Early in the holiday season, we heard there would bea manufactured snow park near city hall, and incredibly it fell on a weekend when all 4 of us were healthy and could go. It was small, but perfect for two kiddos who've never played in snow before. There was a sledding hill and separate sections for building snowmen and toddler play. Emily and Charlotte started off there, but both girls quickly decided they weren't impressed by the cold icy slush, which was frustratingly tough to walk in.
We wanted their first encounter to be a positive one, so after striking out in the toddler area we stood in a l-o-n-g line for balloon animals. Charlotte got a yellow bear and Emily opted for a pink crown. Those were a hit!
After that we ventured over to the sledding hill. From first sight Emily waffled on whether or not she wanted to go for a ride. Lucky for us Aunt Beca was along for the afternoon, and she always seems to bring out the courage in Emily. So together they stood in line while the 3 of us hung out at the bottom of the hill to watch her fledgling flight. (She comes down the right side trail.)
You can see that Emily really didn't know what to make of the ride. She was clearly spooked by the end, and the fact that she had no idea where she was, or more importantly, where we were didn't help. (Which explains why I'm yelling her name over and over and then abruptly stop the video to try and get to her.) Luckily as soon as I stopped taping one of the guys picked her up and hand delivered her into Matt's arms. Probably didn't seem like much to him, but we were very grateful that he didn't just let her stand on the side and panic all by herself.
Once she was back with us we made a BIG fuss over how cool the ride was and what a great a job she'd done, so her uncertainty soon changed to pride and triumph. And it turns out she'd been holding on to the sled so tightly, as Beca rightfully instructed, that her fingers had scraped the hill on the way down and she got a teeny ice burn. Nothing a princess band aid couldn't fix though :)
Next year Charlotte will get to ride too!!! Something tells me we won't have to talk her into it ;) 