Ice-Blocking

(Picture from Google)

Step 1: Find blocks of ice.
Step 2: Find a park with really big, steep hills.
Step 3: Find a bunch of friends who don't mind getting muddy.
Step 4: Put rags on top of the ice so your bum doesn't get frozen and slide down the hill!
Step 5: Repeat.

Tonight, Ruben, JJ, my siblings and I went ice-blocking for hours in Minnesota Park. It was a total blast and we got incredibly muddy. We looked like mud zombies staggering around in our mud-soaked jeans and grimy faces. We laughed and fell and slipped and raced and rolled down the hill getting more muddy and excited with each trip down. I've been ice-blocking many times, but each time it's a tad different and always a thrill. Maybe it takes away your breath because it's already very cold and you're playing with ice. Maybe it's because you get the wind knocked out of you when your block suddenly stops and you go flying off into the mud. Perhaps it's just plain *awesome*. Who knows.

We piled in the car (sure to place paper towels and sweatshirts down so we wouldn't get the seats dirty) and invaded the nearby McDonalds. The workers eyed us warily as we came through...."did you, um, fall?" one of them ventured to ask. "You smell....um....dirty." We laughed, explained ourselves and ordered almost everything on the menu. Ice-blocking makes you hungry. Very hungry.

Tomorrow I think I'm going to be really sore.
Totally worth it.