One of our rental camps moved from January to March unexpectedly, leaving an open weekend. Not wanting the beautiful new snow to go to waste, Scruffy planned a snow day for camp counselors and other staff as well as children from our boys’ school. There is just something about a sledding party.

Camp counselors gathered at a round table in the camp lodge, playing board games in front of a crackling fire. Kids from our sons’ schools piled into their snow clothes and followed my up the mountainside along with their Dads and Moms. I found a spot where I could see both the top and bottom of the tube hill and spent the next two hours shouting myself hoarse telling the kiddos at the top whether it was clear at the bottom and safe to go. Parents held tubes for kids so they could settle themselves securely before rocketing down the hill. The tubers bounced downhill, rattling their teeth, and gaining a frosting of ice as it sprayed off the run and coated their eyebrows. Screams echoed across the mountain until chattering with cold, the kids all made their way down the trail to the camp lodge for cookies and cocoa. 

It’s not an intense chapel session or a midnight sing-a-long at Inspiration Point. But there is something about a sledding party. A chance for a teen to hang out with friends in a place where they are loved. A day for a kid to get out with his family, to laugh and play and meet new people. A child stretching to do a new activity, something that they haven’t dared before. There is great value in these simple things, plus a whole lot of good old fashioned fun. So no, despite the moved rental group, the fresh snow was not wasted at all.

Boo Boo