snow!

we had our first big snowfall last night & this morning...the first snow that stuck. winter is here! i wish i could say that it's bright & white & pretty outside, but this is what it looks like:

kinda of blah and gray...at 11am.

mia was funny this morning - i don't think she really remembered what snow is. when i took her out to go potty, she was unsure of the white stuff and was very cautious about stepping anywhere. so cute!

ski weekend

this past weekend, our friends rented a little cabin about an hour outside of our town. we met them out there for a little mini get-together and it was a blast!! bfff & i decided to attempt skijoring with the puppy, since all he ever wants to do is pull anyway. for those who aren't familiar with skijoring, i'll explain: vito has a harness that connects to us with a lead. we hook that into a harness we are wearing. and then he pulls us while we ski behind him. in order to get him used to the harness, we've been taking him sledding and having him pull up the sleds when we get to the bottom of the hill (partially training, partially because we are lazy).

our friends cross-country ski. bfff had never tried that type of skiing. and i hadn't done it in over 10 years. and quite frankly, i really didn't like it when i did ski 10 years ago. i learned how to cross-country ski in high school and HATED it. loved the people i skied with though, they were great. but the actual skiing part sucked. i wasn't good at it, the head coach of the team didn't give a rat's ass about you unless you were good, and the competition side of it wasn't fun at all. however, this weekend completely turned around my outlook - i had a blast! first, i actually remembered how to ski, which was a surprise. second, this was something we could do together as a family (me, bfff & vito) and with our friends. there wasn't the stress of racing and it was fun to see vito in his element. bfff picked it up SO quickly - he did so much better than me on my first couple of days on skis. he seriously impressed me. and was brave enough to have vito pull him around too.

i eventually had him pull me and that puppy hauls ass! he was SO receptive to my direction and if i fell, he'd stop and check on me. instead of dragging me through the snow on my face. so, overall, it was a pleasant experience.

poor pup is tuckered out. our friend got some video of us skiing a bit but i don't have a copy of it yet. so here's a pic of vito on our way back from our trip:

we usually can't even get him to sit down for more than 0.3 seconds when he's in the car.

winter, you suck

dear winter,

how dare you come back with a vengeance! yes, i know fur rondy & the iditarod are coming up and need the snow. but you went on a mini vacation! it was a toasty 40 degrees & sunny! and then this morning, you sneaked in and dumped a crap load of snow on us. you are such a tease. i hope you realize that i loathe cleaning snow off of my car and driving in whiteout conditions at 2 mph. thanks a lot winter. how about next time you at least give me some warning?

~ me

p.s. i'll give you props for covering all of the gross dog poo and giving us another chance to go sledding. i guess.

outdoor fun!

since this past weekend was a long weekend for me - plus valentines & my birthday, bfff asked me "what do you want to do?" i dug deep into my childhood and a brilliant idea came to me - SLEDDING!! oh yea! we geared up, snowpants, gloves, hats, and all. bfff had gotten vito (the now 67 pound puppy) a harness and lead for skijoring (for those who don't know - apparently the dog pulls you while you cross country ski. which means i would probably run into trees or be dragged face first a lot.) we got the puppy all set up in his harness and after a while he stopped trying to bite it.

we headed out into the warm, sunny 30 degree weather...and made a quick stop at our local tar-jay. bought 2 saucer sleds and this:
yes it's a sled for pulling stuff. but it's also large enough to sit in and has this little rope on the front that gives the impression you can steer. which, i found out, you can't steer. at all.

we went to the park where we normally take vito. bfff instructed me to sit on my neon green saucer and hold on to vito's lead in the middle of the trail. i sat at the top of a hill with a gentle slope and vito took off FULL BLAST! we flew down the trail and it was SO freakin fun. all vito wants to do is pull so we figured - let's let him pull! must be the half husky in him.

we found a good sledding hill, that kids abandoned for the goliath hill on the other end of the park, and i got the first run. i hauled ass down the hill with snow spraying in my face while i screamed the whole 3 second ride. i had seriously forgotten how much fun sledding is! vito ran up and down the hill with us and pulled me on another trail (and almost into about 10 trees).

lesson learned: screw expensive winter activities like snowboarding & skiing! free sledding is the way to go!

oh, and get a padded sled. i think my backside is bruised.

pretty day

the other day, the weather was gorgeous! we decided to take vito out for a walk to the inlet with his best friends (and our friend too!) we followed a trail through the woods and it opened up to this:

view to the right

view to the left

what a nice day :)