Hi friends, hope all is well in your neck of the woods, wherever that may be. Perhaps green shoots are coming to life, pushing up from the earth, trees are blooming. I hope so, and how nice for you! (I do mean that sincerely, I can’t wait for spring to arrive.) Here in New England, we’re still waiting for Old Man Winter to calm down. I’ve been asked what I did to tick him off. My reply: If only I knew, I’d stop!!!
Hudson and Jon
It’s March, and things are still cold, snowy, wintry and icy here. Last night 3-5″ of snow was forecasted. We did get some snow, but it turned into an icy mix overnight. Thankfully it was above freezing this morning, so the roads were fine.
Jacob and Charlie tobogganing with Gigi in Rhode Island
So I’ve been thinking that some of you probably didn’t get to toboggan this year, maybe didn’t even get a sledding run in. That’s too bad. Tobogganing is such a fun memory of mine. I remember tromping through the woods (lovely, dark and deep) as the littlest kid with my big brothers and sisters, climbing up the interminably long toboggan run, then racing down lickety-split. It’s a pretty long run, and fast. And now as a parent, I wince thinking of all the trees and branches we flew by without incident. Our guardian angels were definitely working overtime.
The Christmas after we moved back to New England in 2004, I went to the local L.L. Bean Outlet to see if they had any wooden toboggans. Lo and behold, they did! I was thrilled, bought one for the boys for Christmas. Back then there were just three boys. Now five. (Yeah, I’m counting Jon.) All they had in stock were eight footers, so I jerry-rigged it into our old Volvo wagon, and it hung out the back window. I felt like Santa Claus on his sleigh. (Or Mrs. Claus.) It’s been a lot of fun these many years!
Following are two short clips so you can get in a virtual toboggan run before Spring arrives officially. Have fun, scream all you want. (My boys sure did.)
Take two: here’s Jonathan….
Would love to hear your fun sledding/tobogganing stories and memories today…
You may also enjoy: Baby It’s Cold Outside
Ellen says
So fun!
Linda Jenkins says
I have to admit that while I loved skating and sledding as a child, I now much prefer the warmth of a fire and a warm drink. Did take my children skiing when they were young, made sure they had their lessons. However, I always enjoyed watching them from the warmth of the ski lodge. Age definitely does something to the bones. While once the cold didn’t bother me, now I am never warm enough. Stay young and keep enjoying every moment of those special days. Thanks for sharing.
Nancy Hammett says
Enjoyed the post. So much fun sledding . When we did get enough snow to sled it was fun sledding with our boys when they were little. Like seeing our boys having fun. Sweet family.
nancy mcmahan says
That was fun. Are the back yard videos your back yard.? If so that is so cool.
Allie says
No this is not our backyard Nan, this is on the grounds of a country club not too far away…sounds like you had some wild and wonderful tobaggon adventures at The Farmhouse….
Aunt pinkie achor says
oh, what fun! haven’t gone sledding in eons but I loved it when growing up!
Julie says
Aunt Nancy McMahan…we have some pretty awesome memories of toboggans up at The Farmhouse, yes?! I remember that run (through the trees and down 2 hills) as bigger than life! The Dads and Uncles would meet you at the bottom and drive kids and sleds back home so you could do it all over again…it was THAT long 🙂 Many delightful memories…
Christy says
Luke and I just enjoyed the best virtual toboggan ride!! The only thing missing was the wind whipping in our faces. I remember as kids sledding in Delaware down Haines Hill and South Road. I still have dreams (nightmares) of the time our dad took us to the street where our grandparents lived and we had a sledding adventure that ended up in someone falling in the creek at the very bottom of the hill. Yikes!! But since we now live in California, a sledding ride sounds like the biggest treat!! Thanks for the fun ride today. 🙂
Allie says
You are very welcome, thanks for coming along for the ride. Sorry to hear about the creek misadventure. (I hope it wasn’t you!)
Susie says
Thanks for the video, as I believe that will be the closest I ever get to the real thing. =) Looked like lots of fun!!
Susan says
Wondering if the extreme backyard sledding course was designed by daddy the engineer! I remember toboganning down that same hill, Allie, with 12 puppies on board! Do you? (We were missing a few by the time we got to the bottom though…oops)
Allie says
I remember the puppies, but not the toboggan ride with the dozen on board. (Well I guess they weren’t all 12 on board, at least not at the bottom.) Did we have permission?
sandi says
I use to tobaggan down a steep winding path as a kid, and I am still alive to tell the story. If my parents only knew, yikes!
Auntie M says
Such wild riders! We in S. Ca. miss the opportunity your crazy cold affords. My tobogganing memory is in a friend’s yard on the edge of Lake Michigan. We finally thawed out with hot cider and the best gingers snaps I’d ever had.
Allie says
Mmmm…hot cider and gingersnaps. What a great memory!
Maggie says
My sisters and I would sled in our hilly back&front yards. The scary part was attempting to avoid all Dad’s trees & bushes! We were not always successful:(. We also had to pray we would stop before we ran into the street. In ’94, we had a huge blizzard. There was so much snow we went sledding in the street. Sledding was a bit perilous for us.
Allie says
Oh my goodness Maggie, sounds scary and perilous. So thankful you survived to adulthood!
Sarah W. says
Katie, Ben, and I also used to go sledding in some sketchy conditions. I was great fun! When we lived in Pittsburgh, our house was on top of this monstrous hill, and we would sled in our yard or our neighbor’s yard. In both yards, we went through the woods, and after a very long trail, there was a huge drop-off. Down past the giant the cliff, there were other housing developments. So we would go through the woods trying to avoid the trees and hope that we did not fly off the cliff. It was like something in a movie. Once, Katie flew over the edge. She grabbed onto a log, but her sled went down, down, down, bouncing all the way to the bottom, taking chunks of earth, snow, and rock with it.
Ben was also notorious for running over us with Mom’s old wooden Radio Flyer, metal blades and all. We would use the hose to make our path icy so that we could go faster, and then, we would bounce off of trees, gaining some air, after which Ben would promptly land on someone trying to get back up the hill! Our neighbor also used to pile his grass clippings up and make jumps for us! So much fun….
Allie says
Sarah, you daredevil you! Poor Katie! “Trying to avoid the trees and hope that we did not fly off the cliff?” Crazy stuff. Your poor mother. (Or maybe she didn’t know, like Sandi’s mother.) The hose sounds like genius. And dangerous! (What a nice neighbor you had in Pittsburgh.)
Sarah W. says
Allie, my mother probably never knew…Or she knows now! Katie was the one who actually said, “Well, hopefully, we don’t fly off the cliff!” It was great place to grow up. Lots of fun memories! I am glad your boys get to experience the snow… Even if you are ready to never see it again. 🙂