Sometimes out here in MN I joke that we live in a real life version of a Richard Scarry book- with travellers on bikes, Tall Bikes, unicycles, motorized bikes, recumbent bikes, walking through skyways, segways, Rollerblades, boats on the Mississippi, skateboards, trains, snowshoes, skis, cars, buses and the light rail- amidst a bunch of other modes of transportation that I am forgetting. 

I bet you didn't know that we are often ranked as the number 1 or number 2 cities for biking in the United States, did you?  You probably thought things like the frigid cold temperatures would keep people indoors, but really it just makes people modify their rides a bit, and certainly their clothing.

And that is precisely what I have been looking to do, with little success.  This winter I have been looking into ways to get Noah and I outside when even without the frigid temperatures the sheer depth of the snow would make playing really hard on the kid.  For some reason I am really attracted to the idea of getting back into cross country skiing, which I haven't done in years upon years. 

However, before I shell out the money on a nice set of used skis, I have to think about what am I going to do with Noah while we do this.  I can't wear him in a sling, I can't have him perched up near my shoulders in the baby backpack, and the stroller would just sink. 

So I decided to look into a way to convert our stroller to be a sort of bobsled or dogsled.  You can find commercial versions of this online, but the cheapest version runs about $250.  Ouch. 

I was happy to find a tutorial that shows how to make a homemade version, which can be welded to a stroller frame, and another from here in MN that doesn't require any damage to the wheels.  I'm not sure if we'll be able to get it done by this winter-- things are crazy busy right now and blessedly the long winter is coming to an end, but during the spring, thrift store skis are in abundance and we can be outside for longer working on projects without risking frostbite, so I'm adding one to the Honey-Do list.