Friday, March 19, 2021

Sled-gineering

 A month or so ago when Dallas was frigid and snowy, we were super excited to go sledding in our own neighborhood.  We had been storing a plastic sled for years for just such an occasion.  When an 1/8" of snow/ice covered the streets, we headed over to a neighbor's house and started sledding.  

Sledding commences, Sunday Feb. 14th 2021


All went well for a several hours until at the end of the day, our sled cracked into pieces!  What could we do.  Well, first I tried a epoxy and fiberglass repair, but I forgot to rough-up the plastic first (and didn't have plastic epoxy at home).  That repair didn't last long.  So what now?  A trash can lid?


That wasn't very comfortable...let's build our own sleds!  I searched the internet and found a pretty simple design.  This was our first prototype, which we named "The Belly Flop".  The next day, the kids designed their own sleds.  


Norah went for a toboggan style, she named "The Super Sledder".

Jackson went for an agile design, which he proudly named "The Pink Diaper" since it was made out of an old pink pull-ups box.

The Super Sledder (Norah), The Belly Flop (Will) and The Pink Diaper (Jackson)


Norah made a cardboard "oar"

The sleds worked really well on our neighbor's driveway and enabled days of sledding fun (who could have imagined we'd have nearly a week of sledding days in a row!).  The sleds didn't work so well on the longer, gentler slopes around the neighborhood though.


Friday Feb. 19, 2021 the snow melts

 





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