The Waterslide

In the last year we have become friends with out neighbors two houses down. They have a little girl, Hannah, who is just about Zoë's age and we started getting them together for playdates this past fall. Over the course of the playdates Hannah's mother, Sally, and I got to talk quite a bit and she is a very lovely person. Sally's husband Ted helped us with the snow all winter because he has a snow blower. And they also have a little boy called Jack who just turned 6 and is very sweet.

This summer we have been hanging out with them more. Since I started my new job Sally and I now work close to each other so we have met for lunch a few times. And our two families have had dinner a few times. They are a lot of fun to be with and I feel lucky to have such good neighbors. The kids and the adults all get along very well.

This past Saturday was Jack's birthday party and we were invited over after the party to help try out Jack's birthday present. Ted and Sally bought him the Six Flags Banzai Falls Water Slide as a birthday present. This thing is awesome. I only wish I'd had something like that as a kid. The kids all loved it, but for me, of course, the best part was watching Zoeë.

In typical Zoë fashion she spent about an hour circling the slide. She watched the other kids go up and down, she played in the water at the bottom, and she climbed up to the top a few times and then climbed back down again. There were 3 little boys including Jack and 2 little girls -- Hannah and another. Hannah wanted no part of the slide, but all the other kids were going down repeatedly. Finally, after no special moment, just enough time spent assessing, Zoë sat herself at the top of the slide. She sat for about 5 minutes and then she went for it and at the bottom after she splashed into the freezing cold water, she had the biggest grin on her face. She ran around to the back and slid down about 50 more times until her lips were literally blue from the cold water. Despite shivering, she did not want to stop. That night all she could talk about was the slide. And the next morning she wanted to go right back to their house and slide some more. Luckily, Sally called to say they were going to set the slide up again in the afternoon if we wanted to come over. As if it were a question! It was fantastic to watch Zoë have so much fun. If I let her, I think she would keep sliding until she just dropped -- either from exhaustion or hypothermia.