Logan is turning 6 on the 9th of March. He told me on Monday that what he really wants is a snowboard for his birthday. Our friend Will got a super cool one for Christmas this year. It’s got loops that allow you to just shove your boots under and away you go. Since you never know about the snow conditions in early March, I told him I was afraid he wouldn’t be able to use it if he got it for his birthday. In an attempt to thwart the previous request for a Nintendo DS (which, let’s be honest…he would use for like 2 days because he’s not really a videogame kid anyway), I suggested that maybe we find a snowboard now as an early birthday gift, but then he would only get something small on his actual birthday. Daddy OKed the idea, Logan loved it so I started searching for a snowboard.

For a town with at least 3 feet of snow on the ground, it’s surprisingly hard to find a snowboard at this time of year. A bathing suit? No problem! I hate retail cycles! I literally called 9 places within a 45-minute-drive radius of our house and finally found one. We drove out after school on Monday and grabbed it up!

Tuesday, the arctic blasts returned and it looked like our first snowboard outing was going to be put on hold. I had invited Logan’s friend Sam to come over and play…possibly to go sledding on a small hill near our house. The boys started out in the backyard playing for a while and the plan was to ditch the sledding. Brady joined them and everyone seemed like they were doing pretty well. I decided we should throw everyone in the car and head over to a near-by hill and go down a couple times…even if we only stayed for 10 minutes. So that’s what we did. Logan and Sam had a blast, Brady got freaked the first time he went down on a sled and spent, literally, the rest of the time we were there crying. Aiden joined him when he got too cold and the older boys were still raring to go. This was a time when I needed to have 8 arms and the ability to be in at least 2 places at the same time (rescuing Brady from snow drifts because he kept wandering in to them and getting stuck plus sitting at the top of the hill shoving boots into the straps on the board for Logan and Sam). I have to be honest, it was overall a miserable experience for me…and Brady. The other three claim it was awesome.

Next time will be better…next time it will be over 13 degrees outside.

Logan’s board is black and white with all these fun drawings on it. It was supposed to come with a pack of markers and stickers for personalization, but someone had clearly opened the pack and taken the markers. Daddy picked up a set of sharpies on his way home Monday night. Logan and his brothers decorated the board Tuesday morning.

Logan borrowed Daddy’s snow goggles

It’s not a big hill (this is the small side…there’s a pretty decent slope to the other side, but we needed to start with baby steps. This is Logan getting Sam ready)

video – better than pictures!