Sliding!

A few weekends ago when we were at Grandma Amanda's house, she got up Jon's old slide from when he was a kid. We used to have it at our house in Canton, but then it went back to her house when we were living at my parents. Well, we have room for the slide again, so Grandma got it up, dusted it off, and put it together for the kids. And the kids are ESTATIC about the slide.

At first Matea needed a lot of coaching on how to get up the slide, up the ladder, to hold on once she got to the top, etc. But within one day she had figured out how to get up the slide independently, and within two days she had mastered the ladder. Now she's a pro! And Eli takes turns with her very nicely and helps her if she needs it as well. This means that Mommy can be unpacking books in the basement while Eli and Matea play and I don't have to be helping Matea up and down the slide. Being nearby is good enough.

Now, usually every day, we spend about an hour or more in the basement (sometimes several times a day) and the kids slide, play trains, draw, play in the fort, make obstacle courses, and just have fun! Matea thinks it's really fun to roll balls and toys down the slide, and Eli likes setting up his bowling pins at the bottom and then knocking them over with his body when he slides down. The slide is a great addition to our playroom basement, so thank you for letting us take it back here Grandma Amanda!

Eli on the slide then . . .

And Eli on the slide now!

I'm not so sure about this . . .

Hey, this IS fun!

I can't quite make it to the top this way.

Much easier without my pants on.

This is AWESOME!

Trying to learn the ladder . . . maybe I'll wait on that for later.

Oh yeah, a little sliding before bed!

Eli's "helping" Matea . . . resulting in a face smack into the slide, but he was trying to help.

I made it!

Here's the tricky part - standing at the top!

And, Matea's patented hand-holding-on-as-long-as-she-can-grip!

Eli discovered his polar bear jammies made great sliding clothes. He zips right down, especially when he's on his tummy!