Hartland Winter Events

Hartland Winter Fest (ice sculptures, chili cookoff) is coming. It's pretty cool when the small town you live in hosts so many cool events, and it all boils down to community involvement, because it wouldn't happen otherwise. Another good example of this is Hartland Winter Trails. They are an amazing group that maintains the XC ski trails for anybody who wants to use them, and they do a fantastic job. Things like this can't be taken for granted.

We were planning on doing all sorts of downhill skiing this weekend, Audrey and Nicholas were pumped, but things sort of fell by the wayside. We skiied on Friday, skated at Occom Pond on Saturday, and Sunday was XC ski day in Hartland. We figured we couldn't do both without overwhelming the kids, so given the choice, they decided to XC ski w/Clara. So I went snowboarding by myself in the AM and took them to XC ski day.

I took Audrey and Nicholas along to meet some friends at Hartland XC ski day. It was a beautiful day and Clara and Aidan joined us, along with the parental units of Amber and Kathy. I get a sense they are experienced skiers because they sure knew what they were doing. Anyway, I had reservations about Nicholas keeping up, and for that matter, me keeping up, but Nicholas really bit the bullet and went for it. I'm so proud of him. Andrea, who runs the trails with her husband (again, they do a fantastic job) was overseeing the table with snacks and hot cocoa, which the kids loved.

When we set off on the trail and got more ambitious than I would have preferred, but it was a good thing because we got to see more of the trail than I usually get to. I generally do the loop in Bischoff meadow and head home, but we went for it and climbed the hill to get to Merritt Road. The climb was brutal, and the whole time I was thinking, "Heck, we gotta get down this hill, as well." We turned back a little bit after passing Jan Fisher's house, though I know Audrey could have gone on longer, and by default, Nicholas would have followed. But it was time to go home.

The trip down the hill wasn't worth the drama, so Nicholas and I walked, but Audrey just cruised down. When she sets her mind to things, she's pretty amazing. In fact, I was impressed with how well she skied, keeping up with Aidan no problem. We headed back to the car in the after glow of our long journey, tired by satisfied, after having completely lost sight/touch with Aidan and Kathy. They just took off and went for an adventure. Kudos to them.

Back at the truck, we had all of our hockey gear, and of course Clara wanted to join us, so we went over to the rink around 3:30 and skated for a few hours. Clara had been up since 5:00 AM and was still going strong. She's an amazing hockey player, as well. Such a natural.

It's pretty cool how active people are, and for that matter, we are, in winter time. There are so many fun and rewarding activities to do up here, it's really great for families. We have recently picked up on hockey, not really serious, but just hitting the puck around, and it definitely makes skating a little more interesting. Plus, Audrey and Nicholas just love it. We don't want to fall into the parental trap, however, of too many organized sports. Parents just seem to run their kids ragged with scheduling, and hockey in particular has a brutal schedule with all the traveling.

Had karate last night and Grand Master Hammond was there, focusing once again on me and Robert to do the Bo Katas. It's a bit of leap for me, and I feel like I always let him down because I'm not always quick on the uptake, and it takes some time before they click with me. I'm grateful for the attention, and not so grateful, as well. The pressure is killing me. Belt testing is coming up, I'm thinking maybe in March. It still impresses me how dedicated Chip and Master Hammond (I think I'm too afraid of the guy, I'm going to lighten up and call him Joe) are, it's inspiring. Sparred with Peter, my regular sparring partner, and I'm really beginning to get a feel for learning on the fly. We'll see how this goes, I need to practice my darn katas.

Until the next time, my name is Fred Lee, and thanks for reading.