Welcome to Outdoor Mom!

Welcome to the 2010-2011 ski season! Eager to embrace the days, weeks, and months ahead, I’m the Outdoor Mom, and I’m hoping you’ll join me and my family on an adventure this winter. I live in Northern New Hampshire near Bretton Woods, where winter comes earlier and stays longer than many parts of the country, and I plan to enjoy every moment of it. I’m a relatively new mom: my daughter, Bridget, is three and my son, Timothy, just turned one. Before kids, my husband, Matt, and I spent our days seeking outdoor adventures on our bikes, on our alpine and cross-country skis, and on the trails of the White Mountains.

People told me that having kids changes everything, and I knew it was coming, but I never imagined the extent of it. So I’m learning new ways to get outside with my kids. I’m learning flexibility, because even when I figure out a good system, the kids change or the season changes and I’m back where I started, trying to figure out how to juggle everyone’s needs. I’ve made it a priority in my life to make it work for all of us: to do active things outdoors for all the health and happiness and personal connections we make with one another as we challenge ourselves to take advantage of the sun and snow and smiles all around us at Bretton Woods and Omni Mount Washington Resort.

Compromise seems to be an intrinsic part of parenthood, but I never wanted to give up my passion for the outdoors. I want to share with my kids the happiness and peace I find in being outside. I want to share the anticipation of new fallen snow that blankets the world white. I want to share the awe of looking out onto the imposing Presidential Mountain Range. I want to share the exhilaration of those perfect turns on skis.

So hop on the chairlift with me. Read along as we get all geared up for the ski season –learning how best to fit little feet into boots and skis and how to happily head out onto the snow. I’ll be pulling the kids in the Chariot at the Bretton Woods Nordic Center and I’ll share some of the tricks I’ve learned along the way to take even an infant out on the trails. I’ve begun taking my daughter to the Bretton Woods Kids Alpine Club for the start of what I dream to be a lifetime love of skiing, and I’ll let you know what works for us to make that an experience full of giggles and high fives. I hope to even squeeze in a few adult runs, exploring the new tree skiing on Mt. Stickney and floating through the fluff on a powder day. (I might even share where to find the powder stashes days after the big storm!) And we’ll check out Bretton Woods programs like Mother’s Day Tuesdays and Kids’ Après Ski Parties, and Omni Mount Washington Resort’s dog sledding and snow tubing.

I also look forward to your comments and suggestions. Are you a seasoned ski parent who knows how to make a day at Bretton Woods Resort work like clockwork? Or do you have questions about how to get your kids more excited about getting outside? Whether you ski alpine or telemark, snowboard or cross-country, I hope this blog proves to be a useful insight into the Omni Mount Washington Resort lifestyle and inspires you to get outside!