We've been cross-country skiing every weekend since mid-December and it has been wonderful. There have been bright sunny days and stormy, snowy days. Tours where I broke a sweat in a t-shirt and tours where I stayed bundled up even on the steepest hills. When you head into the woods, it is hard to know what to expect--the environment is so dynamic.

Regardless of the temperature or the visibility, we like to talk about how other critters handle winter. How do they stay warm? What do they eat? Where are they?

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It's my birthday and I am officially in my late 30s. How did that happen?

To celebrate, I plan to take the kids cross-country skiing this weekend. They are too young to ski, but I'm not, so I'll pull them in the Chariot Carrier.

This will be the first post on teaching kids to cross-country ski. I hope to have some video at some point, but my videographer (aka my husband) is pretty busy these days and I just can't figure out how to hold the camera and film myself skiing at the same time!

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Learning skills and techniques is so much more fun when you don’t realize you are doing it. By playing games on cross-country skis your kids will learn to start, stop, turn, maintain balance, climb and descend hills and all the other things you need to know to be successful on skis.

As they are becoming more comfortable on skis, your little ones won’t even notice they are in a ski lesson.

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Rather than focusing on technique with new Nordic skiers, focus on fun. I find it best to let new skiers loose without many instructions. Let them get used to the feel of sliding on snow and moving about with giant shoes.

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