One of the highlights of "Water Play Day" during Hive 09 was the homemade waterslide! I looked for them in stores, but couldn't find any that were really as big as I was looking for. So, I bought 2 rolls of 10' x 25' clear visqueen (6 mil, I think... whatever the strongest one was) from Lowes (about $45 with my 10% off coupon), found some rubber grommets (also at Lowes, in the tarp section for about $5), got some camping stakes (about $10 at WalMart), and gathered some duct tape, Dawn dishwashing liquid, and a sprinkler. Put it all together (especially with a downhill incline in the middle of it), and you have one awesome Slip N Slide!
We tried every move that we could think of... even added some props. We have a couple of dare devils in the group, so the skim board made an appearance and was successfully ridden by Ben and Mike with no injuries. I attempted a couple of dives onto the slip n slide... once over a human (Justin) and another time over a kids' slide. I didn't injure myself too bad, but did pop my neck a bit going over the slide because in the air I changed my mind about whether to attempt the jump as a straight dive or as a dive roll so instead I just landed on the back of my neck. I'm sure it looked very graceful. Fortunately, that wasn't one of the times that the video camera was rolling. :)
The downhill in the middle was awesome because just when you started to slow down, it would pick back up again! It was also great for the kids because the adults were able to give them a little push at the top of the hill and they just slid on down it (as seen in this picture here of Jason pushing Halle). The kids loved it too, and didn't get nearly as injured as the adults did slamming their bodies onto the ground. Can you tell how much Halle enjoyed it?
Later that night, I felt like I had been beaten up. I don't think that I got any actual bruises from the slip n slide (but I was one of the lucky ones), but I did use some muscles that I apparently don't use much because I was achy all over... especially my lower back and my biceps (which I guess I was using to help keep me from pounding my body onto the ground too hard so I guess it worked since I didn't have bruises).
And now... a video of the dive over a human body onto the slip n slide. It was harder than it looks, but I'm sure I'll be trying it again until I have it perfected!
I see many hours of slip n slide enjoyment in my future! Enjoy the pictures of the slip n slide.
2 comments:
You kids are allot braver than I am. Looks like allot of fun. Isn't it funny how things that seem to be effortless as a child seems to be much harder as an adult. Our bodies don't seem as flexiable.
Thanks for sharing the story and pics - I'll just live through you and save myself the 'beaten up' feeling :)
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