I Own Snowpants!

If you know me, you will be surprised to learn that I own snowpants. You will try to remember a time - since I was about 12, anyway - that I was outside doing something more than skating or playing broomball, and you will come up blank. And as you think about it, you'll be pretty sure you have not seen me on a frozen lake or pond in recent years.

I just returned from two days out in the cold with 160 6th graders at the environmental learning center at Eagle Bluff. For the occasion of standing for 2 hours on a 30-foot-tall platform on a high-ropes course helping kids navigate from one challenge to the next, I utilized my new warm jacket, insulated boots, snowpants (with two layers under them) big mittens AND gloves, which I switched off (the gloves were better for clipping carabiners) and a warm hat. It was below zero for most of the morning, but I was just fine. (And shocked to be so!)

I am reasonably sure that I have not worn a winter hat since my dog died in '04 and I no longer had to walk her in the cold. Which means I have not been out in the cold for more than 10 minutes at a time in the last few years... but even though it was below zero for most of the time we were up there (oops, down there) we all had a great time.

One funny moment: as we began our night hike, we walked down a steep hill toward the path. The kids figured out that they could slide down on their butts just as well as walk - and all I could think was: "yay for snowpants!"