it's just that my butt hurts

Today Mikey and I decided we were going to teach ourselves how to cross country ski. Okay, not true. Yesterday Mikey and I decided it. I mean, as a wee little tot of a man he definitely had his day out there in the sun. But it had been years since he'd tried and it was something we really wanted to do together. Well, as a family - but every single child of ours had ideas of how they preferred to spend this Sunday. So, that left just us - which was more than fine.

So we rented our super cheap gear and set out for Icicle early this morning. It was a beautiful sunny drive through the North Cascades that showed us both devastation from all of the recent flooding, as well as amazing winter views. A few stops to pee and before we knew it, we were there.

The trail was packed. People were amped up and ready to do some skiing. And strangely enough, they were all wearing not much more than workout gear. So we decided they were all a bunch of crazies and bundled up into our normal downhill, super warm suits. But not ten minutes in did we realize exactly why it was they were all basically naked. This was a workout! We were sweating. We were panting. Heck, I was trying to rationalize leaving my gear for dead. But we stuck with it and made our way back to the car to strip.

And then we were flying! Well, kind of...

Now I don't know if any of you have ever gone cross country skiing before. I guess I always thought it was for those too afraid to hit the REAL slopes. For those people who didn't want the adrenaline from flying down a hill and had very little coordination. Boooy was I wrong. It is hard! Did I mention you have to ski UP a hill at some points?

After a few hours we decided to call it a day. Our butts hurt. Our shoulders hurt. We couldn't even feel our legs. So we plopped into the car and headed to Leavenworth for a bite to eat before getting back on the road.

What a day, I have to say. Not only did I learn something new that I'll hopefully keep up into my old age. But I also got to spend a rare sunny winter day with my hunka hunka burnin' love. Who could ask for anything more?