On New Years Day, we decided to spend the day playing in the snow. This is no easy task for us. We live in a desert type area. We do get a dusting once in awhile but it rarely lasts more than a day. For real snow we drive about 1 ½ hours to a mountain top. Ok, not too big a problem. The big problem was getting ready. We don’t have the typical snow gear you know, snow pants, waterproof gloves, insulated boots, sleds, etc.
Not willing to purchase stuff for one day we improvised. I showed my family tricks I had learned from my childhood. They couldn’t believe anyone ever lived that way. First, dress in layers- my daughters had on a pair of leggings, a pair of jeans and sweatpants. I wore stockings underneath my jeans. Next, extra socks under the only two pair of waterproof boots I had, worn by them. I put on a pair of black suede boots that had the advantages of flat heels and come up to my knees.
Plastic bags slipped over our hands and under our gloves to waterproof our hands. We each had on long sleeved t’s under long sleeved tops under hoodies under our coats. Hats and scarves finished us up. Well, sort of, now what were we going to use for sleds? Kelly was sure that boogie boards would work just fine. I stated that we used to use flattened boxes. We loaded both in the car trunk, packed up some food, peeled off several layers so we wouldn’t over heat in the car and headed off.
We finally get to the sliding hill, get out of the car, re- bundle up and trudge off through 3 feet of snow. My daughters are carrying their boogie boards. I am carrying my big piece of cardboard. My husband is following far enough behind us to not look like he belonged with us. He had good reason. We stuck out like sore thumbs among the other LLBean / Cabela dressed crowd. It was going to get worse in a few minutes.
Kelly (age 14) was walking a little ways off scoffing at my flattened out box. True to her age she had to tell me how embarrassed I should feel and how ridiculous I looked. I answered by asking if she was sure the boogie boards would work. To prove it she stopped halfway up the hill and went for it.
The board stayed put but she didn’t. She “biffed” big time. I just added that word to my vocabulary yesterday. We used to call it “plowing snow”. Off course we were laughing like crazy which really bugged her. So she turned around and challenged me. No prob!! I threw down my cardboard and very confidently sat down. One good push and I was off……well, not… one more good push…one more……pretty soon, I looked like I was rowing myself down the hill. We are all laughing pretty good by now. We were also trying hard to ignore all the stares. Especially as we picked up our failed “sleds” and walked giggling down the hill.
My husband was standing at the bottom, not sure what to think or do until he decided in typical fashion to try to fix the situation. He took the boogie board to a small snow pile and kneeling tried to slide. Nothing doing. He then grabbed the cardboard and repeated his actions. Nope, that didn’t work either. People were still staring as we trudged off.
It might not have been the most successful sliding party we have ever had but I’ll bet it will be the most memorable! And I can’t remember the last time I laughed that hard. It was great! That’s the view from my side of the street, what’s yours?
Not willing to purchase stuff for one day we improvised. I showed my family tricks I had learned from my childhood. They couldn’t believe anyone ever lived that way. First, dress in layers- my daughters had on a pair of leggings, a pair of jeans and sweatpants. I wore stockings underneath my jeans. Next, extra socks under the only two pair of waterproof boots I had, worn by them. I put on a pair of black suede boots that had the advantages of flat heels and come up to my knees.
Plastic bags slipped over our hands and under our gloves to waterproof our hands. We each had on long sleeved t’s under long sleeved tops under hoodies under our coats. Hats and scarves finished us up. Well, sort of, now what were we going to use for sleds? Kelly was sure that boogie boards would work just fine. I stated that we used to use flattened boxes. We loaded both in the car trunk, packed up some food, peeled off several layers so we wouldn’t over heat in the car and headed off.
We finally get to the sliding hill, get out of the car, re- bundle up and trudge off through 3 feet of snow. My daughters are carrying their boogie boards. I am carrying my big piece of cardboard. My husband is following far enough behind us to not look like he belonged with us. He had good reason. We stuck out like sore thumbs among the other LLBean / Cabela dressed crowd. It was going to get worse in a few minutes.
Kelly (age 14) was walking a little ways off scoffing at my flattened out box. True to her age she had to tell me how embarrassed I should feel and how ridiculous I looked. I answered by asking if she was sure the boogie boards would work. To prove it she stopped halfway up the hill and went for it.
The board stayed put but she didn’t. She “biffed” big time. I just added that word to my vocabulary yesterday. We used to call it “plowing snow”. Off course we were laughing like crazy which really bugged her. So she turned around and challenged me. No prob!! I threw down my cardboard and very confidently sat down. One good push and I was off……well, not… one more good push…one more……pretty soon, I looked like I was rowing myself down the hill. We are all laughing pretty good by now. We were also trying hard to ignore all the stares. Especially as we picked up our failed “sleds” and walked giggling down the hill.
My husband was standing at the bottom, not sure what to think or do until he decided in typical fashion to try to fix the situation. He took the boogie board to a small snow pile and kneeling tried to slide. Nothing doing. He then grabbed the cardboard and repeated his actions. Nope, that didn’t work either. People were still staring as we trudged off.
It might not have been the most successful sliding party we have ever had but I’ll bet it will be the most memorable! And I can’t remember the last time I laughed that hard. It was great! That’s the view from my side of the street, what’s yours?
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