Monday, January 4, 2010

"A Perfect Ending to a (near) Perfect (Week)"

OK, I'm still (almost) quoting a Christmas song post-New Year's Day ("Sleigh Ride" to be exact). I find it hard to let go of all of the festivities! We haven't undecorated yet. We don't usually do it until the 10th or so of January, but we were even later this year in putting them up. So, I'll keep you posted on our progress and when we draw the line between festive and freaky and take them down!

We went sledding again yesterday at the same giant hill you see in the picture at the top of the page. It had been an active ski hill for 57 years, but has been closed since 1996. "The hill" is now our local, sledding favorite and back in the day, was considered a ski slope for beginners.

Tell that to Lilly's almost-10-year-old friend who joined us and became airborne (!!) on her new tube sled! Her first run down, the first time she's been to "the hill", she decided to ride down from the "tippy-top" as the kids call it. She did end up grazing the fence at the bottom as her path gradually beared right for her remaining ride after "the jump". This is kind of a ledge about a third of the way down "the hill". Dave and I watched her from the bottom as the rest of our crew was deciding how high up to venture. We weren't sure it was going to end well. "Not on MY watch!" I said.

She was OK though and her reply was, "That was AWESOME!" Kudos to another strong and adventurous woman-to-be! She did complete the rest of her stint at "the hill" with the entire bottom of her tube on the ground at all times, though. She later admitted that she did not like the face-to-fence meeting after all.

The approach to "the hill" is a little ominous. There is a large trash can FILLED with neon-colored remnants of once-loved sleds that did not survive. However, so far, I have never seen an ambulance called to "the hill" to rescue the riders of said sleds.

Except for one minor collision and a resulting snowy, stinging faceplant last winter by my "youngest" (Malcolm, who is 10 minutes younger than Harrison), the crowd has a mutual respect for each other. The sledders try to steer out of the way of stationary people (like parents watching their kids whiz by) or other children and participatory parents making their way back up for another adventure. If they can't steer, you just have to sidestep FAST when someone desperately yells, "Watch OOOOOOUUUUUUUUUT!!!!!" as the whoosh gets louder and louder, closer and closer.

We had the best storm this weekend! It lasted from early Saturday morning and it was still flurrying last night! Disappointingly though, there were "only" several inches of accumulation. This was not enough to cancel school today. My kids and I were looking forward to another day of fun in the snow with pajamas on under our snow gear! The snow did make our sledding outing so much more fun though...pretty darn near perfect.

Alas, all good things must come to an end. I've been told that if they didn't, even terrific winter breaks like the one that just ended would become old hat. I'll tell you, this morning was a rude, cold, post-holiday, I can't BELIEVE I have to get up THIS early kind of Monday. No wonder the day has a bad reputation. Hey, it's a dirty job, but some day has to do it.

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