Slip-N-Slide... Yes, Please.

When I was little we had something called the "Whacky Banana Slide".  Do you remember it?  A long piece of yellow plastic, held in place by some metal stakes fastening the four corners down, and a yellow banana sprinkler placed just perfectly so that it sprinkles right on the yellow plastic.  SO. MUCH. FUN! 

Our next door neighbors, and some of our best friends ever, Greg and Deidra, had something called "Crocodile Mile".  This was a long piece of blue plastic with a little crocodile pool at the end, so that if you slid all the way to the end you would splash into the pool.

We always came up with what we thought were the best ideas when we neighbor kids were all together, so we decided to set-up these two slip-n-slides end to end.  It would make a longer, more fun, and challenging, slide out of what was already top-rated backyard summer fun by the Hastings and Smith kids.  Oh yes, we did it, and we did it many times....It became quite a game to see who could slide the farthest, to see who could slide the craziest, who could slide the fastest... you get the point.  We had no serious injuries or ER trips from our backyard slip-n-slide fun, although I have heard stories of other kids who did. We just had the occasional bruise from a bad fall/dive onto the slide, or the bruise from a rock that may have been under the slide.... but, it was always SO. MUCH. FUN!

Fun enough in fact, that I wanted a slip-n-slide this summer for Sarah and I to do together in the backyard.  I knew it might be hard to convince Eric that we needed one, so we asked Popee and Nanee.  They would remember how much fun the Hastings and Smith kids had over twenty years ago in their backyard.  They came through for us the following week.  We went to Emporia for a visit and there on the table sat the box from the store containing fun for all ages as far as I was concerned.  I think I was just as excited if not more than Sarah to get that slide out, set-up, and get to sliding!  My brother, Matt, even came over to "play" in Dad and Mom's backyard with the nieces and me. 

Matt and I had fun sliding and laughing that afternoon.  (No pictures were taken of Matt sliding, by his request, I promise he was there.)  Sarah loved it too.  She liked sliding on her knees, while Matt and I laid out flat on our bellies.  (Of course, we are more experienced sliders and did not want to hit a rock with one of our knees.) 

Phoebe even liked running, falling and laying on the orange plastic, and drinking the water out of the built in sprinkler. 

So here's to the old memories and many more new memories on a slip-n-slide in the backyard.