Sunday, February 7, 2010

To Slide

Yes, we just got punished with 20 plus feet of perfect powder but that's not what this is about. This is about the day before the Big Snow that rocked the east coast. On Friday we spent our afternoon building snowmen, making snow angels, and sliding down the hill in our backyard.













































(Shhh, don't tell Grayson his snowman has a bright red colostomy bag, it'll ruin the experience.)


Sledding and I go way back. My older brother (Eric), my mom, and I once lived in Minnesota for a few years (once upon a time) and 20 inches of snow was a mediocre day of precipitation there. Blizzards and white outs were the norm, so much so the school districts wouldn't cancel school because all the buses had chains on their tires. I can remember actually tunneling to our neighbors' houses in 5 layers of clothing with our Freezie Freaky gloves (remember those?) like little mole people and hanging out in our "igloos" until our parents yelled outside for us to come back in. It was not uncommon to open our front door and see more snow than sky right away. We had to walk miles and miles to our bus stop in our bare feet and....okay, okay, you get it.

For me to share the sledding experience with my two little kids is more fun than I can explain in words. I had a ball outside with them showing them all the tricks of the sledding trade:
  • walk to the left of the trail so as to keep the trail smooth and glacial
  • Hold On - Always!
  • feet up and lean back on sled to go faster
  • it's more fun to go down in pairs on your sled
  • it's less fun to have Sadie to make that pair on your sled
and lastly

  • jump ship if you're heading toward a tree (or an upright metal pole from the tetherball game your lazy parents forgot to remove for the winter)
Here's a few pictures of how their sledding experience went.
First Grayson:













































































Pretty good run, Little Grasshopper.

Next up, Abigail. Oh don't give me that look, it was totally her idea. She was all, "Put me in coach!" with Evel Kinevel in her veins, this child, and would throw a bigger hissy if I didn't let her go down the hill all by herself, trust me.














"C'mon already, Woman, I'm ready to get this party started!"
says Abby.















"Whoa, Nelly. Hold on, Hold ON, HOLD ON!"
says stupified mom who is pretty sure she's headed to the ER after this snow stunt.














Sadie looks on, unimpressed. She's waiting for the triple lutz, I suppose.














And score. Still on tobaggen. All limbs intact. No facial abrasions or lacerations.














Still smiling. Ready for round two.



























"I said READY FOR ROUND TWO WOMAN, Did I stutter?"


And then she cried because I did not push her up the hill fast enough for a second go. True Story.



******************************************

Who says the kids get to have all the fun?















What? There was an angry, rabid, vampire wolf ready to eat me whole at the end of my run, swear to God.

















See? Grrrr. An albino rabid vampire wolf - even worse. I barely escaped with my life. Or my pink tennis ball.


5 comments:

Tracy G said...

It is COMPLETELY insane, that the VA/MD area has been whacked with more snow this winter than MA!!! And might I add...I LOVE IT! I'm so happy for all of you too! I can remember what a treat snow was when I lived there, so you all must be in your glory. :-)

OSMA said...

tracy - right?!? and 10-20 more on its way?!? it is very fun but with the ever present threat of a power outage we are a little nervous too.
that must be the constant state of things in MA. now i totally get why you're so over snowstorms.

pj - it was awesome at 10 inches and now w/20 it's just a lot of shoveling, isn't it?

palmer_sean@yahoo.com said...

We've had some awesome sledding here. There's a huge hill and we even built a "ramp" to catch some air. As you can tell the kids are having to fight me for the sleds. Now you've got me thinking about my Peacock Freazie Freakies. I bet they're still in my Dad's house somewhere. I wish those would come back. Emma would love them. I'll have to check Ebay.

I've been meaning to call you but didn't want to interrupt family time since I'm assuming Andy's been off with the rest of the Federal Gov't. Emma's school has been canceled for the rest of the week! Hopefully after this next storm comes through we'll be able to dig out and get together next week.

Take care and enjoy more sledding!

Love,
Me (on Sean's laptop, watching the Bachelor, wishing this girl would make her mind up a lot faster!)

Jessica said...

I am so jealous of everyone getting snow!!! Although, winter this year in Texas has been quite exceptional by southern standards so I really shouldn't complain.

I love these photos! I bet you'll all be doing this in 30 years still :)

OSMA said...

kathleen - i think i saw pics of your ramped up hill on your blog and was impressed then. can't even imagine what it must look like now! and i think it's me who owes you a phone call. you're right, andy's been off from work this week and we've been soaking up as much daddy time as possible. makes us all want to move to alaska. well, almost all of us. i'm not quite convinced yet.

p.s. ali is so grooming herself for the next bachelorette? am i right or am i right?

jessica - my friend who lives in weatherford texas says she's envious of our snow too. i've seen pics of your state and yes, you have been busy shoveling out too!

and i'll be fortunate to be doing backyard shananigans in 30 years so from your mouth to God's ears, momma! :)