January 2014: Snowshoeing...or something like that....

When you can't beat it...join it!! The weather, that is.

We are taking advantage of any remotely nice day (and by nice I mean anything that is above 0 degrees) and trying our best to get out of the house, even if only for just a little bit. Last weekend, our adventure was snowshoeing...

We headed to Crow Wing State Park in Brainerd, where Michael had done some research and found out that we could rent snowshoes. So after a good snowfall, we drove into the park and quickly realized we were the ONLY ones who had this great idea for the day (the road into the park hadn't been plowed yet, and we were the only tire tracks that seemed to be on the road). Somehow, we ran into a park ranger, who opened the office and got us some snowshoes, and we at first set out with the girls in the sled and Michael and I wearing our snowshoes...

But given that we seemed to be making the path (rather than there already being one), we quickly found out that the sled was not going to work trying to get through so much snow. So we headed back to the car and decided to give the good ol' backpack carrier and baby bjorn a try...

And after just a short jaunt with Adelyn whining in the backpack and Olivya getting cold in the bjorn from lack of circulation (she was all bundled up and squeezed into the Bjorn so I'm pretty sure there was no blood flowing through her), we ditched the carriers and decided to stay close to the car and just do a little bit of walking/hiking/playing in the snow...

Which was all fun and games, until it ended like this...

A little too much snow...a toddler who was still recovering from having influenza last week...and a little too much chill in the air...we decided to head back to the van, where we put down the back seats and all 4 of us squeezed into the back of the van where we cranked up the heat, and had a picnic lunch in the back of the van. 

Oh - and then we headed home where we spent the rest of the day in our "cozies" enjoying the [semi] warmth of our house and hanging out inside, sipping coffee and hot chocolate. 

At least we tried...