Priceless!

New sled from K Mart (because the one we had is somewhere buried in the garage or out in the yard, not to be found until springtime) - $9.99
Pit stop at McDonalds to fuel up on chicken nuggets and chocolate milk before the big outing - $6.43
Pit stop at the coffee shop after the big outing for hot chocolate to warm up - $3.16
Stories of the Big Crash that will go down in history - Priceless

Archer and I ventured out to a very big hill today for a sledding adventure. It was all going well until I convinced Archer to ride down the hill on my back, me laying on my stomach on the sled.

First, I searched out the best spot on the hill - the only place where you could actually SEE the bottom from where we were sitting at the top. (The hill was so steep that in most places you really couldn't see your path from where you started, it was like going over a cliff blind, hoping to come out ok on the bottom.) I scoped out the right spot, waited for our turn, lay down on the sled and then instructed Archer, "No matter what happens, don't let go. Hang on tight and DON'T let go!" I repeated these instructions about 20 times in the course of 60 seconds, and then... we were off!

Faster faster faster faster faster and I thought everything was going ok until... WE'RE FLYING!!! The only thought that went through my head was "NOT good!" We had hit a huge ramp which was not visible from above, completely without warning, and before either of us knew what had happened, we were airborne! I tumbled over once and skidded to a stop just in time to look in front of me and witness Archer flying through the air, tumbling around and around until finally landing and rolling over a couple more times before he stopped. Of course, he was screaming! I ignored my own injuries and scrambled over to him to pick him up and make sure there were no broken bones. His cheeks were bright red and one of his mittens was missing but he looked otherwise ok. As he cried and cried I said, "Archer honey what hurts?" "My whole BODY!" he yelled at me, as if to say "what kind of question is that?"

Just then I heard a whole new round of screaming and crying and turned around to see behind me a little girl who had just experienced the same fate as Archer and I. Her two friends were standing next to her unsure what to do and I looked around but didn't see an adult that belonged to them. I felt responsible - I set her up on her feet and asked her a few times if she was ok but she just kept crying. In the mean time one of her friends picked up Archer's mitten and brought it to me. There we stood, all five of us in shock and suddenly there was more shouting - an inbound sledder was heading straight at us! "Get out of the way!" I shouted as I tried to pull Archer to safety and warn the girls. All of this time I felt my nose hurting and something warm on my face, but when I finally took my glove off and wiped off my nose I found it was only snot, gross but luckily not blood. We had all escaped serious injury, the little girl's dad finally made his way down the hill and we all stumbled as quickly as we could over to the side of the hill to climb back to the top.

Archer didn't quit crying until we had gotten to the top but was finally distracted by throwing snowballs at me and the promise of hot chocolate on the way home.

I have to say it was a successful sledding outing! We got in a few runs down the hill before the catastrophe, there weren't any permanent injuries, and we had time for a stop at the coffee shop before we came home. Does it get any better than that?

(By the way, here's a video I found of the hill Archer and I were at. The official information is that the sledding run is a 60 degree incline, about 250 feet long. Now that's a steep hill! Click on the link to see the video...)