Sledding

There is much to catch up on since our last post and unfortunately I won't be doing it now.  Hopefully Sarah and I will get to it soon though.  I just felt like sharing our day.

After a rough weekend with super tired kids and less than patient parents, we finally all clicked today, at least for a few hours.  But before I start, I must mention this is partially a biking story.  I bought some studded snow tires for my bike late last winter and have really been testing their limitations this winter.  In doing so, I've had some crazy ideas (see my bike blog Exploring the Open Road) some of which have been successful, some not so successful.  I love my new studded tires though and perhaps I'm a little over confident with them.  So here's my latest hair-brained scheme.  Luckily it was a success since it involved some precious cargo.

Last year Grandpa Jensen pulled Sydney and Tara in a sled behind his riding lawn mower and they loved it.  This Thanksgiving one of our friends, Chris, pulled them behind his motorcycle and they had a blast.  I figured since Chris was able to pull them with his motorcycle, surely I could pull them for awhile on my bike with the studded snow tires.  Today, in a desperate bit of bribery, I promised Sydney and Tara that I'd pull their sled behind my bike if they helped to clean up their house, especially that heap of toys, dirty clothes and other junk they call a bedroom.  This is a promise I've been making for over a week but they've never followed through.  This time they finally did.

After dinner I snuck outside, tied a line around my seat post and through the saddle mount and looped it onto the sled.  I really doubted my ability to pull both of them through the snow, especially after our extremely slow start.  With the sled fully loaded, I cranked down on the pedals and popped a nice wheely and then the back wheel spun out.  The sled never moved.  I tried a slower start and slowly towed them out of the alley while my back wheel spun out all over the place and my front wheel jumped from rut to rut unpredictably.  I anticipated troubles so I pulled out my old hockey elbow pads to protect my already tender and damaged  elbows.  Never needed them, thank goodness.

Eventually we pulled out onto the road and the riding got easier.  Best to stick to the hard-packed snow.  The kids had a blast.  I even dumped them a couple times but I never went down.  I think we were out there for about an hour and even though my heart was beating about a thousand times per minute, they egged me on, "Faster Daddy!  FASTER!"  After awhile, I convinced them to take turns and go one at a time so I could go faster (and get a much needed break).  I found an open parking lot for the sugar beet factory where I could really let loose and pick up some speed.  I couldn't tell if the screams behind me where screams of joy or fear but they had a great time and I got in an awesome workout.  Not really an ideal Sunday activity but I'll classify it as family time.  I'm eager to get Evie out on her new infant sled!  A three kid train!  Oh the neighbors much think I'm crazy!