During winter break, my family and I usually catch up with my cousins out in California. In the course of our conversations, it never fails to come up that “Chicago is nice, but the winters are freeeezing” and “Chicago is no fun in the winters.”  I can understand how the single-digit temperatures may be daunting, but instead of letting winter get you down, I think one should embrace it. Once you do, you can see that winter is the best environment for many great pastimes.

My utmost beloved winter activity is sledding. There’s a big hill next to Soldier Field along the lake where my family goes to sled every year. We are usually joined by other kids, and we all race each other down the hill. This activity is simple, fun and free, and I look forward to it every year.

Skiing is also a great winter sport in Chicago. Many people think that Illinois is all cornfields (in fact most of it is), but just an hour’s drive north, there are pretty big hills that serve as a decent skiing course. The hills aren’t that challenging, but they’re a great deal of fun, and an enjoyable way to hang out with my family.

Another fond pastime for family and friends is ice skating. The Millennium Park ice rink is right down town and is beautiful, free, and has a movie-like background. Whenever I go there, I imagine myself gracefully gliding across the ice, with the sparkling city glimmering behind me. Now, in reality, I’m constantly falling and knocking into rails but my clumsiness doesn’t diminish the amount of fun I have.

There are also other things, also, like spontaneous snowball fights and winter walks. So, you see, Chicago’s winters aren’t that bad after all. The temperature might be freezing, and there might be gazillions of inches of snow outside, but this weather holds its own little ways to have fun, and makes Chicago’s winters exceptionally awesome.

In my DVD Activate & Be Great The CAMPUS Kids and get ready for one of our fit-family-fun performances by practicing our songs and dances. In the Summertime we perform those shows live 4-5 times a week. In the Winter it’s only a couple of times a month. It can be hard to stay active when the weather makes you want to burrow underneath the covers to stay warm. At my house we have turned our family game night into a family video game night that involves physical competitions using the Wii. In the event of a power outage we break out our mini trampolines and have jumping contests in the living room. Anything to get our blood pumping. That’s the trick, whatever you do make sure you raise your heart rate and break a little sweat. That along with healthy meals throughout the day, will ensure a peaceful nights sleep. Like I always say, “Active Play, Healthy Food, and Peaceful Sleep” added together equal AWESOME Fun!

SMILE On!

Miss Lori

“The weather outside is frightful which makes it hard to get regular exercise. What do you do in the winter months to keep yourself active, healthy and fit?”

Abi age 10~
During the winter I take dance classes and play Wii fit a lot. I drink a lot of water and try to eat healthy snacks like apples, strawberries, grapes and carrots. I also like doing sit-ups and push-ups with my mom and brother. We have competitions and it is fun.

Sinead age 17~

In Winter, show choir season really starts up at my high school. With rigorous dances, I get so much exercise rehearsing every week! I never dance harder throughout the year than I do in Winter, because competition season begins in January, and the months leading up to competitions are spent solely on dancing our butts off to prepare for competing! I also teach gymnastics throughout the winter. I think it’s really important to stay active, even throughout the winter, and teaching gymnastics helps me to get the exercise I need on an almost daily basis while I’m at work. Plus, it’s fun! I really love being active and running around, so I make sure to stay fit throughout Winter!

Tess age 9~
To keep my self healthy and fit I do indoor speed skating, (and of course gym at school).

McKenna age 11~
Well I dance all Winter long… It’s my winter sport. My dance team rehearses more in the winter than in the summer…. but during Winter Break… I love playing in the snow!!!!! We have a BIG hill right behind our house. No more than 5 minutes… (well not when we’re in snow gear). I love going to the hill with my friends. Last year they were doing construction and my older brother Jason and I went to the hill to find a GINORMOUS hill of dirt. It was SO steep and SO much fun to go on. I also like going to my friends houses and making snowmen and drinking hot chocolate. That takes a lot of energy!!!! (no joke!!!!). If we’re not found at my friends houses, we like going to the YMCA. Most the time we go swimming. They have a diving board and if we get lucky the diving board will be open and all we have to do is take a couple minute swimming test and we’re in!!!! This year we’re old enough to go in the exercise room, so we might go there this year, I’m not sure though. Thats how we get exercise in the cold winter months though!!!!!!!

Elita age 9~
My family and I are concerned on how to stay fit, but we found an answer! We will do exercise tapes and jog on our mini tramp! I think those are two great solutions!

Kyra age 11~
Sometimes we choose to take public transportation instead of driving places. Since the train station is 6 blocks away from our house, I get exercise that way. At Christmas and other seasonal holidays with lots of sweets, I try not to eat to much!

Jaedyn age 6~
I do the Wii Fit Plus! My favorite games are Hula Hoop, Ski Jump and Obstacle Course. I like them because they are really fun and really active. The Hula Hoop is really active because you are moving around like you have a hula hoop on your waist.

Ava age 11~
During the winter season I like to swim and when the weather is nice I ride my bike or walk. If there is snow on the ground I might have a HUGE snowball fight with my neighbors. I also live near a forest and my family and I take long walks with my dog.

Ariana age 9~
I love being active. My favorite activity to do when it is cold outside is swimming! Yes, I said swimming but of course, it would indoors! Swimming is my favorite activity because it works out all of the muscles in your body. My mom, sister and I play games in the pool. Sometimes we pretend to be mermaids and other times we will play water volleyball. For some reason, even other sports seem more fun when you play them in the water!

Anaiya age 7~
I love doing gymnastics! I just started taking gymnastics classes and I love doing it and the best part is, you can do gymnastics even when it’s cold outside! I am learning to do flips and handstands the right way so that I don’t hurt myself and I get to learn with my friends which makes it even more fun!

This has brought some questionable fads.  I’ve seen quite a few girls in school, the mall, and at the movies wearing Uggs with shorts–thank goodness there is not a guy equivalent to that.   Why do Uggs make girls think they can combine two seasons of clothes into one outfit?

For guys, it’s tough enough trying to talk to a girl and get noticed.  Should we start wearing winter coats and flip-flops or winter boots and a tank top to fit in?

In our minds, we’re thinking is it warm or cold out?  Make up your mind and choose your outfit that way.  Maybe turn on the news or your computer before leaving for school and check the weather.  That way, you’ll know if you should wear a summer or winter outfit.  If it’s warm wear your shorts with flip-flops and if its cold wear your Uggs and jeans. Quit mixing seasons because you’re throwing guys off and we need all the help we can get.

Isn’t the point of wearing Uggs to keep you warm?  So if you’re wearing shorts, keeping warm is clearly not your main priority.  And ladies, us guys are pretty literal thinkers.  We are already scared enough to come and talk to you.  Then you throw us for a loop by dressing for summer and wearing shoes for snow.  Maybe that’s why boys go up to girls and jumble their words or don’t even go and talk to them.  What are we supposed to say “Wow it’s really cold today..I mean warm…Cold!…Warm!?!”  Ugh, please help us out!

I wanted to figure out if other boys even like Uggs, so I decided to ask a few and here’s what I heard—

“Uggs put the ug in ugly!”— Pat

“They aren’t so bad.”— Joe

“They are over priced, and they just kill a lot of animals. I think they are kind of dumb.”— Mike

“I think they are over worn.”— Daniel

“I don’t know why girls wear them.”— Mark