Slip sliding away

I took today off work to spend some time with Elizabeth while David is out of town. We had a really fun day together. This afternoon, I introduced her to a staple of childhood - the slip 'n' slide.

Those who know Elizabeth will know what a monumental task this was for me. Elizabeth is not the adventurous type, plus she *hates* to get water in her face. But, when we were at the store last weekend, she saw the "water slide" and decided she just had to have it. So, I figured we'd give it a whirl.

I didn't realize the inherent problem with my plan until this afternoon, after she and I had pulled it out of the box and set it up in the backyard. Elizabeth had never seen anyone use a slip 'n' slide before (at least that she could remember). That meant she needed someone to demonstrate it for her. I quickly regretted the decision to try this childhood lesson while both David and Jonathan were out of town. I also started wondering if any of my friends would let me rent their older children for the afternoon.

But, with nobody else readily available, I assumed the task. I have to say, the design of the slide has improved dramatically since our childhood. The slide stays a lot wetter,and there's a pool of water to splash in at the end. Plus, the top end of the slide is now held in place with circular plastic stakes (instead of the large metal staples our old one used, which I recall contributing greatly to my sister's broken wrist one summer...) And, I think I did pretty well, if I do say so myself. Especially since it had been 20+ years since I'd tried it before. I was just glad it was a work day, so most of my neighbors were gone!

After my inaugural slide, Elizabeth was geared up and ready to give it a whirl. She lined up, yelled "On your mark, get set, go!" and proceeded to run onto the slide and fall on her bottom. We were not off to a good start. But, it was so hilarious, I ran to the house to grab the camera. (Yes, a little twisted, but I figured the world needed to see it.)

So, I demonstrated again, gave her a few pointers, then off she went to try to slide again. Here's what the second try looked like:



Notice how crisp and clear that action shot is? That's because she wasn't moving. She just sat down at the top of the slide and expected to end up at the bottom. Once I stopped howling with laughter, I realized that video would be required to properly demonstrate to everyone the hilarity of the afternoon.

Here's the next attempt:



But, I have to say, she was persistent. And, as the afternoon went on, her technique did improve. Especially considering she weighs less than 30 pounds, so she doesn't have a lot of mass to help with momentum. Here she is with improved form:



And, this was about as good as she got:



In case you couldn't understand it, at the end of that clip, she's telling me I won't be able to take a picture of her because she was going too fast. Yeah, right! :)

As I said before, Elizabeth has always hated to get water in her face. So, she insisted that all of her initial slides be done with the water off, and just re-wetting the plastic after each attempt. But, to my amazement, she later decided she wanted to turn the water back on, which resulted in streams of water falling onto the slide as she want down. And she LOVED it! By the end of the day, she was running through the water to get to the top of the slide, then splashing her way down the slide to the splash pool at the bottom:



(Not to mention having me pull her down the slide about 50 times.)

So, we had a great time, and Elizabeth ended up getting over her fear of water on her face. Yeah! The only downside is my back is killing me now, from pulling a 30 pound sack of potatoes halfway down the slide about 50 times. But, that's a small price to pay for an afternoon of fun with my little girl!