Grass Sledding

Sometimes newfangled technology works. Crispin was pining for a sled after our fun borrowing one during the last snow. Eager to provide a chance for archetypal childhood fun yet wondering how many years it might be until proper sledding snow returned to Whidbey Island, I was pleased to see an all-season sled advertised on Amazon. It worked on snow, but there were also two grids of ice one can freeze in the freezer and attach to the bottom of the sled which allows it to slide down grass. Taking a risk (it still would work on snow even if the grass part was greener than it seemed), I purchased it. It arrived; the boys helped me freeze the ice; we took the sled and ice out for a test run today, and after a kind grandfather with a pocket knife helped us chip the ice down so that the blocks fit into their slots on the sled, we were thrilled to see it worked well. Both boys had a blast. Both boys had tumbles (both times with me on the sled; I think my extra wait can cause a part to dig into the grass) and enjoyed rather than feared our side flips and rolls. Liam shows increasing comfort with risks and went down the hill backwards, as did Crispin. They had me try; again, my weight was enough to cause the back of the sled to catch the grass and cause a guffaw-raising flip.

Liam is captivated by the concluding book of the Narnia series and would have been glad to stay up all night to finish (to be honest, I am eager to read the conclusion, too; I don't remember it from 32 years ago). Crispin fell asleep while I read to Liam; I had Crispin several stories from a book of ballet stories--the plots of tales from famous ballets such as The Nutcracker, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Daphnis and Chloe--and Crispin told me all the parts we was playing in the various ballets before he drifted off to be carried to bed.