On Saturday L. and I took a trip to Pineland Farm to pick up our ski club's rental order from the Maine Winter Sports Center and decided to take advantage of the trip to do some skiing there as well.

The clouds were so low in the ski it felt like we could almost touch them.

There were only a couple of bare spots on the trail even after four days since the last storm.

L. stopped to decide which way we should go.

We opted for the easy downward slope and into the open field.

But eventually we had to make our way up the big hill.

And this hill may not look very big, but at the end of an hour of skiing, it was a killer. Of course L. made it all look so easy -- all 65 pounds of her.

My 10-year-old is already kicking my butt skiing this year ... which is a weird but not surprising since she is getting older and is in much better shape than I am. I need to get exercising soon because L is going to start gloating and I'm not ready for that just yet.

Afterwards L. and I enjoyed some fresh baked bread and soup from Foley's Bakery at Pineland's Welcome Center.

Skiing before Christmas is such a nice change from the snowless Decembers of the past few years. And it's a lot more fun getting in shape on skis than walking loops around my neighborhood.