Down the Hill We Go!!

There are some things you HAVE to do as a parent (diapers, baths, feeding, etc) and then there are some things you GET to do. One of these is Sledding!
We have spent the past two Sunday afternoons sledding on a hill behind our old house in South Holland. The hill was not there when we grew up, but we are excited to have it now.
2 weeks ago we took Anthony, Leo, Reagan and Nola and met Kendy, JD and Logan on the hill. It was pretty crowded but that didn't seem to bother the kids - they were excited to be outside and sledding. (thanks to Kendy for these pics)
Even Nola was happy to be in her sled and going down the hill. She was quite cold by the end of it - so next time she will be dressed more appropriately. Grandpa even went down the hill. We weren't sure how he was going to get on the sled but he made it! (JK) We had a great time - it was hard to convince the kids we had to go in, but we did entice them with hot chocolate.
Then this past Sunday we went with my brothers and all of the kids - except for Nola. She had to nap - good thing she didn't know we were going.
The hill was a little less crowded but a bit colder. We had lots of sleds to choose from and there were lots of races and people going down together.
Sean & Mike were trying to convince one of the kids to go down on Mike's back so while they were doing that I decided to go down the hill. I was going pretty fast and then turned a fell off my sled. The next thing I knew I heard laughter coming at me - Sean had gotten on Mike's back and they were headed right for me! I started to laugh as I realized that I didn't have much time to move. I tried to get in a fetal position and protect myself when they skimmed by me. How they didn't him me I will never know.
After everyone had a few more turns down the hill we packed up and headed back to grandma and grandpa's for hot chocolate and dessert.
I have decided that we need to embrace this winter. Last winter was way too long and I don't want a repeat of that. So we are trying to get out of the house and have fun - so we are hoping that as long as it is cold there will be snow on the ground so we can make the most of this winter and spend lots of hours on the sledding hill!