Myth Confirmed.  I am now of the opinion that the Flying Saucer scene from Chevy Chase's Christmas Vacation should in fact be preceded by a "do not try this at home" disclaimer.  Today Grace and I spent the day sledding and skating at the park while Miss Bethany had a visit with Nanny Walk.  After eyeing up the sled that Grace "gave me permission" to use as my own for the day, I decided it would be, perhaps, slightly less humiliating if I just purchased my own on our way.  It's been years since I've done any serious sledding and so I called on Grace's expertise to help me pick out my New, Shiney High Velocity Saucer of Inconceivable Friction Defying Proportions.

As I perched precariously over and then kind of poured, lifted and folded myself into Grace's tiny red sled while she launched down the hill ahead of me on my new Mega Saucer 10,000 Delux Edition in sheer exhileration, I realized she'd shopped with herself in mind.  I couldn't help thinking as I wiggled, scooted and thrusted into motion on my borrowed Vintage K-Car Type Heap of Plastic that it was highly possible that I would likely break myself, or at least some part of myself, on the new machine and it was probably best to let Grace "work out the kinks".  The day continued with us making many references to how the new sled would "just fly" on our hill at home, and then wrapped up having shared many laughs and colisions both on the hill and on the ice.  A shared package of Skittles tipped the day's scale to perfect. 

When we drove in our yard Grace grabbed the new saucer, sat down at the top of our hill and yelled "Ok Mom, give me a shove!"  I explained to Grace that she should just go down the hill easy until we seen how fast this thing would go on our hill.  Now, here is where Mommy's Geriatric Day on the Hill slams head first into Chevy Chase's Christmas Vacation, that New, Shiney High Velocity Saucer of Inconceivable Friction Defying Proportions......had apparently been holding back on us.  As I watched my little girl careen towards the bottom of the hill at Mock Speed and praying that the banked snow at the bottom would slow her down, the laws of gravity failed her and she zipped up the bank and sort of catapulted out into oblivion.  A mass of snow, curls and screams flashing before me.  As it turned out, the screams were mine and I ran down the hill to find Grace scrambling back under the electric fence which she apparently managed to duck under in a lightning fast moment of clear thinking.

The scene depicted was of my poor little girl, scrambling to get to her feet, wailing and screaming words that I couldn't decipher with a face all smeared in red.  As I made my way down the hill and kept telling her to "stay still" and "don't move", it finally occurs to me, she's not hurt or scared, she's mad.  The words that she was trying so hard to screech into my thick head was that her "stupid sled was in with the stupid cows and they were going to wreck it".  The red smears on her face, to my elated solace, were Skittles.  The anger ebbed into what was likely fear but came across in some fashion of guilt, when I reached Grace and bent to hug her she just kept apologizing, repeating that she knew better then to go under the fence and that she should have rolled off before she got there.  After I finished hugging her until she grunted and we both took a moment to exhale, the traumatic experience ended with us both laughing hysterically and thanking God that she was ok.

We've been having more sickness in our calves these days, so far the meds are working and the calves seem to come through it ok.  It's so hard to believe but we are fast approaching pasture season and this typically ends theses types of sicknesses in our animals.  Jamie and I are planning a day that I will join him to do some herd health, where every cow, calf and bull will receive Dewormer and the bigger calves will be weaned, dehorned, bulls casterated and everyone innoculated.  This is always a massive undertaking, but one we both enjoy and it gives me a chance to reconnect with the farm.  Something I don't get to do as often as I would like, or as often as I used to, with spending most of my time with our girls.

It was a "Chicken Finger and Smile Fries" kind of night which we balanced with Pineapple and Strawberries in Yogurt Dip.  Then Grace finished our evening with some sort of play dramatically presented by her and her life sized lion of a sailing expedition to Africa. This was complete with a plastic bin boat, a blanket mast, a blue blanket ocean, binoculars, maps, and of course posters and tickets for the show.  All of which she was going to help me clean up before bed and also which she thought she was too busy brushing her teeth to help me with.  In the end with a bit of reverse physcology, she decided she couldn't possibly sleep without her lion and the mess was quickly straightened out.