Frozen Family Fun

I think it was a week ago, on a Saturday, that we went sledding. We finally had enough snow fall, and stay, that we could play in it. The sun came out and I took the kids sledding at Ellenburger Park. It's a great park to play the other times of the year and it's half way between my house and the kids' school. They have a playground and swings, and a pool at the top of the hill and a baseball diamond and tennis courts at the bottom of the hill. The hill that is run down in the summer is slid down in the winter. The kids had a great time!

I was grateful that Neta fell asleep on the way there and stayed asleep the whole time. I felt just a touch of "that's too bad" that she got all decked out in her snow gear and didn't use it for snow. It did help keep her warm in the car though.

We only have one sled, which we bought the year we went to Nauvoo. Four kids and one sled I knew meant a referreeing headache for me, but I wasn't sure what to use. In Nauvoo, we used cardboard left over from presents but I didn't have anything that big. I had just washed the two cookie sheets I have, so I grabbed one. The kids are small enough, I thought, that it should work.

I had to use my frozen foot as a brake.

They made it to the bottom of the hill without rolling over.

The cookie sheet was fabulous and the kids each took turns with it and the big sled. They all tried it and went down on it. I even tried it and I can't complain. Not the fastest thing on the hill, but it worked. Until the end.



Xela kept falling or rolling off of it and bonking herself on the head and wanted to trade someone for the bigger sled, but they'd lost interest in the novelty of it. The last few rides down the hill were four bodies on a two man sled. Good thing we are small people with small kids!

After about an hour, maybe it was 90 minutes, either way, my toes couldn't take the cold anymore, despite the two layers of socks, and I told them one more ride. Xela and Ro each snuck in two. We went home and had some hot chocolate to help thaw ourselves out. Here are some other pics of our frozen family fun day.

Four little monkeys sitting on a sled...

Up the hill for another ride