We got snowshoes from my parents for Christmas. Weather was perfect on the following Saturday to go try them out. We weren't sure how Tait would do his first time out, but we all had a blast.
Living in Juneau we have, I believe, the only glacier that is right in town. With a lake in front of it that freezes in the winter the locals like to walk out on it and up to the face of the glacier. It isn't safe to walk all the way up to the glacier because it can still calve.) There are often icebergs frozen around the lake waiting to melt or waiting for winter to end so they can move on toward the ocean (and melt). It isn't entirely safe to approach them either because, apparently, they can roll even frozen in the ice.
Anyway, we strapped on our snowshoes and headed out onto the frozen lake to find an iceberg. Tait wasn't sure what he thought until we had ours on too. He was extremely patient as he learned how to walk without stepping on the shoes. He even fell oven on his back without any tears or complaining. When he did step on a shoe he figured out how to move his foot to get it off. Daddy helped by lifting it with his pole, so Tait tried to use his pole to lift his shoe. Not as effective, but cute to watch!
As we approached the iceberg Mike asked if he wanted to go up to it. "No," he said. Smart kid :). But we did anyway. I enjoyed taking some cool photos of the ice and Daddy and Tait explored. We even got Tait to say "iceberg." We all took to the snowshoes pretty quickly since a few people had warned us about walking with a somewhat wider stance. We're excited to get out on more trails this winter and have fun!
