In no particular order..
1. sledding with Jeremy and the Dryden's. I don't know how to sum it up, but there were many, many hours of fun on the one hill in Findlay. We did everything: from full-contact sledding (trying to knock each other off on the way down the hill), to linking 6+ sleds together to form a train and, our personal favorite, using Jeremy's inner tube. The inner tube was definitely the best, and when we were smaller, we'd try and fit at least 6 of us on there and try and see how many would still be on at the bottom of the hill (normally at least one managed to stay on).
2. commandeering the snow plowed pile of snow next to our house in the dead end and making snow forts. Jess, Joel and I were super lazy when we built snow forts. I only really remember building a handful in my life because we lived on a corner lot that had a dead end, so the snow plow would just create one for us, and all we had to do was dig it out a little bit. I think the best fort Joel and I ever made was about 4 feet tall and circular with no entrance. So we felt the best way to get in was to try and vault over the wall (do you remember this, Joel?). Yes, we were cool.
3. back to sledding: that one time that Jess, Joel, Jeremy and I went sledding. We all piled onto the inner tube, and down the hill we went. It was icy, and we were going really fast. Joel and Jeremy heroically bailed when they saw we were going right for the trees, but Jess and I couldn't and she thought it'd be good to stick her foot out to try and rebound off the tree. Needless to say, the resulting trip to the ER was not as much fun as sledding was. Jess, secret confession time: those of who didn't get hurt and who weren't Mom found it really funny and were trying not to laugh most of the ride to the hospital. It was funny mostly because the three of us were stuffed in the back of the mini-van with a giant inner tube.
4. so many great sledding memories! When we went in Montana while we were visiting our relatives. We met up with some of their friends and so we could sled down a mountain. Yes, they're hardcore out there. They even wore helmets. Someone drove us about a mile up the mountain in his truck, with all our sleds in a trailer on the back, and the rest of the adults stood at the bottom of the road telling drivers that there were kids on sleds coming down the mountain. We didn't go very fast, but trying to steer around switchbacks and hairpin turns is not natural. Or, you know, the risk that if you miss a turn you might fall down the side of a mountain..
5. my first snow day!! Can't leave this one out: sophomore year of college, I finally got to experience my first snow day. Going to school on a walking campus, and it being -20ºF and all (oh, and also keeping in mind that all the other schools in the area had cancelled classes), MVNU decided it would be ok to give us a snow day. Probably because so many students skipped classes, but regardless, Jesse, Jess, Richard and I (and a bunch of other students) went sledding. Too cold for classes? Yes. Too cold for sledding? Never. There were a bunch of "borrowed" cafeteria trays (naturally), and it was lots of fun. Actually, I think this is the only time that Jesse and I have ever been sledding together? This needs to change..
6. ok, last one. And 6 is the new 5, and I just didn't want to leave this one out. My great-grandmother and I used to talk about snowmen during the winter. I (probably with some sibling help) built a huge one in my grandparents front yard one year for her, since she couldn't build one herself :)
I have so many other great memories of snow/sledding growing up, and I can't wait to make some more with Lily and Jesse. Provided I can find a cleared hill, Lily WILL be sledding next year at this time, and I'm very excited about building her first snowman with her and having a snowball fight (ok, that one probably won't happen for several years..). For now, I'll be content with playing with Zeke in the snow.
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