long day on the mountain required multiple pairs of hand and boot warmers, and a lengthy warm-up lunch at a resort restaurant, but it was hands down one of the best – possibly THE most enjoyable – days of skiing of my life. The boys have become incredibly strong skiers, and because they love being out there, their enthusiasm and joy are (like those snow days) contagious.
The boys are still in full-year rental skis and boots from our local ski shop this season, and having all of our equipment AND season passes tucked in our pockets, means that we park, slip on boots, and head to the lift.
I was reminiscing this weekend about our first couple of seasons skiing with the boys. The wait at the ticket booth, the rental shop line, and shuffling along the base of the beginner area while pulling a small child holding your ski pole -honestly, I don’t know how we made it. But my oh my, am I happy that we did!
So – I guess that is all to say that if you’re out there skiing with young kids, and you are questioning your life choices, I would strongly encourage you to stick it out. Because our two kids are two of the most enjoyable ski buddies my husband and I could have ever hoped for.
Fresh Air
We have made a big effort to get as much fresh air as possible over the last week – even if it is so cold it hurts our lungs and faces, or so unseasonably warm it is thick with fog. And we have had both in the last seven days. Saturday morning it was 2 degrees when I woke up. Yesterday afternoon, the temperature climbed over 50 degrees and the fog was so thick at points in the day, I couldn’t see a foot off of the deck on the front of our house. We’ve been out in it all.
Our family ran two 5k races over the holidays – a local turkey trot, and the Seneca Falls “It’s a Wonderful Run” race. These races have inspired our 10-year-old to set goals for the 5K and the mile as we look forward to our annual local running of the St. Patty’s Parade Day Mile race. He’s staying active by playing 4th basketball this winter, but he also likes to get out for a one or two-mile run about twice a week. He’s asked ME to run with him on his last three outings, making my mom heart oh so happy.
Our 7-year-old’s goals are all hunting, not running, based. He ran the two 5ks with us, and he’ll run the Parade Day Mile, too. But when confronted with the choice of besting his turkey trot time in Seneca Falls, or stopping at mile 2.5 for a s’more, he chose s’more. The competitive runner in me (currently hibernating, but still very much a part of my person) really admired that decision.
So while the 10-year-old and I run, Mike and our 7-year-old take woods walks – looking for squirrel nests, making note of buck rubs and deer beds, and identifying animal tracks. When we can, the whole family has been spending extra time in the woods doing all of those same things.
Sickness has been rampant in our area lately, and *knock on wood* our house has been relatively healthy so far this winter. I like to think that fresh air plays a role for us in feeling good. Bundling up can be a bother, and coming back in with wet gloves, boots, socks, etc… an even greater bother, but nothing beats the feeling I get from time spent breathing fresh air!
How are you and your family enjoying these winter days? Drop us a comment – we’d love to hear about your adventures!
