Opening Ceremonies

With a perfectly iced and manicured track and embankments, the torch was lit and the neighborhood Olympic-worthy sled run opened today. We had a Launch Party of sorts, which included a fire, food and hours (I mean hours) of fun on the hill. Here are some snapshots and videos of the fun...

Neighbor girls shoot out of the "starting gate".

Look at Carter's face. The first part of the hill is slick and steep!

Carter and Madison try not to crash coming down at the same time.

The survivor pumps his fist! (As a precaution, there were hay bales in front of one of the trees "potentially" in the way. Only one kid took those out and, surprisingly, it wasn't Carter.)

"Mom, you don't have to take a picture of everything I do!"

Our colorful Olympic flames, courtesy of some old Christmas lights thrown on the fire.

The Masters of Ceremonies! Going "backwards" from right to left: Jim, Niki and Mick (the firestarter), Shelly and (kneeling) Matt (the firefighter).

Pretty in pink.... Ha, see, it's fun to write my own captions!

And now for some video. You'll see there was rarely one sled going down the hill at a time so the chances of crashes were pretty good. There were a variety of ways to make the run, too: sitting, kneeling, standing (even adults -- not hubby or me, though!), alone or in pairs, making a train, going backwards. I did actually sled down once -- but it was at the bottom of the starting gate and it was in slow-motion. I gotta ease into this or my chiropractor will kill me (or he may thank me). Enjoy...