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Last week we celebrated Susan’s birthday in a manner which we frequently do; playing in the snow. Back in 2008 we celebrated with our first big out of town snowshoe trip. Since then a few minor things have changed in our lives like buying a house next to a cross country ski area and having a child.

Not to be thwarted and since we had several inches of fresh snow on top of the base from the previous storm, we decided to see what it was like cross country skiing with Isaac.

Sunday morning we woke up and seeing the snow falling decided to get bundled up and head over to the ski center. One way to take a small child in the snow is to use a pulk. The ski center rents them so we decided to try it out.

Note, neither Susan nor myself are good skiers. We manage pretty well on flat terrain but add some gentle rolling hills in and there’s likely to be a fall or two. Since I have a bit better balance than Su we decided I would pull the pulk first.

Isaac bundled up in the pulk

Yah mule!

We skied about 1/4 of a mile and decided to stop and check on Isaac. Since he’s so young he’s a tad small for the pulk so we had to pack him in with blankets to get the harness tight enough on him. It’s turns out we didn’t have to worry as he fell asleep shortly into the journey. We also didn’t have to worry about the temperature either. By the time we stopped he was already steaming up the plastic window that keeps the elements out.

Doing just fine in here

We did a loop around one of the fields and since things were going well decided to ski over to the cow barn before looping back to the ski center. As we neared the center Susan took a turn pulling and I got to ski “sled free” for the first time that day. As we both discovered, pulling a baby in a sled is harder than it looks. I was so much faster when set free and Susan ended up doing a little huffing and puffing as she pulled Isaac uo to the ski barn.

Faster, Mommy, Faster

Below are two videos we shot testing out the new camera. Shooting with a new camera, in snow, with gloves/cold hands is certainly a challenge but the basic point across. I keep looking back while skiing to make sure I haven’t dragged the pulk into a lantern post. We were on a trail that can be lit for nighttime skiing and I was not sure whether or not I’d run Isaac into a pole. Better safe than sorry.

We had a lot of fun although I’m not sure if we’ll get enough snow again this year to re-open the ski area. We are thinking of taking short weekend trip to Vermont in a few weeks in search of one last hurrah before Spring.