I’m incredibly thankful and lucky to have such amazingly fit friends, because for this snow shoe experience, we got to leave the kids at home with Daddy. The girls and I got out for a 1.5 hour snow shoe adventure.  And, because it was my friends’ home town, she took us on a “trail” that had no tracks.  Essentially, we went straight up the mountain!

Is that not the most beautiful scene you’ve ever seen? No tracks, no trails, simply 5 feet of fresh powder.

The hike up included our three dogs!

Lots of calorie burning here, but, SO FUN.

At the top: Penny and Me.

Fellow CrossFitter, Angie and Penny.

Angie and I.  And, thanks Angie for providing all of these awesome photos!

This was one of those experiences (at least for me) that you just want to say “YAHOOOOOOOO” all the way down!

I have learned that if you want to enjoy yourself out there, you need a system for hydration and fuel (the backpack).  You need to start in layers that can be peeled off!   Smartwool is a good choice when layering followed by a vest or jacket depending on the temperature.  A waterproof pant is a must in my book.  You fall once, you’re wet, that ends your day out in the snow.  Not sure of brands for Nordic ski pants; anybody have any recommendations?  For the type of skiing I have been doing, fleece is too hot, but not even sure of the material to look for… Oh, and the boots.   For snow shoeing, the shoes need to be waterproof and practically a running shoe?! Again, anybody have a shoe recommendation?

So, in essence, this is an example of what you might wear snow shoeing or skiing, but, maybe not this exact model.  Would love to hear YOUR suggestions?!

Nordic Ski Apparel by Fit Mommy on Polyvore.com

Best parts of skiing for us are the ability to get outdoors with our kids and do something together as a family.  They are now **cough cough** almost 4 and 6!  Seems like just yesterday I was snow shoeing with Benjamin in a baby bjorn!

Even for guys as young as mine, you can rent all the equipment right there on site.  We put Ryan on skiis when he was 2!

There goes daddy with Ryan.  Who’s a natural for about 45 minutes! And then, he just sits down and says he’s tired.

Moms don’t need poles!  I’ve found it’s far easier to ski without so that you’re hands are free to put  my youngest between my legs on the downhills.

In the end, the most important thing is that they have fun.  My youngest and I completed the 1 mile loop together and then he was done.  And Daddy spent over an hour skiing with Benjamin!  That is a LOT of exercise for little kids.

My husband and I each had time for a little 30 minute solo ski at the end of the day and that was great as well.

The children were thrilled to just play in the snow as well!