Waldchen Essentials

In an effort to fight off the winter “blahs” here in Chicago, I decided to look into what kind of cross country skiing options we have.  It turns out there are a lot of places to ski, including the Morton Arboretum.  Two good things about nordic-style skiing is that it’s fantastic exercise and the equipment is way less expensive than the alpine stuff.  I was able to buy a pair of skis for Elise on Craigslist for $20, and I picked up skis, boots, bindings and poles for myself for less than a pair of new alpine boots would cost.  After some practicing in the backyard, we headed out to the Arboretum and had a really good time.  You can see the pictures in the new gallery here, and there are also a few videos to watch. I think Elise did really well for her first time, and Jenny and Patrick had a lot of fun on the snowshoes we rented.

Elise and Patrick reinterpret an old classic:

We had a great time in San Fran this summer. Traveling with a 2 and 4-year-old worked out surprisingly well: Patrick decided to sleep most of the time in the plane and Elise sat quietly in her chair reading/watching a movie. There are a lot of pictures from the trip in the Gallery as well as this video of the kids doing somersaults at St. Francis winery in Sonoma.

I recently took a look at Jenny’s old camera and realized that there were quite a few photos that I never posted to the website. So have fun browsing through the Jenny’s Camera: Misc 3 album. You can also check out the Backyard Splashpark pictures I’ve uploaded as well. It’s amazing how much fun can be had with just a small baby pool filled with water. 🙂

Here’s a short clip of the kids playing on the beach.