Urhhm….snifff snifff….I mean HOOOO…SNIFF something in the vents here….like pollen season in winter, right? 🥹🥹🥹 That is really beautiful and you’re both really, really lucky. Also: Reenact that on your TikTok while she juggles fire. Be the cool dad!
It's never too late! Last year, my hubbie and I found a hill close by for sledding. He lay on his belly and I lay on top of him. He got facefuls of snow and I screamed wildly. Oh, and did I mention we're in our sixties?
You’re right. It’s in the Dad Bylaws! I’m sure little Baxter’s precious head was just fine. He could be dealing in stolen art on the dark web, but his head—aces.
To turn an oft-used phrase on its ear: "The giggle's in the details."
Case in point: "The kid was cocooned in a snowsuit that looked like he was outfitted to defuse a bomb on Mars." Lines like that make me glad I'm on Substack.
As for snow, I grew up in Southern California, which puts the kibosh on toboggans and so forth. However, we had similar scenarios at the beach – you know, with breaking surf, and the occasional shark (the fish, not the lawyer). My siblings and I would flail around in the waves, ducking under the larger breakers and occasionally dodging the wayward surfboard, while our parents were too busy playing gin rummy and drinking well-hidden vodka tonics to pay attention. If a rip tide came (and they did): "Hell. Kids float. Your turn to deal, Harriet."
Thanks Larry! Those beach shenanigans sound pretty great….especially right about now. High of 14 degrees and as you know, a whopper stahhhm incoming! We’re stocked up on hot cocoa and blankets-ready! 🩵❄️
Where I grew up snowstorms were a yearly occurrence. School was out for two weeks. We manufactured sleds from every material you can think of. Starting with plastic wood. It was my highlight of the year.
It sounds like you had the ideal kid winter situation! I also remember having more snow as a kid and it seemed to start earlier in December so you really felt like you got in a ton of powder play :) I bet your sled designs were epic :)
That might have been the line where toy companies were like "Wait, we're arming them?" There was literally nothing that we couldn't make into some kind of device used to taunt death until the street lights came on.
Metal disc sleds. Many high velocity crash memories. Like when I tied it to my Siberian Husky who promptly sprinted down the hill and into the woods for a harrowing ride. When Clark Griswold revealed his super glide disc in Christmas Vacation, I thought he’d be a pretty f’ing cool dad. 😄
EXACTLY! A whole bunch of us watched that scene from Vacation and were like "He could have gone a little faster, actually." How much pot was consumed coming up with these "sled" concepts? I was also of the college era of "borrowing" a tray from one of the eateries and sending that down the hill. So much innovation. Like--SO much.
I miss my toboggan. Would you believe it was made out of wood with stuffed orange plastic cushions? Now that was a real snow ride. But there’s something to be said for the street cred of a steel trash can lid too surviving as a makeshift sled
SERIOUSLY?! Who were you, VERUCA SALT?! FANCY! You were super lucky to have that sweet ride. Trust me, there was no trash can lid street cred, only envy...deep, deep envy :)
Wow. I would have begged to be friends with you just for a chance to ride it. That and the ESPRIT bag and Bonne Bell lip smacker collection. I see you, 1986 Beth
Love this tribute to a beautiful snowy day! I am much older that you so had even less supervision in my childhood and it was the greatest! With my own kids I would warn parents who dropped their kids off that, in our neighborhood, we parented by ear - if there was no life threatening shrieking we assumed everything was fine and if the kids were someone running around in the hills and trees that surround our hood (small, mountain town) then of course everything was fine. What could go wrong🤣
Donna--I think that's so awesome that you took that parenting approach and you just laid it out there for the other parents. I have young nephews and I see paralysis around every corner, so I can't even imagine how it is for actual parents. But kids really do know what they're doing out there for the most part. We also have a very small hill/green space across from our house that is the neighborhood sledding spot, and I love to see the kids dragging their sleds and tubes (some are carting younger siblings on the sleds) over to the spot. It's so heartening to see that the more things change, the more they stay the same :)
"...plastic toboggins (that you could steer !) and inflatable tubes (!!!). Those were the Ferraris of sled gear." ha ha ha
"for fifteen minutes no one was bothering her to play a game or make them a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or reattach a limb." So darned funny, Sheila.
I LOVED your description of dad joining in the play and the belly whoppers. How I wish he had been MY dad. Another fine post!
PS. That photo! Ice blue glass, red brick, lacy white trees - a perfect triad of color and amazing texture, shape and composition. How you do this is beyond my understanding. Pure magic.
Thanks my friend for all of the kind words. It's so gratifying to see kids still enjoying nothing more than a snow day sliding down a hill. The purest kind of GOOD, right? X!
Brilliant contrast between the Boston Common hover-parent scene and those belly whopper days. The detail about the "DO SOMETHING response gland behind the adenoids" nailed it perfectly. Growing up I remember my neighbors let us build a halfpipe in their driveway that was basically a lawsuit waiting to hapen, but nobody cared because we were outside and not bugging anyone. That shift from fearlessness-by-ignorance to risk-assessment-paralysis happened somewhere between Pogo Balls and inflatable sleds you can actually steer.
This made me think of sledding with my daughter when she was little. I’d lay on my belly and then she’d lay on my back and we’d go down together.
I’m not crying you’re crying.
Urhhm….snifff snifff….I mean HOOOO…SNIFF something in the vents here….like pollen season in winter, right? 🥹🥹🥹 That is really beautiful and you’re both really, really lucky. Also: Reenact that on your TikTok while she juggles fire. Be the cool dad!
That idea is 🔥
It's never too late! Last year, my hubbie and I found a hill close by for sledding. He lay on his belly and I lay on top of him. He got facefuls of snow and I screamed wildly. Oh, and did I mention we're in our sixties?
HAAAA! You are living life RIGHT! I bet any kids who caught that were JEALOUS! :)
If a dad doesn't put you at risk of grievous winter injury, just where the heck did he go to dad school?
Thank you for the harrowing tale from Boston Commons, too.
You’re right. It’s in the Dad Bylaws! I’m sure little Baxter’s precious head was just fine. He could be dealing in stolen art on the dark web, but his head—aces.
To turn an oft-used phrase on its ear: "The giggle's in the details."
Case in point: "The kid was cocooned in a snowsuit that looked like he was outfitted to defuse a bomb on Mars." Lines like that make me glad I'm on Substack.
As for snow, I grew up in Southern California, which puts the kibosh on toboggans and so forth. However, we had similar scenarios at the beach – you know, with breaking surf, and the occasional shark (the fish, not the lawyer). My siblings and I would flail around in the waves, ducking under the larger breakers and occasionally dodging the wayward surfboard, while our parents were too busy playing gin rummy and drinking well-hidden vodka tonics to pay attention. If a rip tide came (and they did): "Hell. Kids float. Your turn to deal, Harriet."
Somehow, we all survived.
Thanks Larry! Those beach shenanigans sound pretty great….especially right about now. High of 14 degrees and as you know, a whopper stahhhm incoming! We’re stocked up on hot cocoa and blankets-ready! 🩵❄️
I hope you ride out the stahhhm in style. Be safe.
Thanks Larry! Present and accounted for! All dug out, though I can now lift a Subaru over my head thanks to my new shoveling Hulk arms. :)
Where I grew up snowstorms were a yearly occurrence. School was out for two weeks. We manufactured sleds from every material you can think of. Starting with plastic wood. It was my highlight of the year.
It sounds like you had the ideal kid winter situation! I also remember having more snow as a kid and it seemed to start earlier in December so you really felt like you got in a ton of powder play :) I bet your sled designs were epic :)
Remember lawn darts? Plastic javelins with sharpened metal tips that we threw into the sky as a game? Gen X was just made differently.
That might have been the line where toy companies were like "Wait, we're arming them?" There was literally nothing that we couldn't make into some kind of device used to taunt death until the street lights came on.
Metal disc sleds. Many high velocity crash memories. Like when I tied it to my Siberian Husky who promptly sprinted down the hill and into the woods for a harrowing ride. When Clark Griswold revealed his super glide disc in Christmas Vacation, I thought he’d be a pretty f’ing cool dad. 😄
EXACTLY! A whole bunch of us watched that scene from Vacation and were like "He could have gone a little faster, actually." How much pot was consumed coming up with these "sled" concepts? I was also of the college era of "borrowing" a tray from one of the eateries and sending that down the hill. So much innovation. Like--SO much.
Back in the day, "Do something!" was all about seeing how many laws of physics one could break.
I know, right? We also spent a lot of time breaking fire safety rules
I miss my toboggan. Would you believe it was made out of wood with stuffed orange plastic cushions? Now that was a real snow ride. But there’s something to be said for the street cred of a steel trash can lid too surviving as a makeshift sled
SERIOUSLY?! Who were you, VERUCA SALT?! FANCY! You were super lucky to have that sweet ride. Trust me, there was no trash can lid street cred, only envy...deep, deep envy :)
This was exactly it: https://nyhome.malequery.blog/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1543
Wow. I would have begged to be friends with you just for a chance to ride it. That and the ESPRIT bag and Bonne Bell lip smacker collection. I see you, 1986 Beth
Omg i wish! Ok I did have some esprit shirts and OP ones and the occasional bonnie bell lip smacker. You caught me
Love this tribute to a beautiful snowy day! I am much older that you so had even less supervision in my childhood and it was the greatest! With my own kids I would warn parents who dropped their kids off that, in our neighborhood, we parented by ear - if there was no life threatening shrieking we assumed everything was fine and if the kids were someone running around in the hills and trees that surround our hood (small, mountain town) then of course everything was fine. What could go wrong🤣
Donna--I think that's so awesome that you took that parenting approach and you just laid it out there for the other parents. I have young nephews and I see paralysis around every corner, so I can't even imagine how it is for actual parents. But kids really do know what they're doing out there for the most part. We also have a very small hill/green space across from our house that is the neighborhood sledding spot, and I love to see the kids dragging their sleds and tubes (some are carting younger siblings on the sleds) over to the spot. It's so heartening to see that the more things change, the more they stay the same :)
"...plastic toboggins (that you could steer !) and inflatable tubes (!!!). Those were the Ferraris of sled gear." ha ha ha
"for fifteen minutes no one was bothering her to play a game or make them a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or reattach a limb." So darned funny, Sheila.
I LOVED your description of dad joining in the play and the belly whoppers. How I wish he had been MY dad. Another fine post!
PS. That photo! Ice blue glass, red brick, lacy white trees - a perfect triad of color and amazing texture, shape and composition. How you do this is beyond my understanding. Pure magic.
Thanks my friend for all of the kind words. It's so gratifying to see kids still enjoying nothing more than a snow day sliding down a hill. The purest kind of GOOD, right? X!
Brilliant contrast between the Boston Common hover-parent scene and those belly whopper days. The detail about the "DO SOMETHING response gland behind the adenoids" nailed it perfectly. Growing up I remember my neighbors let us build a halfpipe in their driveway that was basically a lawsuit waiting to hapen, but nobody cared because we were outside and not bugging anyone. That shift from fearlessness-by-ignorance to risk-assessment-paralysis happened somewhere between Pogo Balls and inflatable sleds you can actually steer.