It's all fun and games until someone gets kicked in the eye

Today was a beautiful, bright, sunny, and windy day. The perfect winter day for sledding. I know I have already told a sledding story, but this one has a twist. You have all heard the saying "It's all fun and games until someone get's poked in the eye," well today's tale falls along those lines and poor Julia ended getting the poke....well not really a poke....

As you have heard the girls and I went sledding in the backyard. It was great first time out for the season, but the slope is small. When we went to the dentist on Thursday we spotted a good mid size hill or as Lexi says "mountain." And we decided that we would make the time to sled on it this weekend. Saturday arrived and with it the perfect opportunity to go. We had a 10:45 and 11 showing and that left us with time to kill. So the girl's begged Joe to take them to the mountain to sled.
When we started to get ready to leave Julia decided she was not going sledding. She would get out with us, but there was no way she was going down that mountain. So Joe headed up the hill with Lexi in tow. Getting the track started so that Lexi could go fast and far. Julia and I hung back froze and took pictures. We like doing that. I took her picture and she took mine. Then I took Joe's...we looked as cold as we felt. Lexi and Joe Finally made it to the top and they sledded down.

It was a great experience for Lex. She is so adventurous and loves all things exciting. She went a bunch more times. When she went alone she had a good time and landed safely. Each time she went with Joe she wiped out. So as Julia watched she decided she wasn't going to go down.

Even though I only had on jeans, I couldn't resist the action. I took a turn with Lex and we had a fun and crash free trip. I noticed that Julia was watching closely and started to seem interested. So I offered, well more like cajoled, Julia into taking a try. She finally agreed and I promised her a crash free and completely uneventful trip. I was not as right as I planned on being. She got to the top on the track and we got on the sled. By this time she was actually excited. So as we headed down I was muttering words of reassurance and excitement. Just as I was confident this was going to end with her begging for more, we lost control. That's when it happened. We fulfilled the prophecy of "fun and games and getting kicked in the eye by your mom"...Yup, I was the kicker. See as the sled was headed out of control I felt the sled tilt and I knew I was going to land on top of her. Apparently she realized that she was going to get crushed, so as I moved to keep from hurting her she moved to keep from getting hurt and in the ruckus, her eye made contact with my boot. Then her face made contact with the snow and of course, no crash would be complete without the sled whacking you in the back of the head.

So needless to say there were no more sled trips for Julia, but there were lots of tears. And I felt horrible. What a mom! I tried to encourage her and show her it would be fine and instead I tortured her.....so she went back to making her snow house. And of course immediately wanting to leave. It took some of the shine off of the day for her and me, but it didn't stop Lexi.

Lexi had a great time. "Mom, just 5 more times" then 5 turns later "Dad, just 3 more times" and so on. You can see where this is all going. In the end, we were all freezing and had to practically drag Lexi off the field. By the time we got back to the truck we were all in better moods. Julia made her snow house and that lifted her spirits.

Of course the fact that Joe said he would take them out for hot cocoa didn't hurt anyone. In the end we are all looking back on this as a fun time. Julia now has a little snow rash on her cheek bone and her ego is a bit bruised, but after many apologies, a few rounds of hangman, and some hot cocoa with a cookie to wash it down, she too has some fond memories of the day when there were lots of "fun and games until someone got kicked in the eye."