Scott and I got rid of our internet back in August. (Thus the lack of posts). We have been very busy with Scott just finishing coaching cross county skiing at Marshall. I helped when I could, but not as much as I would have liked. Kiera joined us a few times, but practice was her usual naptime.

Scott had this past week off, so we went up for a night to stay at Bluefin and ski the Picnic Loop. The skiing was so good! The piston bully just finished groooming before we skied the first day - perfect skate skiing. The next day there were 2-3 inches of new cold snow in the tracks to break through, but still great skiing and beautiful terrain.

The cross country skiing has been really good in Duluth this year. Scott and I did a couple of races - Nordic Spirit in Duluth and the 35k at the Mora Vasaloppet. Nordic Spirit is a great local race for us as we ski the race course trails most often. Both of us were climbing well on race day, but our skis were really slow on the downhills - not even able to keep up in the person's draft just ahead of us. I was sick and would not have raced had I not preregistered. It was nice to race Mora again as that is my hometown race. Scott had a bad day, but my skis were quite good until the last 10K, keeping up with the gal in front of me. Ski racing in the winter is more to test our fitness. Usually by mid-February I am ready to be done skiing and get back more consistently on my bike.

We have been riding mostly on snowmobile trails. Since the warm up a few weeks ago, the riding has been good - icy in spots. Yesterday, all three of us took a tumble on the ice as we got a light cover of new snow.

Kiera is doing well and very busy! She talks nonstop, except during naps. We are working on potty training, but she is mostly resistant unless there is a treat involved. Grandma bought her a musical potty chair that she will be bringing in a few days. Her potty chair had a lady bug it in and since then she doesn't want to use it.