Just because school’s back in session doesn’t mean you have to throw in the towel on family adventures. In the spirit of the season, make your outings educational. With cooler days and fewer crowds, fall’s an ideal time to explore the many cultural sites and ancient ruins around the country. Learning vacations shouldn’t be a tough sell. After all, most kids are natural-born archaeologists: They ask a million questions and love to dig in the dirt.

Archaeologist and Harvard professor Matthew Liebmann explains which historical sites are the most kid-friendly.

But setting little ones loose on ancient ruins without advance prep is a recipe for mayhem, as I learned on a family trip to Gisewa Pueblo in New Mexico earlier this summer. The Native American settlement, dating back at least 700 years, was once home to a 17th-century Spanish Mission church and today is home to some 2,000 people of the nearby Jemez Pueblo community. My four sons, ages two to eight, know how to hike a trail鈥攕couring the ground for beetles and lizards鈥攂ut this adventure challenged them in new ways. They couldn’t resist climbing and exploring ruins, nor could they slow down long enough to appreciate the subterranean stories of an ancient culture, preserved just beneath the topsoil.

But, lucky for us, our tour guide was , friend, Harvard professor, and archaeologist, who’s spent over a decade living with the Jemez people and studying their ancestral heritage.

With a little guidance, the kids learned to explore cultural sites with respect and curiosity, to become, as Liebmann puts it, “modern-day Indiana Joneses, who are both brave and ethical, and won’t run into a sacred temple and swipe an indigenous people’s most cherished idol.” Follow Liebmann’s five ways to raise budding archaeologists; then let them loose, feeling more responsible, at one of Liebmann’s top kid-pleasing cultural sites this fall.

(Actually, at a time when sojourners are rushing after , these are behavioral guidelines we can all stand to practice.)

Take only pictures; leave only footprints.
Don鈥檛 remove arrowheads, shards of pottery, or any other artifact from a park or historic site. You might pick them up and look carefully, with curiosity, but once you’re done, put them back where you discovered them. “These artifacts are pieces to a puzzle we want to preserve as archeologists so that we can learn from them,” says Liebmann. “When they are removed from their place, the pieces lose their contextual story. And the place loses a piece of information that could shed light on how people inhabited and survived in the world at that time.” If you think you found something of magnitude, leave it where you found it and alert a park authority.

Make weird things seem normal and normal things seem weird.
When approaching a new culture with kids, point out the similarities鈥攖hat they lived in houses, just like us. Then admire the differences鈥攖hat their houses were built into cliffs. Ask questions: How did they eat? What did they eat, and where? 鈥淪ometimes people in the past did things that seem really weird to us today, but they did those things for good reasons, some of which are similar to why we might do things today,” says Liebmann. “Why would people crouch down in a hole for hours on end in order to catch an eagle, to get some tail feathers? They could ask the same thing about why we wait hours in line for a chance to see Justin Bieber.鈥�

Impress upon your kids: It may be different, but it’s not bad.
When visiting ancient ruins, says Liebmann, “let go of the presumption that because the people lived long ago they were either savages or stupid. Many of these cultures lasted thousands of years鈥攁 lot longer than [our culture] has to date鈥攁nd they came up with ways to live, survive, and even thrive in the world.” Pay attention to how cultures adapted to their environment. Was it arid, or wet? Hot, or cold? Visiting historic places is a great opportunity to appreciate diversity and encourage empathy.

Study up and develop a discerning eye.
Do some reading before your trip so you can tell your child about the site in advance. “Going beyond Wikipedia pays off,” say Liebmann. Discuss how you expect them to behave. Consider scheduling a tour with park rangers or local guides, as they know the area inside and out. Pay attention to the details; something that looks like a hill in a wide-open, flat space might actually be the remains of a thousand-year-old village. Train your eye to notice what is manmade and what was caused by the elements. “This discerning eye is a skill that gets sharper with practice and research,” says Liebmann. “It’s like bird-watching. When you start out, a bird is a bird. But as you learn, you begin to recognize the exotic ones.”

Don鈥檛 try to do it all in one day.
Start with the most impressive section and work your way out. Covering one section well is better than messily trying to cover all of them. You’ll need to be ready to pull the ripcord at any time with young ones in tow, so pack plenty of water and snacks, and make sure everyone is dressed appropriately for the environment.

Five family-friendly destinations:
1. , Cortez, Colorado
The nine-hundred-year-old cliff dwellings of Ancestral Pueblo (a.k.a., Anasazi) look as though they were built yesterday. Don’t miss the guided tour of Balcony House. Kids will love crawling through a 12-foot tunnel on all fours to access the site, and later climbing down the ladders when it’s time to leave.

2. , Collinsville, Illinois
Just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri, this site was the ancient capital of North America, occupied from A.D. 700鈥�1400. Explore the remains of a city that boasted over 30,000 people, whom archaeologists call “Mississippians,” though we don’t know what they called themselves. Climb to the top of Monks’ Mound, a ten-storey platform where the temple of the paramount chief used to be. And see the reconstructed “Woodhenge,” a calendrical time-keeping device erected to mark the solstices.

听3.听 , Newfoundland
The only known European settlement in North America before Columbus, this site dates back 1,000 years ago. See the excavated remains and reconstructed versions of the peat-turf houses that were briefly occupied by Norse seamen (a.k.a., Vikings) during the time of Leif Erikson.

听4.听 , Virginia
In the past decade, archaeologists have discovered the site of the original Jamestown Fort鈥攁mong a slew of other finds. Kids will love the ferry ride across the James River and the hands-on archaeology demonstrations. Bring your swimsuits and take a dip in the river after your visit, or detour to nearby Colonial Williamsburg. Jamestown is home to an impressive museum as well.

5. , Mexico
Just north of Mexico City, this bustling pre-Aztec metropolis of over 100,000 people was the New York City of the Ancient World, thriving from 300 B.C.鈥�A.D.600. The city is home to the Pyramid of the Sun, which is one of the largest pyramids in the world, built upon a base larger than those in Egypt.

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Fueling active, outdoor kids is a constant challenge. It can take a delicate balance of smart substitutions, added but unnoticed ingredients, and patience to fuel growing bodies. So we reached out to , a leader in nutrition choices for children, for rules and recipes the whole family will love.

1. The more alive your food is the more alive you are
Food that is alive is chock full of vitamins, nutrients, and minerals our bodies can easily recognize, absorb, and use for fuel. To illustrate this, try the rot test: Put out whole foods verses processed package food and watch them literally rot. You only need to do this once to illustrate that alive foods eventually decompose, unlike the snacks in plastic bags, which remain unchanged, thanks to all the artificial ingredients (this experiment isn’t wasteful if you use the rotting food as compost).

2. Level up
Find ways to make your regular menu more nutritionally dense. This can be as simple as using coconut oil instead of canola oil, adding greens to scrambled eggs, or boosting smoothies with goji berries, flax seeds, or chia seeds. The perennial favorite of afternoon snacks鈥攑opcorn鈥攊s primed for a nutritional makeover, too.

3. Make smart substitutions
Eating healthy Allergic to eggs? Substitute applesauce or cooked sweet potato. Allergic to nuts and nut flour but not seeds? Try sunflower butter in place of peanut butter, and in recipes that call for nuts, replace them with raw seeds like sunflower or pumpkin seeds. If dairy is an issue, opt for coconut, rice, goat, or almond milk.

4. Aim for 80/20
Here鈥檚 a no-guilt guideline: 80 percent of the time aim to eat nutrient-dense, whole foods your body can easily recognize and convert to fuel. For the other 20, adopt looser guidelines knowing your body will be able to handle the “insult.”

5. Take the long view
Healthy family eating is a journey, not a destination. Think of making incremental changes that will become habits for you in the kitchen and at the table. Start with your kids’ favorite foods and find ways to level up with each of them鈥攁dd pureed sweet potato and cinnamon to your pancakes batter and instead of wheat flour, try oat. Then gradually live into a more nutritious version of the meal; you just might find that what was a favorite cycles out all together because your family no longer craves it.

搁别肠颈辫别蝉听
Spinach and carrot muffins
Get in the good stuff each morning.聽Makes 10-12 muffins.

• 1 cup buckwheat flour
• 1/3 cup cornmeal (fine)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 tablespoons flax or chia seeds, ground
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 organic eggs
• 1 cup full fat coconut milk
• 1 cup fresh spinach, chopped
• 2 carrots (grated)
• 1/2 onion (grated)
• Juice of half a lemon
• 1 clove garlic (mashed)
• 1/4 cup of pumpkin or sesame seeds for topping

Preheat oven at 350 F. Line muffin tin with paper or coat with spray olive oil, coconut oil,聽or ghee.聽

1. Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside
2. Whip egg and coconut milk in another bowl, for approximately one minute
3. Add spinach, carrots, onion, lemon and garlic, stir for a minute and then add all the dry聽ingredients
4. Pour in muffin tins, top with pumpkin or sesame seeds and bake for 25 minutes
5. Delicious with fresh ghee, organic butter, or scrambled eggs

Prescribe Nutritions鈥� Popcorn, Upgraded
We love this because it takes a staple snack that鈥檚 relatively low in nutrient density and crams in a punch of protein, vitamins, and minerals. Nutritional yeast is known for its particular density in vitamin B-12, which is a boon for growing kids and adults alike. This popcorn is savory and has a cheesy flavor.

• Popcorn kernels
• Coconut oil, ghee or grapeseed oil
• 2 tablespoons tamari
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast (more as needed)

Home cooked popcorn鈥攃ook your favorite way at home, but we find this ratio works best:

• 1/3 cup organic popcorn kernels
• 3 tablespoons coconut oil, ghee聽or聽grapeseed oil聽

Drizzle cooked popcorn with 2 tablespoons of tamari and mix continuously to make sure tamari is evenly dispersed (it will get absorbed quite a bit). 聽Then sprinkle with nutritional yeast, adding more should you love the cheesy taste.

Carrot Banana Muffins
The almond flour in these makes these protein-filled breakfasts that are great on-the-go. Makes about 12 muffins.

• 2 cups almond flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 陆 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 cup dates, pitted
• 3 ripe bananas (small)
• 3 organic eggs
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 录 cup coconut oil, melted
• 1 陆 cups carrots, shredded
• 1 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 F.

1. In a large bowl, combine almond flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon
2. In a food processor, combine dates, bananas, eggs, vinegar and oil
3. Transfer mixture from food processor into the large bowl, blend until thoroughly combined. Fold in carrots and nuts.
4. Spoon mixture into paper lined cupcake pan and bake for 25鈥�30 minutes

Mint Chip Pops
We love this recipe. They鈥檒l be begging for spinach!

• 1 cup spinach leaves
• 1 cup full-fat canned coconut milk
• 1/4 cup fresh mint leaves or 1/4 teaspoon pure聽peppermint extract
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup honey or coconut palm sugar
• Dash of sea salt
• 1/2 cup Enjoy Life chocolate chips

1. In a blender or processor, blend all聽ingredients聽except聽chocolate chips until聽completely smooth
2. Pour into popsicle molds, or paper cups聽with spoons as the sticks
3. Add chocolate chips to each mold. They聽will sink to the bottom but that鈥檚 okay!
4. Freeze completely, then pop out, and聽enjoy

Quinoa Fruit Salad聽
Fruit’s a pretty easy sell for kids, but adding the quinoa adds an extra punch of vitamins, minerals, fiber and protein. Makes 6 servings.

• 4 cups cooked quinoa, cooled
• Juice of 1 large lime
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 tablespoons mint, minced
• 3 cups fresh berries, your favorite kind (if using strawberries quarter them)
• 1 large mango, peeled, seeded and chopped
• Extra chopped mint, for garnish-optional

1. In a medium bowl, make the dressing by whisking the lime juice, olive oil, honey, and mint together
2. In a large bowl, combine quinoa, blueberries, strawberries, and mango. Pour dressing over the fruit salad and mix until well combined
3. Garnish with additional mint, if desired, and pack in a bento box or other cool school-worthy container. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Avocado Egg Salad
Avocados are packed with fiber, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. We find most kids love them as is, but if not, they sure are easy to hide. Egg salad is a great way to get your kids plenty of protein. Makes enough for 2-3 sandwiches, depending on size.

• 4 hard boiled eggs, chopped
• 1 large avocados, pitted and peeled
• 1 stalk celery, diced very fine
• 2 tablespoons olive oil mayonnaise (we love Spectrum brand)
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• Sea salt to taste

1. In a medium bowl, mash the hard boiled eggs and mayonnaise with a fork
2. Add avocado, lemon juice and celery and mash again. Season with salt to taste.
3. Spread between two slices of bread of choice for a sandwich, or eat with crackers or in a lettuce wrap

Protein Power Bars
Makes 16 1鈥� square power bites.

• 1 cup raw almonds
• 1 cup walnuts
• 陆 cup freshly ground flaxseed
• 陆 聽cup flaked, unsweetened coconut
• 陆 聽cup almond, cashew, pecan or sunflower seed butter
• 陆 聽teaspoon sea salt
• 陆 聽cup coconut oil, melted
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 陆 cup chopped dried black figs

1. Pulse nuts, flaxseed, coconut, nut butter and salt in a food processor until coarsely ground
2. Add melted coconut oil to food processor along with remaining ingredients. Pulse to create a coarse and pasty mixture.
3. Press mixture into an 8 x 8 glass-baking dish. Chill in refrigerator for 1 hour, until mixture hardens. Cut into minibars and store in refrigerator.

Do NOT let kiddos eat all at once. They will be fueled for a ultramarathon!

Prescribe Nutrition invites you to participate in their upcoming two-week , starting October 14.

鈥擡lizabeth Eilers Sullivan

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It’s May 3, and it’s snowing again in St. Paul. Mother Winter has had her way with me this year. She has humbled me with her tenacity. In short, I am done with the cold.

The first snow here came on December 9, much later than normal, and it has been snowing ever since. It’s not the quantity of snow that has been hard to handle鈥攁t 67 inches, we’re only slightly above our 54-inch average snowfall鈥揵ut the constancy of it. We’ve been bundled in parkas, crusty banks of snow rising waist high, threatening to become permanent, for as long as I can remember. On April 22, with a foot of new snow on the ground, my four-year-old asked, 鈥淚s it time for Elf on the Shelf to return already?” He was right. It did look more like Christmas than a few weeks past Easter.

My family and I had planned a winter camping trip to Grand Marais: We would ski in to a teepee in the wilderness. But six weeks ago, on the first day of spring, I checked the forecast : -14 in Grand Marais, with a high of 2 degrees. I’d been excited to get off the grid, lead my family out of cell range, away from home and city streetlights, to sit around a fire cooking fish pulled from a hole in the ice. But it was simply too cold to take a two-year-old and his three older brothers into the backcountry overnight.

This is the part of family adventures that no one talks about: Knowing when to make the hard decision and call it off. Knowing when the risk outweighs the fun and the experience. This was not the spring for cutting new trails or camping out.

We were considering holing up in a heated lodge instead, when my good friend, Anne, called and invited us up to her cabin for spring break.

鈥淚’m not sure what it’s like up there or how far in the plows will be able to get us,鈥� Anne said, 鈥渂ut it will be fun.鈥� Count us in.

Most people in Minnesota have gone to a cabin, have access to a cabin, or own a cabin. I grew up going to our cabin every summer, and weekends in the winter after skiing at the local ski area. Those are some of the best memories I have: bare feet and the freedom to run to the water, explore the woods, make a fire, catch a frog, and just be lazy and bored. A cabin four hours north of the Twin Cities, with plenty of access to the outdoors but warmth at night, seemed like the perfect way to celebrate what we hoped would be the end of a long, stubborn winter.

Park Rapids, Minnesota, still features an old-fashioned main street where cars park in the middle, facing the way they intend to go after leaving their stop. It has small restaurants, old-timey grocery stores, churches, and two . Anne鈥檚 A-frame log cabin is situated on a birch-lined dirt road on the shore of , 12 miles northeast of town. When we first rolled in, the sound of snow crunching under our tires immediately relaxed me.

We spent our days sledding down hills, having snowball fights, stacking wood, and tracking deer and rabbit prints in the fresh snow. Woodpeckers echoed through the still air, and we spotted flocks of geese, a trio of deer, and bald eagles’ nests. Once we exhausted ourselves outside, we would head indoors to warm up by the roaring fire and play board games and read; the boys would go to 鈥渢heir鈥� loft, an upstairs with a ceiling just high enough to admit kids.

While we may not have been camping in the backcountry like we’d planned, it was much better than freezing in a tent. One night after the boys were in bed, my husband, Peter, and I lamented the short-sightedness of previous generations who failed to pass on land at Cape Cod or Deer Lake. If we ever got a cabin, we decided, we鈥檇 do it differently.

By the third day, the crusted snow beneath us began to melt, giving way to spring streams and melting, waist-high drifts. To avoid sinking into the snow, we began crawling like lumbering bears on top of it. On trails, I walked through the slush but avoided the shin-high puddles my boys dove into with their winter boots. They crouched down and peered into the stack of firewood where the chipmunks disappeared, discussing what chipmunks might eat as they carried one log after another into the cabin, replenishing the hearth.

On the last day of our visit, I lay in a snow bank and sunbathed, soaking up some much-missed Vitamin D after a winter full of cloudy skies. I closed my eyes and felt the cold chill beneath my back, the firm wet snow like packed sand. Nearby, I could hear my boys sledding, the sound of their boots on the snow giving way to the squelch of mud.

And for a moment, two seasons merged at the edges, hovering between the release of winter and the emergence of spring. Sleds were schlepped happily back up the hill, and birds chirped overhead as a gentle May breeze whistled through the air.

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There’s still snow on the ground in Minnesota, but summer is already streaming into my mailbox and overflowing from my kids’ backpacks. It’s time to sign up for camp.

I struggle with this every year, not just because the deadlines are so out of sync with the slush piled up next to my driveway, but also because I try to strike a balance in my children’s schedules between adventure and boredom. I’m a firm believer that long summer days are supposed to lack structure, and that kids need to have space and time to make up their own fun. They need opportunities to be bored. Out of boredom comes creativity and self confidence that might not always come from being part of an organized team or summer camp.

Plus, the more free time kids have, the easier it is for parents to get off the sidelines and get in on the action, too. I’d much rather play with my kids than spend my summer carpooling them to sports camp and parking myself on the bleachers while they practice. A parent echoed this sentiment recently after attending one of my teen-parent yoga classes. “It’s so nice to do something physical with my son instead of just cheering him on from the side,” she told me. “I used to do classes with my kids when they were toddlers, but now it happens less and less as they get older.”

Our family isn’t foregoing all summer programs; we signed our boys up for little league and basketball camps. But aside from that, we’re keeping it to a minimum. We plan to leave plenty of free time in our schedule鈥攗nstructured play time, where there is no rushing to practice or games and where the rules are left up to the imagination.

As the weather gets warmer, try these five tips for setting your kids鈥攁nd yourself鈥攆ree this season.

GO EXPLORING
Get outside with your children and wander your neighborhood parks, trails, and open spaces. Go with no agenda except to show up and play together for a chunk of time, without deadlines or expectations.

START A PICK-UP GAME
Rather than leaving the teaching to a coach, play sports with your kid. Help your young ‘uns gather a group of neighbors for an impromptu game鈥攂asketball, baseball, tag, whatever. You might find yourself rediscovering your own love for the sport in the process.

GET MOVING
Take your kids out on a bike ride, a run, or a canoe trip down a local river. The benefit of these activities is that they’re lifelong pursuits. Chances are that 20 years from now you won’t still be cheering on your son’s baseball team, but you can still get together for a hike or a sea-kayaking trip. Don’t wait until they outgrow team sports to teach them that not all physical activity revolves around competition.

PLAN A SUMMER TRIP
Take time to travel with your kids. It doesn’t need to be ambitious. Take a road trip, go camping, book a long weekend some place you’ve never been, or even just pitch a tent in the backyard. Even a slight change of scenery and tweak in your daily routine can give you all a healthy new perspective.

MAKE YOUR OWN SUMMER SPORTS PLANS
While you may find yourself standing on the side lines cheering your kid on from time to time this summer, make sure the reverse is also true. Sign yourself up for a race or some other athletic endeavor and invite your kids to cheer you on. You’ll feel empowered and inspired, and they’ll learn that being active and strong isn’t just for kids.

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It鈥檚 Iditarod season in Alaska, and the action kicked off last week with the Junior Iditarod, a proving ground for aspiring mushers ages 14-17. Sixteen-year-old Noah Pereira, a rookie from Rochester, New York, won the 150-mile dogsled race from Knik Lake to Yentna Station to Willow Lake, edging out last year鈥檚 champion, 16-year-old Conway Seavey, by four minutes.

Noah Pereira.

Noah Pereira.

So how did a kid from upstate New York beat the Alaska talent? Noah started mushing with local dogsledders when he was 10. Then his dad bought some dogs and they started their own . And for the past two years, Noah has been coached by 25-year-old Dallas Seavey, who last year became the youngest musher ever to win the 1,049-mile Iditarod, which began this weekend in Anchorage.

鈥淭his year鈥檚 race was close. At times I had to shut my eyes and not look,鈥� says Dallas, about watching Noah and his younger brother, Conway, vie for the win. 鈥淚 got a glimpse to how my mom feels when my dad and I race. It is not a question about who she wants to win. If we are both in the lead, then it has been a good race for our family. But it was difficult to watch, and dog races are great for teaching many life lessons.鈥�

Over the weekend, I caught up with Noah, who has been in Alaska with his dad since early December, and won鈥檛 go back to Rochester until after the closing ceremonies in Nome on March 17.

Tell me about your training in New York and then the last few months in Alaska.
We have nine dogs at home in our kennel in Rochester, and I typically do sprint races which is five-10 miles with four or six of the dogs. The biggest adjustment for me doing the 150-mile Junior Iditarod was the camping I did with the team for 10 hours. During the mandatory break, you check your team, care for the dogs while they rest, and feed them. This does not leave room for a lot of sleep. I ended up sleeping 20 minutes because after the tending I stayed up and talked with all the other mushers having fun.

Do you aspire to do race Iditarod when you turn 18?
I think it 鈥榙 be really neat to do it, but it costs a lot of money and takes two years to qualify. I need 750 race miles, and by the time I acquire that in a year the Iditarod has passed. But I hope to be back for it the following March. I will definitely continue mushing in the sprint races back home. It is kind of funny to think about racing that length after 150 miles.

Did being coached by Dallas Seavey give you an advantage?
Absolutely. He鈥檚 always trying to push himself and the caliber of the dogs. Dallas hooked me up with an awesome team. It was fun to work with them. Being a helper at the kennel is the only way I could have done as well as I did in the race. Since I have been up here, I have been helping Dallas every day with his dogs for a minimum of 10 hours a day. Sometimes it is mushing the dogs on a 10-mile run, other times it is sled repair in the yard, learning the ropes, and paying my dues before it is my time to race. I would like to come back up next year, but we will see how the cards play out.

I know Dallas has been known to run alongside his dogs for 80 miles at a time. Did you run along your dogs? How did you train for that?
When you are training the dogs, you stay on the sled so that there is the most weight you can have on it. So I didn鈥檛 run beside them to train. When I asked Dallas he said you are too busy doing dog stuff to find time to run. I wish I had, though, because the last 10 miles of the Junior Iditarod Race I was pushing the sled, running.

How do you think the Junior Iditarod prepares you for the Iditraod?
I have a little idea of what it might be like. It鈥檚 a lot harder than I ever imagined with the lack of sleep. This year it was warm for the race, staying in the 20s, but some years it dips to negative 40 or negative 45, and I can鈥檛 imagine being out there for long stretches without a place to warm up. That has to be challenging day after day. But the longer ride was nice compared to the sprint races I am used to doing at home.

What鈥檚 your advice to young mushers?
Keep going. Keep pushing yourself as hard as you can and hopefully you will make it here. I couldn鈥檛 have done this without the support and help of my parents, friends, family, and teachers. It is great to have support like this from my parents. I hope every kid gets to do something a little like this.

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鈥淚 think we should have the pool truck flood the rink,鈥� I told Peter, my husband, in late December.

Peter and Henry making ice.

In action, baby in pack.

鈥淣o way!鈥� He looked at me with disbelief.

鈥淩eally, you haven鈥檛 started on it, and it鈥檚 after Christmas.鈥�

In Minnesota, December is late to not have begun flooding your backyard rink. The boards have been set up since early November, when it was so unseasonably warm out that we wondered if it would ever get cold enough to flood.

Minnesota, the state of hockey鈥攂oot hockey, broom ball, floor hockey, shinny, and, of course, ice hockey. A place where the temperature regularly dips below zero (not including wind-chill); where people commute to work all year round by bike no matter the snowy conditions; and where children learn to crawl, walk, skate, and then run.聽It鈥檚 no wonder backyard rinks thrive. Ice is Minnesota鈥檚 winter crop. We grow rinks. We water them. We tend to them. We light them by night for evening skates and check them in the morning to assess their condition. We watch the temperature and try to predict how a seven-day forecast will affect their skatability, much like farmers watch for rain.

Minnesota, where people look at real estate differently:聽How big a rink will this yard hold?聽And if not a large yard,聽Where can I squeeze a rink in?聽The state that brought you many of the players for the 1980 Olympic team highlighted in the film聽. Yes, the wise Coach Herb Brooks is right: 鈥淕reat moments, come from great opportunities….鈥� And sometimes that opportunity is taking advantage of the harsh winter climate to make ice.

This is our second year of flooding our backyard, which makes us very green. It started on a whim.聽We should make a rink.聽My nephews, now in college, always built a backyard rink at their Saint Paul house a mile away. My brother-in-law, Pat Williams, lovingly slaved over 鈥渕aking ice,鈥� working the hand held ice resurfacer鈥攁.k.a. the hand Zamboni鈥攖o paint his ice stroke after stroke.

Last winter, I made the off-handed comment to Pat, 鈥淲e’re thinking of flooding our backyard.鈥� Our lot in the Tangletown neighborhood of St. Paul is prime skating territory: a long, flat rectangle, bordered on both sides by fences, easily holds a 25′ x 50′ rink. Pat is an attorney by day, backyard rink extraordinaire by night. He told me: 鈥淢y partner, Mark, is looking to get rid of his rink stuff. I bet he would give it to you if you take it all. His boys are at away at Boston College. He will love you guys.鈥�

Considering that the typical cost of buying DIY rink supplies new from a local shop like is about $2,000, we were psyched for the hand-me-downs. One phone call later, we were the proud owners of ALL OF MARK鈥橲 STUFF! We became the rink鈥檚 fourth owners鈥攖he boards and supplies originated with Tom Vanelli, a Minnesota Gopher hockey legend coached by none other than Herb Brooks. We rented a U-Haul and cleared out his treasure and his junk: 2鈥� x 8鈥� boards, mats, rebar stakes to hold the boards, 6mm tarp. Then Mark came over with his drill to teach Peter how to lay out the rink.

There are two commonly employed methods for making a backyard rink. Both require that you rake your lawn clear of leaves, mow it low to create a nice flat spot for the rink. Then you lay a 鈥�6mil鈥濃�攖hat鈥檚 six-millimeter polyurethane liner, in rink lingo鈥攁nd frame the rink with聽2鈥� x 8鈥� boards, using rebar stakes to hold the boards in place. (If you’re worried about your kids impaling themselves on the stakes, try granite cobblestones like Peter did. NiceRink also sells a handy bracket we may try next year; luckily, they have a Fourth of July sale). Do all this before the first freeze.

The first approach is called the 鈥減ool-it-and-let-it-freeze-method,鈥� which Pat used for 23 years. This method requires you to loop the liner over the frame of the boards instead of under. Then you flood it with as much water as you can, making a wading pool in your backyard, and wait for it to freeze.

The second method, preferred by Mark, is 鈥渢he slow freeze.鈥� First you watch the weather for the first two to four inches of snow that will stick. The night before it snows, you lay your 6mil down and pull it聽underneath聽your boards to catch the snowfall. (According to Mark, underneath gives you the 鈥減ure sound of the puck popping off of the wood boards. This is the best sound on a cold winter鈥檚 night.鈥�) Pack the snow down against the boards where the liner meets them, and flood the snow with as little water as you can to make a slush base. Let this freeze. Then begin painting layer after layer onto your ice with a hose over the next few weeks.

Of course, Pat and Mark鈥攂oth lawyers, both rink makers of more than 15 years, with seven skaters between them鈥攊nsist that their聽method is the best. Pat likes hot water; Mark cold. Pat uses high boards; Mark low. Both agree that the hand-held Zamboni is paramount for shellacking the ice into a smooth surface and that each had the best backyard rink in the Twin Cities. Peter, who loves them both, just shook his head and laughingly remarked, 鈥淭oo many lawyers in my rink!鈥�

Flooding is an art unto itself. Zero to 15 degrees and windy is optimum ice-making weather; any colder, and the water creates long, lazy cracks that you will later have to repair. It usually takes about six to seven flooding sessions of two to three hours each to make ice that is smooth enough to skate on; you cannot walk or skate on the rink before it鈥檚 finished because you will break the ice.聽If the weather doesn鈥檛 cooperate between sessions, you will lose your ice and have to start over again. A wet snowfall can damage the surface, as can skates over time. Ice chunks build up, and you need to re-flood it.

Of course, some people skip this whole process and just call the pool trucks in to dump up to 5,000 gallons of chlorinated water in 20 minutes; according to them, the fast flow of the delivery allows for it to freeze into smooth ice. I suspect both Peter and Mark would abhor this approach.

Last year, when Mark expected the weather to be below 15 degrees, he would text Peter: 鈥淭onight is a good night to flood. I can feel it in my knee.鈥�

Prime icing time is from 10 p.m. until midnight, and some nights Pat would drive over and join Peter. Making ice can transport a person into a Zen state. Sometimes even a state of falling asleep at midnight while wearing Carhartts and spraying water from two 50-foot connected vinyl hoses. When flooding is over for the night, the hoses need to be wrapped quickly or they will freeze, and then the hoses come inside to be coiled in our basement like pet snakes, until the next ice-making night.

While we got a late start on ice making this year, eventually we caught up. Peter stubbornly refused to call the pool truck and flooded by hand instead, going out many nights after dinner to run the hoses. One time, he dozed off standing up. 鈥淚t was weird. I kinda forgot where I was,鈥� he told me when he came inside around 3 a.m. 鈥淚 lose track of time when I am out there. I feel like I could always go 10 more minutes.鈥�

Sometimes, before bed, our four boys pile out and take turns flooding, walking boards like balance beams to stay out of the way of the water while they wait their turn with the hose. And if there has been a fresh snowfall, the boys stomp down the snow to pack it, which makes a better foundation for making the next layer of ice. (Mark told us to “load the boys on a toboggan and pack it down that way to save steps.”) Our golden retriever, Henry, does his part, too: guarding Peter in his late-night sessions, trotting beside him on high alert, ears perked and ready to puff up to any real or imagined threat鈥攂ut eventually even Henry鈥檚 paws get cold and he comes in.

Once, surveying our half-flooded rink, our neighbor Bill commented: 鈥淚t is funny, or counterintuitive, but after Winter Solstice passes seems like the best time to flood. Once it starts to get warmer, more daylight, the conditions for making ice seem to get better.鈥� The observation seemed to imply Peter was slacking, but I brushed it off. After all, Bill鈥檚 is a family that spent Christmas night talking ice rinks, and only ice rinks. 鈥淲e weren鈥檛 permitted to speak of anything else,鈥� admitted his wife, Sarah.

By mid-January, we had the beginnings of a promising rink, but there were still rough ridges, so one morning Peter resorted to slowly dumping buckets of hot water along the ice to smooth them out. I noted the technique dubiously, but Peter insisted the hot water would smooth out the bumpy ice, and then proceeded to carry out 10 three-gallon buckets throughout the morning, filling them at the kitchen sink and sloshing them to the backyard. If it were spring, his trail of water would have sprouted plants. I suggested the hand Zamboni. He replied, without hesitation, 鈥淚 hate that thing.鈥�

The next morning, when our carbon monoxide detectors went off and we called the fire department to scope it out, the firefighters saw the backyard rink and said, 鈥淣ow that鈥檚 a rink!鈥� I tried to convince them to use their hose on it, to finish off the flooding in one fell swoop, and we all laughed. But I was serious. They were better than a pool truck. 鈥淭hen you can come back and skate,鈥� I offered hopefully. I think they were tempted.

Back in his ice-making prime, Mark, too, entertained ways to get the fire department into his backyard. 鈥淲hen I was a rookie, I thought, 鈥業 need to pour as much water on the rink as I can.鈥� I鈥檇 get kinda fuzzy in the brain being out back so long laying ice and wonder how I could expedite this,鈥� he confessed. 鈥淏ut in the end Mother Nature always wins鈥攊t is either too cold or too hot, so the process of making ice really relies on your patience and your flexibility.鈥� (It is not only Mother Nature the ice-maker contends with; there is also the ice-widow, who watches from the window, which is why ice making happens after the dinner dishes are done and the kids are tucked in bed.)

Now finally, we have ice鈥攁 huge expanse of smooth, clear ice. For Valentine’s Day, we hosted a broom ball party and had adults on the ice all night long. Our boys are out there almost daily, learning to skate. Pushing each other in Adirondack chairs in skate races. Wearing boots to play boot hockey. Inviting friends over to play ice hockey. Piling on snowsuits and, with a running start, flinging聽themselves聽onto their bellies and聽tobogganing聽like penguins. Even Henry has learned to paw skate, chasing pucks and tennis balls as they fly from stick to stick. Remember those old infant Excersaucers? Great for pushing toddlers and babies around on the ice.

Despite our obsession with ice, we鈥檙e the minority in Minnesota. Our boys do not play hockey for a team. But we do make ice. We do skate. We play pick-up, as a family, though poorly. Sometimes I wonder if I have done them a disservice in this, the great state of hockey. My three-year-old is already dropping hints that he wants to play hockey next year. I think I hear that pool truck coming.

Until then, in the words of Coach Brooks: “Tonight we skate!”

Elizabeth Eilers Sullivan is a frequent contributor to Raising Rippers. She lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, with her husband and four sons.

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