As you know we love to hike, we are trying to balance our time between hiking and skiing. Since we skied the last two weekends we decided we needed to get in some time hiking this weekend.

We choose the Hessie Trail near Nederland because we Cory and I have snowshoed here in the past and loved it, we like Nederland a lot and we get to avoid ski traffic.

Before we had kids Cory and I liked to snowshoe a lot but I think it’s too cumbersome for little kids. Also unless you are in powder snowshoes aren’t needed. We knew that Hessie is really popular so the trail would be packed down. We did put some spikes on for any icy segments. We really like THESE for the kids and THESE for Cory and I.

The trail was not too crowded, beautiful, and definitely didn’t need snow shoes.

It was pretty cold so I was loving this two hat situation.

I am already dreaming of coming back in the summer with kiddos.

On our way home we stopped off in Nederland at our favorite coffee shop.

Salto has the best coffee and a really nice vibe.

I got a rose latte, Cory got a Orange Cardamom cappuccino and the kids shared a lemon loaf.

Do you like to hike? Just a summer hiker or all year?

It was a pretty normal week but even so we are all pretty excited.

Cannon was excited to finally be back at school drop off.

Emerald was pretty excited to have her brother home and out in the snow playing.

I am really excited about Des and Kara’s new podcast. Also excited to Read Lauren’s book Good For a Girl and Kara’s book The Longest Race.

Cory’s is excited that it’s Friday and the weekend is almost here.

Please tell me something you are excited about.

We didn’t get the crazy amount of snow overnight like predicted but we did get somewhere between 6-8 inches. So it was a treadmill day for me.

We set up our Valentine’s sensory bin, Emmy really liked helping me set it up, usually I put it together while they are asleep.

We also put up some window clings in our classroom to keep things cheery.

After shoveling and playing in the snow for a bit it was time for school. When asked if they want to do school the kids always say yes, and I love that.

I love the spider Emmy drew on her tablet.

Then we had some friends over to play in the afternoon, our district had a snow day so it was fun to hang out on what is normally a school day.

We ended the night with some Wii snow boarding. Emmy really wants to learn to snow board so this was a fun alternative. I also can’t believe our Wii from 2006 still works.

We are excited to ease into love season. Not that we shouldn’t celebrate love everyday but Valentines makes it extra fun.

We dug out the kids’ mail boxes, I like to put little love notes inside for them.

We enjoyed some time playing at the indoor playground before school drop off. It was nice and quiet when we were there. When I went back at noon to pick up Emmy from school another parent described the playground as looking like an anthill because there were so many little children crawling everywhere.

We spent some time grocery shopping and preparing for our snow storm. I am not sure how much snow we will actually get but it’s good to be prepared.

One thing we do to prepare is spend some time outside on scooters since the sidewalks will be snowy/icy for at least a few days. We love the kids’ Nutcase helmets, on cold days we just have them wear their ski balaclava under their helmet. Their down jackets from LL Bean have also been amazing, very packable, warm, and flexible.

We grabbed some valentines for Cannon’s class because he loved them.

Then it was time for Emmy’s gymnastics. She is loving it so much and seems like something she might like to continue. Then home for a quick dinner and bed time.

It may not seem like much but these really are the good old days.

We hope you enjoyed your Martin Luther King Junior Day. We are trying to instill some of Martin Luther King Jr.’s teaching to our children.

We read a few books and talked about his teachings.

I really like this Sesame Street video about MLK day and why we celebrate. It’s easy for little ones to understand and not too long.

We spent our morning at a playground with some friends that we hadn’t seen in forever. It was nice to be out because we are expecting lots of snow and much colder temperatures this week.

In the afternoon we went for a walk to check out our ponds. We started doing a “pond walk” in the summer to make observations about how it changed through the seasons. While we are still loving winter the pond is much more interesting in the summer/fall.

We are looking forward to all the plants and animals waking up for the spring.

Can’t wait to see the frogs and fish come back!

Sour patch hearts fueled our adventure.

Summer pond walks are my favorite, but it’s so interesting to see close up how different things are during each season.

How did you celebrate MLK Jr. Day?

Do you love winter? I have come along way, but still working on loving it.

Another weekend that we aren’t camping so we were sure to hit up the ski slopes.

We wanted to meet Cory’s cousins to ski and they didn’t have season passes to Keystone so we met them at Winter Park where you can ski the Galloping Goose lift without paying for a ticket.

This lift and green run was the perfect step for us as we are ready to graduate from the bunny hill to short green runs.

The lift is short and easy, the kids have been doing really well on the lifts! If you are a beginner I feel like you could get away with not buying a season pass for your first year.

Both kids are loving skiing still, getting more confident and excited to do longer runs.

On the way home we ran into some ski traffic, but way less than we usually hit coming home from Keystone. Stopped for our typical Après-ski treat of coffee so we don’t fall asleep at the wheel.

We really liked Winter Park, and would really like to visit again!

If you ski, where is your favorite place to go? It’s fun learning something so new with our kids.

We took the kids out for a little run around the lake to work on our endurance, Emmy was not pleased that Cannon is faster than her. She is highly motivated to be the fastest on her soccer team.

It was a beautiful 59 degree day (so nice in January) but we still had some snow to run on.

We recreated a picture we took in 2020 on Emerald’s second birthday.

At the time, a walk around the lake was a big outing. Three years past and they are still the best of friends.

I grabbed an iced coffee (Irish Cream Cold Brew) because it was so nice out.

We spent the rest of the day taking down Christmas lights, prepping for a ski day and playing games.

Next week isn’t going to as nice and warm.

We started our day with a quick scooter ride for the kids while I ran and tried to keep up with them.

I am trying really hard to start the day with some time outside. I love just kicking them outside in the back yard in the summer where I can sit and enjoy my coffee but this time of year takes a little more effort.

We spent the middle part of the day doing school before the kids went to my parents house for the afternoon. They live just over two miles away from us and Cannon really wanted to ride his bike over.

Cory had been taking to the kids about riding their bikes over to Grandma and Grandpa’s for years now and didn’t want to miss their first time dong so. Cory to a break from work and ran over with me and the kids.

It was over 50 degrees and the perfect day to be out on a bike ride.

After dropping the kids off Cory and I got to run home together just the two of us just like before we had kids and did 90% of our training together.

When we got home I did some PT, stretching and rolling. My right leg was pretty angry and reminded me that I really need to do PT and roll everyday if I want to make it to make it to the marathon start line.

We decided to do a family movie night and watched Strange World, we all LOVED it. I sat with my feet up, cuddling a kiddo, heating pad on and our little massager working on my angry calf. It was almost perfection.

We got THIS from amazon for Christmas and it is nice for working out knots.

Have any fun plans this holiday weekend?

Emmy got up earlier than the boys so we got to share some “girl time” in the morning.

My mom brought over the most delicious pumpkin scones that we got to share.

Having some quiet time to myself in the morning always makes my days feel better.

Having Emmy join me at the end was very welcome.

The rest of the day was spent running around to school, grocery store, bank, etc.

We then had friends over for a game night and mac n cheese bar. They brought over Survive to play, it was really fun to play a new game and even the kids loved it.

I did also read THIS article from Trail Runner Magazine that talked about how races are becoming more inclusive and supporting racers who are also nursing mothers.

It reminded me of training and racing marathons and ultras while nursing. I never stopped mid race to nurse but did many times on training runs.

It’s so nice when races start to accommodate racers in all stages of life!

My day started out very early when it was very dark on the treadmill.

I really need a good show to make the treadmill more fun.

We went to the store in search of eggs…..anyone else having a shortage?

We did our normal school things, then went to the gym to shoot hoops.

Cannon is signed up for Basketball next month and we have been having fun practicing something new.

Emmy enjoyed some Fun Did after falling and scraping up her knee on the way home.