Baby It's Cold Outside

This week, Trent and I spent a little time out at his brother and sister-in-law's place outside Drumheller. I really like them, and their daughter's adore me, so I can't complain - other than 2 year olds are exhausting.

One of the afternoon's we decided to go sledding. Seeing as Kurt and Meg live on a pseudo acreage, we had our pick of private hills. And I conveniently hadn't taken mine and Michelle's sleds out of the back of the car since I moved to S'toon.

Trent and I went together first to show Tate how it's done.

We're champs like that.

It was a good run. Right up until we went over a ledge and the front of our sled planted firmly straight down where it landed, launching Trent and I straight down into a snowy face-planted, tumbled heap. I killed myself laughing.

We're champs like that.

But watching us disappear over a ledge, didn't deter this two-year-old. She was ready to go when we got back up. So off her and dad went. Then she wanted to ride with me. Let's do it.

After a run or two, Trent wanted to race us down. Deal.

Halfway down, I'm really not sure what happened; we collided, but not in a BAM kind of way, more like a bump kind of way, yet somehow it caused both of us to roll. Trent thinks he bit it first and afterwards, Tate was proud that she made uncle Trent roll, so maybe that little devil really did do something. Either way, all I know is that I barrel-rolled over Tate, taking the brunt of it on my head as I dove over her.

After a quick glance at Trent and I who were laughing, she said, "Let's do that again!" Not gonna lie, I was impressed. A tumble like that coulda been the end of all our fun given any other toddler.

I'm actually not sure she ever would have admitted defeat to the cold or exhaustion. She didn't want to stop sledding when we wanted to head over to a bigger hill Trent had spotted and wanted to take a run at before we went in.

After carefully side-stepping down a little so he could see over the edge, our big hill didn't seem like such a good idea anymore. Trent went further over though and decided on a spot he thought he might survive. So I pulled out my camera.

The first run actually went really well. The hill was steep, but the ride was smooth and there was a nice, snow-covered, frozen pond at the bottom to ride out on.

In true brotherly fashion, since Trent had successfully done it, Kurt had to do it too. So I waited my turn up top with Tate so that she wouldn't get any bright ideas. She wanted to try it too.

Pics really can't do justice the steepness of this hill. You can't see the slope from the top. It's like a rollercoaster when you come over the top of a rise, right before you plunge back down, and then do. It was totally wicked.

Once the three of us had tried it, Trent decided it'd be safe enough for Tate to ride down too. At first he figured on someone's back because sitting wasn't really an option, but then they decided to have her lay under Kurt on the sled.

It worked like a charm and that girl is fearless.

Meg came out and joined in the fun too.
And this is probably the best pic to illustrate the fact that you're sledding over an edge into the unknown. Pure adrenaline.

Since Trent's first "risky" run on this big hill turned out not so risky afterall, he explored the original area he had checked out, the area with the actual drop-off. He decided to try the safest looking section.

It was an impressive run. Until he flew into/wiped out over the only three wood stumps sticking up out of the snow. Then it was just hilarious. He pulled the stumps out and did it again to redeem himself.

This hill is a gold mine.

All in all it was a great day, but man it was cold.