In Edmonton We Go Tobogganing

In Canada we use a lot of First Nations and Inuit words for things, and they just sort of become part of the lexicon...and confuse folks from other countries. Which is why in Edmonton where I'm from we call sledding "tobogganing". I looked up the official Wikipedia entry for "toboggan" and found the following:

It goes on to read: "In modern times, it is used on snow to carry one or more people (often children) down a hill or other slope for recreation." And that, my Friends, is the type of toboggan we're chatting about today.

Lucas & I "crashed" a reunion between the McGarveys and some school friends at a local hill after school one day. There were four Moms (Amy and her PTA buddies), one Dad (Sean), and 10-ish kids. These photos were taken from about 4:00 to 5:00 pm. It gives you an idea of when - and how fast - the sun goes down up here in December!

We've had some weather this December, let me tell you. Snow, wind, rain, warm, cold, colder. Which makes for some dang treacherous conditions on the hill. That is, it was sheer ice. The kids figured out within 0.7 seconds that it was more fun to slide down directly on their bums - or bellies - and forgo the sleds altogether. The adults got in on the action as well, but we prefer to stick to the sleds as we take longer to recover from injury now!

The highlight of the hill was the jump someone had created probably closer to the beginning of the season as it was super sturdy...and also icy as heck. The kids started out by sliding down one at a time on their sleds, then on their bodies, and then once the littlest kids left it was a free-for-all dog pile at the bottom. We only lost one kid to an injury, so that's pretty good!

Now, this is a pretty basic neighbourhood hill, and while there are loads of amazing hills in Edmonton (check our "Further Reading" below), sometimes sticking close to home is the best.

Photos taken at Daly Grove Elementary School, Edmonton
Monday, December 17, 2018

FURTHER READING
The wikipedia article for toboggan is amusing, but incomplete and suffering from the erasure of Indigenous culture and history.
If your're looking for some tobogganing opportunities in the Edmonton area, here is Raising Edmonton's list of best hills.
And here is the list of City-operated hills

More Sledding!

I love sledding! It's my favourite winter activity. And if you've read this blog at all, you would have learned that by now. Russel decided to join Dude & I on the hill last Saturday, and we found some other kids up there to play with.

We were initially happy with just going down the hill all normal-like, but then Russ brought out the shovel, a jug of water and our snow paints and we made an awesome jump!

It was a sweet jump! Lots of air to be had...and no injuries!

Smiles all around! That's what I like to see...

What's been keeping you busy this winter?

later loves

Happy New Year!

later loves

Must Share...

the jump that is...

count to ten while running up hill...slide down hill...cross fingers

I actually got some more amaze-balls self-timer pics just last weekend. I figured out how to change the amount of time on my timer, so that helped. Got a nice one of me bailing off the sweet new jump I made. Yep. Best Mom Ever.

update: Thanks to Nicole for that lovely question about tripods. For the picture of Dude & I, I rested my trusty purple Canon on a newspaper box. That's my house you see behind us! I made a snowball to use as a tripod for the hill pictures. I do have a tripod (one of those amaze-balls Gorilla ones with the bendy legs), but when I head out the door for sledding it's got to be fast before the Dude loses interest. So I just grab my keys, camera, phone & go! Plus, Gorilla doesn't fit in my pockets, and I hate carrying things...

 later loves

photos taken // February 18 & 23

location // hill behind our house

layout found here...

p.s. If you are so inclined, you can follow me on Bloglovin'...before I lose you on Google!

January Goal: "Go Sledding". Check!

Date: Saturday, January 12
What: Sledding on the hill behind our house
Cast: Dude & I
Temperature: A beautiful -5!

When I suggested we head out to the hill, Dude said to me: "I guess we could go, and kill some time. There's nothing better to do at home..." Or something to that effect. Like he was doing me a favour by indulging my desire to go sledding! Dude!! But I got to check off one of my January goals. Yay me!

Dude didn't have a good grip on his sled, so when it started back down the hill he sort of just stood there in shock for a moment before diving after it. I was no help whatsoever. Who else was going to document the occasion?

Dude offered to pull me up the hill! HA! He managed to turn my sled around and then gave up. It was such hard work he asked me to pull him up! Boy-oh, is he ever getting heavy!

The sports store in our local "mall" is closing down, so everything is 30% off! Good thing I waited (aka procrastinated) before buying new gear. I haven't owned a nice pair of snow pants in years! And the coat has all these fancy pockets, and snaps on the inside...ski jackets need to come with instruction manuals...

 I did go over the "jump" a couple of times. It was awesome! I love sledding, even on our tiny little hill. It reminds me of what it felt like as a kid. Reckless abandon. No thought toward safety, or the cold, or how long before Mom called you in. Just give'er until you can't feel your fingers, toes, and nose, and then make your (reluctant) way home.

No snowmen were made on this particular trip out of doors (see Goal #1). The snow is just too powdery and fluffy and dry right now. We got some more that night as well. Perfect, fluffy, sparkly snow. I call it "Hollywood Snow!" Dude & I did throw hard chunks of snow back and forth at each other and called it a "snowball fight." Good thing he has bad aim, and can't throw more than a few feet in front of him, and I have good aim and only shoot for the body. That was crunchy snow!

And the tongues are back....

later loves