***

***

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Hip and Cool.

Yesterday I did something Hip and Cool.

Yes, me.

(Erin.)

I went to a concert with some girlfriends.



Good price, huh? Military special for Memorial Day.
It was quite fun, and the girl can sang.

There were four of us that attended the concert together, and between us we are the owners and operators of 6 children and 1 fetus.
We thought we would go to a concert, get a night away from the kids, and feel young again.

Well. We accomplished two of our goals.

We realized that you can't un-age yourself just by attending a concert. We were initially hit with that realization as we were walking through the parking lot and found ourselves discussing the merits of minivans.
By nature, minivans (while practical), are neither Hip nor Cool.

(Unless you can channel your inner swagger.)

Then we started to notice the group of girls walking in ahead of us.
They were sporting jeggings, and pulling them off quite nicely.

Did you know of these things? They are denim leggings, or, the skinniest skinny jean known to mankind.

The four of us will probably never wear jeggings. Because we are mothers. And therefore in all likelihood cannot pull it off.

But, I still have to say that we were somewhat Hip and Cool by the simple fact that we were out. On the town. After dark.

Despite the fact that we all recognized that our bodies are not used to being out past midnight.

Who am I kidding? My body is not used to being out past 8pm.

It doesn't happen often. I shall relish it.

Do you know what is not so Hip and Cool?
Unintentionally taking a spill on a sand dune.

Allow me to share a little story with you.
The other day, we went out to the nearby Bruneau Sand Dunes.


They are an oddity of nature, as great piles of sand have no rightful place in Idaho.

Yet they exist, and entice the locals to come out with their children and sleds, and enjoy the scenery.
The dune we were perched atop was quite steep.
The picture doesn't quite do it justice.


We had a hard time lugging, pushing, and carrying the children up to the top because it was so steep.


We played at the peak for a while, and then prepared to let the kids sled back down to the bottom.

Alex and our friend's little girl were all set to go down together.
We had been watching folks sled down, and they weren't going very fast. So we felt comfortable letting Alex and Reese (who is not quite 2 years old) go down together.

Well.
Those other people must not have been going very fast because they were a good deal heavier than our sled of small girls.

Alex and Reese went fast.
Very fast.

So fast, that I decided that I should chase after them and do my best to grab the sled and slow them down.

I failed.

And Laura, waiting at the bottom, caught a bit of that on film.

It is a very short video clip because Laura had to stop filming to try to save their lives.
I shall break it down for you:
1) You will see Josh at the top of the hill in a black shirt. He is the one who gave the girls a good, strong push, and that is where their ride initiated.
2) When the video starts, I am already in full pursuit of the runaway sled.
3) When it becomes obvious that I cannot catch them, I try for a dive.
4) It does not work.
5) Check out how fast that sled is going!
6) Listen for Alex's shrieks
7) Take note of the voices of the surrounding strangers yelling "Catch Them!"
8) No one was able to catch them.
9) They came to a smooth stop and no one was injured.
10) Reese got up and toddled away, quite proud of herself.
11) Alex cried for the next 10 minutes.



After watching the clip, I figured out that my little roll on the dune is why piles of sand fell out of my bra that night when I changed into my jammies.



Me, tumbling in the dune: Not Hip. Not Cool.
And, for the second time, I am out of the running for Mother of the Year.

18 comments:

Rachel said...

I thought that was quite graceful! For a sand dune fall, it was well executed :) Haven't you ever been to sleeping bear dunes in MI?

One of Us said...

Well, I'm so out of the "hip & cool" stage that I had to click on your link to find out what jeggings are.

And, I think there is something wrong with the video link. It keeps playing over and over........ :)

mikeandmelissafisher said...

Ah yes, I remember those sand dunes. Weird, huh? We also hiked "up" them.

Love the video. I mean, no, it was very scary and sad. And funny. Sorry.

Grandma said...

Actually, it was a very ordinary and graceful fall. Not a PTB quality fall at all. If you are going to fall, Erin, make it a good one. And may I say, that every time I might have had a stumble or two, it never endangered the well being of my grandchildren. But not to fear, grandma is on her way.

Anonymous said...

Josh: Slow down there, Turbo!

Erin: Look at you and your bad self!

Jaime said...

Jeggings! I didn't know they had a name. Now I can go use the lingo and pretend to my unhip and uncool mom friends that I still got it!

MMm&m said...

oh, how i wish i would have been there last night.....i would have upped the hip and cool factor by at least 95% what with my big ole belly and all.....because there is nothing...NOTHING....more hip and cool than gestating!! and way to sacrifice your sandless bra for the sake of the progeny....

Teresa Dawm said...

I have never heard of jeggings, but they look pretty cool :) I Like them. That was a great ticket price! I love it when I can get tickets cheap (or better yet, free... those ones that say $0.00 on them are fantastic haha (I had a free one for the musical Cats and one for the dress rehearsal of the Olympic Opening Ceremonies).

The video clip reminds me a time I went sledding with my family. At the bottom the snow was piled high to stop the sleds and we couldn't see beyond the other side. For all we knew it was a cliff. So, my friends dad pushed my friend and I (we were very young at the time) and the push was a little too strong, sending us up and over the bank, while my mum panicked at the top of the hill. Luckily, there was just more snow and some very very small newly planted trees on the other side) We were okay and giggling and ready to go again.

Joyce said...

Well, according to my kids if I use the word 'hip' then I'm not : )

Jessica said...

It looks more like you collapsed than dove for the sled. I don't know, though, I've only watched it about 10 times so I could be wrong.

Nicole said...

Ahh too funny. I can't stop watching it.

Jennifer said...

You ARE Mother of the Year girl! Love it!!

And you totally suck for getting to see Carrie Underwood for $10...

Dana said...

i agree that you suck for seeing that concert for $10! But man, that video is so funny! I almost thought you were a professional volley ball player:) Did you get sand-burn?

Jen McD said...

Erin - you clearly did the dive and roll! Nice job!

You are cool in your swagger wagon. Always.

aTXtumbleweed said...

Too Too funny! You should get an A for effort as far as the mother of the year award...At least you tried to catch them...what was hubby doing??? Hmmm let me check the evidence...I mean video again!

Elaine said...

That is a funny video :)
but...in my stupid post baby stage for some reason I busted out crying. Not from laughing.
i think there's something wrong with me. lol.

Elaine said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
I'm Erin. said...

Elaine, that sounds like the way I was after I had Alex. I definitely had some postpartum blues. I could cry at just about anything.
If you need some help with the kids or groceries, or whatever, just ask!