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Saturday, February 11, 2006
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I saw him go down. The picture in my mind was that of a turtle poking his head out of the shell. Only this "shell" was spinning the whole way. Sandwiched between Kyle and an inner tube, Nathan skidded down the hill, flying over the bumps and peeking out with an expression of surprise mingled with curiosity. The little orange hat could be seen almost covering his eyes. Kyle, meanwhile, seemed to leave Nathan no room at all to sit up straight as he was lying spread-eagle over the top. As soon as they hit the bottom of the hill, an extra big bump sent Kyle flying off and Nathan tumbling out.
Dana and I went down together. I was on the bottom, lest I should squash her. OMS! The last thing I heard was a male voice telling me to try not to swallow too much snow. And then we were at the bottom. I think the weight of two on that little board sent us farther than normal. Turning my head to the side to avoid getting lashed in the face with all kinds of weeds growing down there, we sailed the whole way out to the road, turning around just in time to move out of the projected path of a sled carrying Kyle just as far.
Six on a sled? Let's try six this time. Ok?
Ok.
James and I stood at the top and watched as Derek and Nathan started down with Kyle pushing. (Pushing is never enough, especially for Kyle.) He piled on and Dana and Johnny met them on the way down. About halfway to the bottom, the whole shibang ran into the sixth kid, taking all of Peter and his snowboard to the ground. That bump at the bottom got them again and enough arms and legs for each of them went flying into the air.
What really amazed me about the whole day was the Davis people's innate ability to narrowly escape collisions. I don't think there was one all day (saving of course the intentional one mentioned above). Another thing was Kyle's apparently sadistic enjoyment of "mugging", as he called it, his little bros to get a hold of their sleds. He had his own sled, yes, but he didn't like the way it rode. And he wanted to try Peter's snowboard too. He wished I would "turn on the charm" and ask that guy next to us if he'd let us borrow a sled.
One time I remember particularly, Dana and Kyle had conspired against Peter as he was coming up the hill. They tackled him to the ground, but he obstinately held onto his board. Pulling Dana off was easy, but Kyle was too big an adversary for me, so Derek got him off Peter and blocked him while at the same time trying to give Peter a push to start. Wasn't easy, I'm sure.
After an hour or so, my toes and fingers were so freezing that I was glad to hear Derek tell the kids to pick up their sleds and get going. It didn't have immediate results. Nathan had to run up the hill one more time. Peter had to come down at least twice more. Everyone had to sort through the pile of hats and scarves and gloves that had been thrown aside or exchanged between each other.
Getting in the car was fun too.
"Stomp your feet, Nathan."
"I'm sitting with Leslie."
"No! Climb over the seat with those wet boots!"
"This hat must be mine."
"NO!!"
"James, sit here with me."
"Turn the heater on."
"My feet are cold."
"Take off your shoes and put your feet up to the heater."
"What heater?"
"In the ceiling."
: ) |
posted by cori
2/11/2006 10:23:00 PM
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| The ShugaBowl |
| Sounds like some kind of sports thing, but in reality, the ShugaBowl is just a little hideaway for me, Sugarcube herself, to let loose my thoughts and occasional creativeness. |
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