How to Beat the Winter Blues

It started with a family morning of exercise...Grandpa (my dad), Gran, (dad's wife), my sister, her boyfriend Miles and dog Nuala, Ava and I convened at my sister's house to make use of the nature trails behind her house. Alas, my poor husband was car shopping and could not attend our little family cardio training.

Some of us cross country skied, I donned snowshoes for the first time and, in Iditerod style, dragged Ava in a sled behind me, fastened to my upper body by a custom made rope harness by the one and only, Auntie Poopkins.

Maybe it is the year and a half of relative dormancy, or the cesarean (can I still use that as an excuse?!?), but every fiber of every muscle in my body was put to use on our several mile long haul through the woods. I am not sure it is ladylike to, um, perspire, like that...

Little Ava was pretty tired and looking forward to a meal when we returned, although she spent most of the trip squealing with delight at Miles snow shoeing next to her, Nuala jogging ahead and then back to the sled in her orange dog vest and making engine revving sounds whenever I stopped to rest.

I had to carry her in my arms for the last of it, in the deepest of the snow-I barely made it. Clearly, some sort of regular exercise regime must be employed, and quick, before this little human reaches 30 pounds and I really can't carry her!

We snacked on some Maine blueberries from our family's blueberry land when we got home. I love Ava's little blue lips and stained fingers, how sweet.

You can beat the winter blues, with some outdoor activity, some blueberries and a gathering of your nearest and dearest. Just make sure you stretch afterward. Just for input-what do you think of the collage option of pictures? I like the look, and it is faster, but I feel like I can't see them well enough...Thoughts?