sledstravaganza!
I wasn't sure how we were going to spend our Martin Luther King Day yesterday. I didn't have work, so I got to spend the rare Monday with the boys; but there was also no school, so I expected that they'd probably be playing with school-going friends. So we left our schedule wide open. As it turns out, all the school-goers made sure that they had every minute programmed so after a peaceful morning of games and historical study, we were all ready when homeschooled friends invited us to join them for some sledding.
whee!
There's not a ton of snow but it was plenty to give us a few good runs down the hill. That might have been it, but then someone had the idea to run a race. So we stomped out a finish line, then a start line past which nobody was allowed to push, then the race was on! I forget who won that first one, but it didn't matter because it was followed by another, then another, then another... A sixty-second timer to get back to the start line kept everyone moving briskly up the hill as well as down. And there were enough races that each of the five kids and two dads had a chance to take a win or two (of course, I took lots more than two). As seen above, Lijah was a full participant—at least, until he face-planted with a 13-year-old on top of him. Then he went inside. But we persisted! After the races ended we tried some group challenges, and were very proud to get all five of the remaining sledders first on one snow-tube and then on the toboggan.
still at it
Then when we finally called it a day there was hot chocolate with whipped cream waiting inside. Pretty good day!