My day and the waterslide...

See, if you can't tell what I'm doing I'll just spell it out for you.  I'm blogging current events...while slipping in past events that I should have already blogged about. 

Today you get to hear all about...

1.  Bella's 104.2 fever
2.  Our friend KJ and meeting her giant dog, Tyson.
3.  Taking a walk in the rain
4.  Taking a walk in the sunshine
5.  (Repeat 3 and 4 a few more times through the day...)
6.  Getting to see our favorite librarians again
7.  Watching the first Little House on the Priarie...show 1, disc 1, season 1
8.  Talking to John for a whole 30 minutes!

Phew...what a day, eh?

Now, I get to move on to the waterslide...a family reunion activity that has become a real tradition for my family...one that we will have to repeat forever.   You have probably already seen preview photos of my mother going down this slide...but to get the full wonderful effect of this family reunion activity I must give you additional details...

Tadum...the slide...22 feet high and 50 feet long.  We set it up in the school yard behind my mom's house.  YES we had the permission of the principal...sort of.  But long story short...nobody from the district came by to shut us down and besides if they had my lawyer brother said we'd smile and say ok then continue to play on the slide because NOBODY was going to stop this party except the city police.  he he he....thats what we get for having a lawyer in the family. 

(We did consider maiming my brother in law, Jason so we could sue the school for liability and finance our next reunion, but in the end we decided it wasn't going to be worth it...)

Now, the thing about the slide is that we SAY its for the kids...

See them all lined up waiting for it to be ready...set....

...GO!

Katie hitting the puddle at the bottom...

Alana's look may seem like pure terror, but in reality THAT IS FUN!

But the reality is that the slide has become a competition of sorts that you could compare to log rolling, chainsaw throwing, truck pulling and the sort.  Its the "man's" activity of who can go up the slide, down the slide and get off the slide the fastest.  Thats right...this is the infamous slide race that is now held at every family reunion.

Lest you think this is a joke...our last reunion we had two broken toes from this activity...sported by MY HUSBAND, who also happened to be the WINNER of the slide race...  Of course that was a pansy bonsai slide that was about 10 feet tall and 10 feet long...nothing like this mammoth of a slide we had this year, but its still a record that John holds proudly and considers two broken toes a price well worth paying.  Plus, he will never have a chance to be overthrown either because that bonsai slide ended up popped at that same family reunion.  Ah...well...anyhow...

The big boys...

Tom bypassing the children...out of his way...its time for the big boys to slide...

Ray's stealth move of sliding on tummy didn't work out so well unless you could actually slide all the way to the end without stopping...

Aaron and Ray fighting over who went faster...

I am, pleased to announce that this year there was a twist in the slide race.  This was the first year the women of this family also competed AND WON the title  Thats right.

Eliza Sue posted a 12.03 seconds...and Sarah Louisa posted a 12.23 seconds to make it up 22 feet, around the corner, down the ramp and slide all of the 50 feet rolling off the end of the slide.  Beating the best boy time which was at least a second longer than either of those.

Thats right...the women prevailed...

...until 2013...muwahahahaha