Living Joyfully
Helping Pets & Encouraging People
I Just Want To Crash And Burn
Yesterday was the day, we planned for about 2 weeks to do a family outing that was much needed. We bought out tickets, found someone to hang out with our puppy for the morning, packed our lunches the night before and got ready to leave. About and hour and a half later we arrived at our destination. As we piled out of the car the kids started to comment on how big the hill looked. The observed that it looked a lot taller than the last time we had been here 3 years ago, which I thought odd since they were younger then. We handed over our tickets to get the passes we needed and went to get the snow tubes the resort provided for us. The hill had five lanes, with snow berms dividing them. Some wise person a while back put in a conveyor belt that would bring people and their tubes up to the top of the hill, and from there they just had to pick a lane, and go. Snow tubing at it’s finest.
At first my girls decided that a double tube would be the best choice since they felt they would be staying together for the whole time, so that is what they grabbed. Tyler, Tim and I went for the single tubes since we knew that if we wanted to be together all we had to do was hold on to each others tubes, but if we wanted to go down separately we could as well. First time down the girls had a blast, went up onto the berms but stayed in their lane. When Tim, Tyler and I got to the top it was determined Tyler wasn’t ready to do the hill by himself yet so I held to his tube and Tim went by himself. This happened for a few more times, but as we stood in line to get to the top and watched the other tubers go down we and the other spectators started to noticed that certain lanes were faster than the others, and we noticed that they had more riders on the berms, going over the berms into other lanes, or they riders themselves were flipped off their tubes. We also noticed it was the bigger groups that had more of the “burn outs” as well as adults. The smaller kids were fine and stayed in their lanes (unless they happened to be attached to an adult who “crashed and burned”). I am sure you know where this is going. Now all of the adrenaline junkies knew what lanes to get into and were determined to see how far they would fly, how many lanes they would cross over into, and how many berms they could “ride”. Now I will say this, there is a guy at the top of the hill that won’t allow people to use a lane until the previous rider has gotten out of the way, but that doesn’t stop the accidental crossing of lanes in which tubes collide.
I found out real quick who the adrenaline junkies were in my family. Leah and Tim both got this look in their eye and they started to plan. They figured if they got into lane one or two they had a better chance at at least getting onto the berm if not going up and over it. Since Leah and Tabby were together most of the morning Tabby decided to hang with me instead. Tim on the other had decided to just wing it on his own for a little bit since Tyler and I were not interested in turning head over heels in front of spectators. So after a run or two Tim managed to get bumped off his tube in which he dug his shoulder into the not so soft snow. I little sore but no worse for wear. Leah still had not managed to catch the flight she wanted but she was determined. I was not going to be the one to tell her that she probably didn’t have the weight behind her to get her up off the ground. Near the end of the time we had, we all decided to do a run as a family. The five of us all holding onto each others tubes going down the lane chosen at the same time. This was Leah’s time to shine! First attempt was down lane 2, not as fast and flight worthy as lane 1 but we did it anyways. Sadly as we started down the lane one of the tubes was let go accidentally so though the ride was fast and the berm was rode, no one went flying. The second attempt and sadly the last because our scheduled time was up was in lane one. The fasted lane and the one that was proven to send people flying the most. We positioned our tubes in a way that we hoped would set someone to flight. We started down the lane fast, the snow was spraying our faces and as we approached the turn in which flight could be had, some tubes were released but others not so the only person who went somewhere not intended was Tabby as she and her tube flew up and over the berm and into the lane next to us. Leah later admitted that since she knew it wasn’t going to be her that got to “crash and burn” it might as well be someone. Poor Tabby. Luckily she staying on her tube and reached her final destination at the bottom of hill albeit not in her original lane.
As we all piled into the car for the trip home, we all agreed it was a fun day. I know in the next few days I will be feeling the bumps and bangs of the lanes since I was not able to keep my back side from hitting the thin bottom of the tube, but it will be worth it. There wasn’t any fighting, there was a little bit of competition, racing each other down the mountain, we just had fun together. It set in my mind that though the Sunday rule of now electronics is no more, it is still very important to do things as a family. We may be “around” each other all week long but we don’t interact with each other much. Electronics get in the way, school gets in the way, work gets in the way. By scheduling time to be together as a family, it solidifies the fact that we need to be there for each other and that family is important. So what is it you do with your family? Are you so busy that you don’t see them much? Try setting a time each week to be with each other, it doesn’t have to be something you spend money on, it could be just a board game at the table. If it’s important enough, time will be made to make it happen. Until next time:
The adrenaline and stress of an adventure are better than a thousand peaceful days.
Paulo Coelho
2 Comments on “I Just Want To Crash And Burn”
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Rae's New Shine Childrens Book
One day Rae woke up and felt different. When she looked at the people around her they seemed to “shine brighter” than she did. When she finally prayed about it and asked her mom for help, she realized she didn’t know her own worth. She didn’t believe in herself and felt dim compared to others. Once she started to see she was talented and worthy her shine came back.
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Living Joyfully 
Sounds like such a pleasant day! Brings me back to when my brother and I would see who could push the other down the hill the fastest. It ended up being a contest to see who could dive down the hill before the other person could catch them.
Did anyone try using some strange & home-made sleds?
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Oh what a fun memory! No this snow hill only allowed the tubes they provided. It made me think of the movie Christmas Vacation with Clark greasing his sled before going down the hill
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