Penguin style

One of the things that convinced me that we should buy our property was the large hill out back.  The first time I stood at the top of that hill I said to Dave "That would be the PERFECT sledding hill."  And so I let him convince me to live at the end o f a dirt road that you can only get to via a gravel road, e ended up but I digress......  We bought the property and built a house that we have turned into our home.
 
As the  kids got older we were finally able to make use of the hill out back and have an annual sledding/chili party.  We all grab our sleds, head out back and the one FIRM rule is that EVERYONE goes down the hill at least once.  We get Grandma and Grandpa sledding down, even the dog has been convinced (all be it forcefully) to take a spin in the sled.

We have snow shoes and cross country skis, snow boards and saucers.  There are toboggans and sled chains, kids running up the hill and us adults stopping halfway up trying to catch our breath.  Over all it is just an all round fun afternoon.

One of our first sledding parties was on a warmish early March day.  We had the aforementioned sledding paraphernalia and everyone was enjoying themselves. There were plenty of  sleds for everyone to enjoy, however we only had 2 snowboards.  This was a problem for Katie because she wanted to try to make it down the hill standing on that little slab of plastic.  Because we would not make Erik abandon his snowboard that he just got for Christmas there was a HUGE meltdown. 

No, she didn't want a sled, or a tube. or a saucer, or skis, or snowshoes.  She wanted a snowboard or she wanted nothing!  We decided that her fit was not worth stopping the party for, or ruining the afternoon for Erik so we just let her pout.

Before too long Katie decided that sitting on a snowbank crying watching everyone else was no fun at all and she came to join the rest of us.  Still upset that she could not use the snowboard Katie refused to use any of the sleds offered.  As she had said, she didn't want to use ANY of them.

Not wanting to make another scene I just decided to take my turn down the hill and let her cool off a little longer.  When I got to the bottom of the hill I looked up and saw Katie sliding down the hill.  She had said she did NOT want to use any kind of sled, and so she didn't.  She spent the rest of the afternoon going down the hill 'penguin style'.  Belly down, feet behind her with a grin on her face.  After seeing how much fun she was having the rest of the kids began to copy.

Everyone (under 4 foot tall, that is) took their spin down the hill sans sled.  By the end of the afternoon we had some tired, happy soaked kids, and a little girl thrilled because she 'invented' a new way to sled.