Dog Sledding Family

After its much anticipated arrival Nicki's dog sled has arrived.

It coincided with a slightly lighter schedule for her, so she has been getting out with it every chance she gets. Here she is with a kiddo riding in the sled bag.

Talk about hard core. We stayed a night in one of the nature center yurts and here she is with Kaya on the back, Leo on the front, and a fully loaded sled. Talk about a bad (as in good) mama. The dogs are less impressed.

And, finally, here is a video of her in action.

If the video doesn't work here, here is a youtube link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lc_B5e1WFJA

Mushing and the Lotus Postition

Cold, sunless weather led to some pretty fantastic icicles coming off the yurt.

Unfortunately, we had a warm rainy spell that melted all of our snow, and now we are back to cold. All of the trails are extremely icy, even for walking. It's back to wood working, playing inside, and holing up until we get more snow.

During our warm spell, Leo made family history by being the first member to guide a dog sled on his own. Some friends of ours put on a junior race, lent us a sled, and let us hook our dogs (and Leo) up to it. Here are a few photos of Leo's epic, 1/4 mile, 1 min journey.
Getting ready

starting off

home stretch

victory

Despite Leo's complacent looks he was very excited about running the dogs, just not about having his picture taken.

In baby news: Kaya has perfected sleeping in the Lotus position.