Apparently, we’ve had a “mild” winter this year in Bend. LOL. Nothing feels mild when you’ve been living in 80 degrees year round for 4 years. But the snow is still new and exciting for us, and freezing, let's be honest... so putting on all the winter gear, feeling like stuffed turkeys in it all and loading up the car is always worth the fun! Wanoga Snow Play is a well known sledding area on the way to Mt. Bachelor. All you need is a snow pass from one of the local sports stores in town, sleds (which we also found from a sporting goods store) or tubes and a good vehicle! For sledding, I would definitely getting up there earlier than later as it gets crowded fast, parking gets really limited and it's more dangerous to sled with more people on the hill. Have your kids bring their bike helmets!

My parents came to Bend recently, and with the extra hands we made sure to get up Mt. Bachelor and do some sledding. I'd like to specify that my dad "boycotts" winter (this is coming from a guy who has been in the Bay Area for the last 25 years, I don't get it), so hence my dad in jeans and a light jacket with a short sleeved shirt underneath, unaffected by cold temperatures. We couldn't be more opposite in this way haha.

This is our second time sledding with the kids this season and I am positive it won't be our last. Our kids live for speed and danger. Soren is living proof of that with the amount of bumps and bruises he has from the mph's he tries to hit anytime he is walking. We love that Bend is not far from the ski resorts, so during the winter, snow is never that far! We're only in the month of January but so far we haven't had much snow in town so it's convenient to only have to drive 25 minutes to get to some.

My parents are great sports to help haul everything around and to participate. So please enjoy these pictures of my mom sledding with Soren. Soren loved sledding and being dragging in the sled, though he lays like a dead body. His facial expressions would say otherwise. I edited out a million people out of our pictures so, don't want you thinking "how did they find a place like this without anyone?", we didn't.

The snow is absolutely beautiful though, and I love seeing snow capped mountains and snow covered pine trees. I am really really hoping for some brave families this season who want pictures in it!