Saturday, February 09, 2008

Day 2:Snowboarding at the Porcupine Mtns, MI


After cross-country skiing we checked into our little kitchenette suite at the Sunshine Motel. We made some rice and guacamole and then we went to sleep. We woke up the next day kinda late...it doesn't start to get daylight in the Upper Penisula until around 8:30am! We gathered our gear together, got dressed, made food for the day, and headed out to the ski lodge.

It was so nice skiing here. The weather was perfect and there weren't any crowds.

Tom and the boys barely had to wait to get onto the chair lift.

It's harder (I think) to get onto the chair lift with a snowboard than it is with skiis, but these guys had it down to a science.

Since Tom's goofy foot (right foot forward) he's teaching Reeve and Kyle how to snowboard goofy foot. It looks harder to walk one-fitted in the board when you're doing it goofy foot, but by the end of the day the kids were getting pretty good at it. They all enjoyed the chair lift ride, especially Kyle.

They started riding the "blue" slope which is easiest run after the "green - very easy" runs.

After a couple of rides down this hill Reeve was really bored. He always came down the hill at least 15 minutes before Kyle and Tom did and he was itching to ride the black diamond run.

He went along riding the "easy" run all day with them the first snowboarding day. On the second day they mainly rode the black diamond run. It turned out it was actually easier for Reeve and Kyle to ride the steep slopes than it was for them to ride their boards on flatter runs. The steeper runs were also less crowded, which worked out really well for learning.

Tom had quite the little rope system for training Kyle. Actually there were quite a few kids there(all on skiis) attached to a parent with straps. It saved Kyle from going too fast and out into the woods. Reeve was beyond the straps and Tom couldn't get him to slow down. He zipped downt the hills as fast as he wanted to, but I will note that I KNOW Reeve was very careful. He doesn't like to get too risky.

Nordic Skiing in the Porcupine Mountains, MI


A couple of weeks ago we traveled North about 6 hours and spent a long weekend in the Upper Penisula of Michigan right on Lake Superior.

The ski lodge (pictured in the background) was very cozy. It had a great view of the slopes and two very warm fireplaces. Early in the morning families pile in and grab their favorite long table. They leave all their lunch gear and belongings on the tables and then go out and ski. It was really cool to see that most everyone brown bagged it in the lodge. Some families were very organized and brought skewers to cook their food (okay it was meat) on the indoor fires.

When we got there we went on a cross country ski trail and ended up skiing for about 5 hours and traveling about 6 miles. Reeve was the trail blazer and was constantly having to wait for us all to catch up to him.

Kyle was a real trooper because the poor kid kept falling down and it was a very difficult trail we were on. We lumbered up steep inclines and edged down even steeper trails through a very thick evergreen forest.

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Foggy Last Day of 2007



The last day of 2007 was a really foggy day. It was surreal to see so much whiteness everywhere. It was very peaceful and beautiful and one of those days where you don't miss the sun.

Fun in the Backyard







This is what we did for Christmas. We had fun cross-country skiing around our house and sledding down our big hill.