Sledding - another first off the list

Armed only with an inflatable tube, Habtamu sizes up the opposition

I was going to let the pictures speak for themselves, but that's just not my style. The kids had no problem figuring out the rules of the hill, and even exemplified proper 'sleddiquette' by not line jumping and (generally) waiting for others to move out of the way before barreling down. We went sledding two days this weekend with no hard life lessons, with the exception of one headlong encounter with an immovable iceball. Otherwise, as Yordi put it, it was, "Down very fun. Up not fun," the rest of the day.

You tell me, does he look like he's having fun?

Yeah, she isn't either.

It's really interesting to me to watch my kids literally get 'up to speed' with American life. 6 months ago we were cramming Habtamu into a baby swing with a plastic seat and a safety bar. 4 months ago the one ticket rides at the fair were invigorating, then bikes stepped it up another notch. Now they are sledding and their brains are calculating and adjusting for everything the whole way down. They ditch and roll when they want and not accidentally. And you know things were going well because I asked for 'real smiles' for the following picture and actually got them. Woo-hoo!

Ahh, just like the good ol' days on the frozen hills of Ethiopia.