the squibix family blog

What makes the park so great is that, in a tiny area compared to some of the woods we frequent, it has a pond, a couple of fields, a playground, and steep hills with lots of paths and lots of rocks. And I think our group made good use of all of them! Sledding was the main attraction: there was just one narrow slope, but it was fast and steep and plenty of fun to keep kids coming back for lots of runs (and without serious injury too, though there were definitely some scary and tearful moments!). The snow surface was amazing over the weekend: compacted frozen snow with a dusting of sleet and then powder on top of it, which left the world looking like a winter wonderland, but one you could walk on top of without sinking in. The best of all worlds! And so great for sledding that you almost didn't need a sled.

We really put that to the test, too, when towards the end of the morning we ventured into the woods a bit to climb some rocks. After we summited successfully I suggested, kind of as a joke, that we slide down a snowy chute between the rocks and see what happened... and then of course I had to actually try it! Then so did the kids. At that point I kind of wished I wasn't, technically, leading a church group, since what we were doing wasn't what you'd call safe. Luckily I was the only one to get badly hurt!

Besides all that sliding, there was also playing on the playground and by the creek, some bold crossings of the frozen pond, and lots of good adult conversation. No snowmen or snowball fights though: you couldn't pick up that snow without a jackhammer! I can see why the homeschool coop that met there a few years ago was a great success. I only wish it were closer to home!

Conditions weren't best either day, but of course that didn't stop us from having fun! On Monday the snow was still deep and fluffy where it hadn't been packed down over the weekend, but it was warm enough that it was also kind of sticky. Our sleds were all pretty slow, but our friends had a couple that worked fine. And when we made a jump and dug out the run-up so it was basically ice, they did great! And nobody was too badly hurt.

Yesterday was positively springlike, so I was worried that our high hopes for sledding down onto the pond—something I've been dreaming about for weeks!—would be dashed. And our first runs were pretty dire. But there was a good crowd of homeschoolers there who were willing to keep trying, and eventually we got things packed down enough that the sleds started to be able to move. Plus we stayed long enough that it started to cool down a little bit, which helped too. Not that we could ever go on the ice, though—not quite. It was so slushy on the pond that, while folks felt confident ice fishing way out in the middle, when the sleds ran off the edge of the beach they went splashing through four or five inches of slush. Of course, we had to do it if we wanted to battle for the distance record, so we were pretty wet by the time we finally headed home.

Will it ever snow again this crazy winter? I hope so! We've got more sledding we want to do!

I made them a hot lunch in acknowledgement of all their hard playing, and then after lunch we spent some time in that other great snow-day occupation: board gaming. By the time we finished the game (Harvey won, as usual) the snow had stopped falling despite some people's gear being quite wet we pulled the sleds out from the basement, got dressed again, and headed out to go sledding. Despite the kind of late start and the distance we drove to be able to sled with friends on the slopes of the golf course conveniently located across the street from the their house, we made the most of the remains of the day and got a great many runs in before it was too dark to see where the bumps were. It feels like we've waited quite a while for a real snowy day, and when we got it we were ready to enjoy it to the fullest. Plus it gave us five more hours to add to our total!

Not that it was easy! Boots, mittens, and mufflers had all been misplaced since the last cold weather. And the sleds were way down in the back of the basement. But we made it happen, and were only ten minutes late (no worries; our friends had the same problem with their own gear). By the time we hit the slope the snow had changed back into drizzle, but that didn't mean it was warm. Quite the reverse, at least for the grown-up type people shivering at the top of the hill! For the kids the main issue was that the wet wet snow wasn't particularly fast, but it got better as they packed it down. And it was prime for making snowballs!

It was lovely to be there at one of our favorite sledding spots—where we hadn't gone all winter because of our friends' careful quarantining. That said, we didn't actually manage to stay very long. After a little over an hour everyone was sopping wet and ready to go home, making it easily the shortest play time we've ever had with those friends. But it was lots of fun while it lasted! And now that it's sunny and springlike again we can look forward to running around barefoot with them later this week. Ah, the joy of an April snowstorm!

Just like the day before, we were faced with deep snow on unbroken trail. Even worse for morale, someone else had started in from where we parked and then given up after 25 yards and turned back. But we're made of sterner stuff, and even with the deep snow even Elijah marched on strongly into the woods.

It was maybe longer than we remembered getting up to the hill—last time having been under somewhat easier conditions—but moving as slow as we were let us notice opportunities along the way for some warm-up runs. It's not often we get to try glade sledding!

Despite the beautiful spot the snow was actually pretty disappointing, being both deep and sticky, and there was a little grumbling and unhappiness among the party. But we pushed on, and eventually came to the open space atop the hill, where we traversed across like explorers crossing High Greenland. And when we reached the steep part I'd been looking forward to trying since December our long journey felt well worth it! After just a couple runs we had a smooth trail laid down, and could take our fill of thrilling, if short, plunges down the steep side of the hill. And it was fine that they were short, because otherwise getting back up the hill would have been too much work!

Besides the sledding, there were also snowcovered rocks to climb up and jump off of, and planes to watch, and we spent a happy hour enjoying all those things. Then suddenly we were done—wet, and cold, and tired—and we were glad it was mostly downhill on the way home. That made pulling Elijah on the sled almost easy! We're looking forward to going back for more soon, and especially to knowing that next time will be even better: I expect never to see snow this sticky ever again.

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.

Then when we finally called it a day there was hot chocolate with whipped cream waiting inside. Pretty good day!

We've never experienced golf course sledding before, but I can't deny the appeal: there's not just one hill to go down, you have your choice of dozens! It helped that with the icy snow you didn't really need to break a trail to have a good run. The best part was sliding across the water hazard at the bottom of one hill, as pictured above. The second best part was when we all got tired we were able to walk right across the street to a warm house and be treated to hot chocolate and a lovely lunch!

I know Harvey and Zion are wonderful sledders and fully enjoy being outdoors, but I was delightfully surprised by how well Lijah did. It was cold—probably not a whole lot above 10°F when we started—but he didn't mind it at all. He was excited for the first run down the hill, and then he managed to recover after a pretty good wipeout on the second run (he yelled alot, then when he calmed down he declared he wasn't going to use the blue sled again). He was having such a grand time that on the way home I had no qualms at all about stopping, at the boys' request, to play on the frozen Concord River.

The town very kindly plowed the dirt road to the boat launch, so we were able to spend a pleasant half-hour sliding on the ice on the river and in the woods (the river having been very high when it froze). Once again, I'm sure we'll all sleep well tonight!

Lijah stayed home with Grandma (and Cindy—thanks for the entertainment!) so I was able to concentrate on encouraging the bigger kids. And they all did great! Zion and Nisia stuck to the snow tubes (and the plastic toboggan with me), and took dozens of delighted runs down the big hill. They complained some about the walk up, but kept at it nevertheless. Harvey was fearless on both the plastic toboggan and the real one, which he got back on even after a ferocious crash into the stone wall at the bottom of the hill that left him with a scrape on his chin and a couple of sore teeth. If only we had been out after lunch instead of before it, we might have been there three hours instead of just one and a half.

Of course, I did some sledding too, and made it through the gap in the stone wall into the lower portion of the field by myself on the toboggan and with Zion on the plastic sled. I was pretty impressed with myself... I've still got it! Even Nelly took one run down, on a snowtube—she has video evidence if you don't believe it.

Nisia won't be back again til summer, but we hope the snow puts in another appearance—we had such a good time we'd hate for that to be our only sledding of the season!

Other times, we just have to do our best. The boys have managed three major sledding days in the last two weeks of this crazy winter: one on the fabulous hills by Taya's house.

Another with my parents at the hill of my youth.

And one more with me this Monday, before the temperature shot up 60°F (ok, only 35° from when we were actually outside sledding, but still) and the snow disappeared in short order.

The other disappointing thing about sledding pictures is how they never manage to show the slope of the hill properly. That last one is pretty steep.

Just a few short years ago a bad day of sledding had me promising never to take the boys out again until Zion was seven. Obviously that was an idle threat, but it was also a misguided one, because they're now champions on the slopes (having the right gear helps.. thanks grandmas!). Even Lijah enjoys his few trips down the hill, and is happy to hang out with the big boys as long as they're having fun. Even when he gets sleepy... if you look carefully at the photo of Harvey up above you'll see the little one in the background about to tip over. Here's a close-up:

He was pretty much asleep with his eyes open at that point; when sat down with him and put him on my lap he cuddled right up and went to sleep. Then I put him in the car seat and enjoyed another 45 minutes of sledding with the big boys. We need to get it while we can!