Our (happy) new year

... in which we've resolved to:

Be better parents,

Be healthier adults,

And have more fun.

Mom has outlined a daily plan that focuses on how we will spend our time with the kids, which is particularly useful during a cold Chicago winter when we can start feeling cooped up.

Mom also has started to concoct the makings of a new diet for herself - involving vegetables, Grandy! - that already has trickled down to the rest of us. Veggies and hummus, anyone?

That aforementioned daily plan also includes workout times for Mom and Dad. Mom wants to get to the YMCA more regularly, like Dad has done, and we both want to give our latest acquisition - the Wii Fit - a shot, too.

We tried it out this morning.

Here's Mom skiing.


Here's Levynn ski jumping.


Looks more like fun and games, right? It is fun, to be sure, but it's not so much a game. Mom and Levynn actually were doing balance training, one of the four fitness components of the Fit. The other components are yoga, strength and aerobics.

Via the balance board pictured above, the Wii measures your weight, calculates your body mass index, checks your center of balance and declares your Wii Fit Age - all of which you're supposed to be able to improve with the 40 training exercises that are available.

So where's the real fun? Well, that involves a lot of different activities, we hope - Dad has some instances of culture in mind - and neither begins nor ends with the Wii. But the Wii does have its pleasures. You should see Mom and Dad hittin' the roads in Mario Kart late some night.