Pulling Out the Big Dogs

Every year in the dead of winter, we are forced to be inside for much too much of the day. The boys don't really want to go outside, but they are forced to go outside. I am a firm believer that fresh air builds immune systems. I open the windows in the dead of winter to air out the house and let fresh air clean my house for me. I don't believe that cold causes colds and I am convinced that warm houses breed more germs, thus more illness. Since the boys were babies, they have been yelled at by well-meaning older neighbors for going shoeless in the winter. For being shirtless in the pouring rain, for being hatless in the snow. Yet, knock on wood, they remain the healthiest children I have ever known. I can count on one hand the number of sick visits we have had in our childrens' lives. Now, if we are talking injuries, I'm counting on hands and toes...But sickness, that is another thing.

So, although the weather has been 'nice' for winter, it's still winter! Every winter I get to this place, this head-scratching place where I sit and ponder over fun activities for the boys that are both fun and burn energy. That would immediately disqualify the high winter usage of video games and computer.

It's time to bring out the big dogs.

Tomorrow after all of the chores are complete, I will send them outside to get the sleds. I will send them scouring throughout the entire house to find every single pillow. They will be sent in search of helmets, knee pads, elbow pads, and mouthguards. Then, and only then will we teter precariously on the top edge of the basement stairs on our sleds...and plummet down, down, down. We will land on great mountains of pillows that will, hopefully, protect us from the wall at the bottom of the stairs. From the last step at the bottom to the wall stands about 18" of floor clearance. It isn't much room, hence the need for so many pillows. But if you can do it and not get hurt, it's a total hoot.

The first year we tried this, Jon called home one day and asked what we were doing. The boys enthusiastically told him and then he must have told them to put me on because they handed the phone over. He asked me to repeat the story, thinking the boys had surely embellished a bit. When I repeated the same story (at that time we didn't use sleds, we used laundry baskets), he paused and said, "Are you crazy?" But he relaxed a bit when I said, "Don't worry, we wore helmets". We do wear helmets. And full gear. It's a dangerous job we do here at the homeschool front. But like I said, if done properly, it's a total blast.

So tomorrow, while you are sittin' pretty, know that there is a family in Indiana who is flying down their steps hootin' and hollerin'. And maybe, just maybe, we will get Jon on a sled this year.