Mushing

As we went outside in the cold...not the regular cold, but the cold that makes your cheeks feel like they don't exist...the cold that you try to sniff, but when you sniff it's 'frozen'. We stepped out the back door of the Meyers home...5 achers of land, and felt the snow crunch beneath our feet...We saw before us a Snow machine and our new friend Jonathan Meyers sitting on it reving it, trying to get it warmed up for the night of learning, and the night for fun. Larisa, Jonathan's mom and teacher came and helped get the Dog sled hooked up to the snowmachine. We were about to learn what it would be like to Mush, before the dogs would be attatched to the sleds. Austin got on, Larisa went down the list of expectations with him, and went over the things that he needed to do to stay on the sled, how to steer, and how to miss objects. Then they took off bundled up in the winter gear and helmet for safety. They went around the yard a few times...she would look back constantly, then you could hear Larisa, "Very good Austin, Lean into it, use your body. Feel the turn....GOOD.." Then she arrived and Austin's face was filled with Joy. His smile couldn't be bigger. He felt so accomplished. He couldn't stop talking about how "cool" that was. Then it was Kurtis' turn. Kurt got on and Larisa did the same thing with Kurt, going down the list of important things to do to stay on the sled, to turn, to stop, and to avoid object. Then she was off. Kurt had a hard time at first, he fell off. But after he figured out how to use his body and legs to turn the sled he was hootin and hollering "faster, HIKE!!!" For a mom to see these boys so excited, and learning something new was so exciting. Larisa also would turn around and yell at Kurt...not bad yelling, but teaching. her voice had to carry over the snow machine..."Good Kurt, use your legs to steer, be one with the sled....GOOD JOB Kurt, don't let go" Then it was my turn. Because during the times when we are going to be with our kids, we as parents have to know how to sled, in case we are helping the boys with their "team" and they take off for some reason, we need to know how to ride, we will be also learning CPR for the dogs. Also we'll be learning how to run the snow machines. What our boys will be learning we'll be learning too. So I got on the sled, I learned that when you stepped on there is spikes to grab your boots. The sled felt small, and thin. The sled I was on was for sprinting. It is a lighter sled. So there is nothing to it, it couldn't way more than 15lbs if that. She gave me the run down also, You lean into the turns, use your legs to turn, because I'm tall I was told to squat down to have better control over the sled. When I was going to approach something that would harm the sled I was told to hop off and run along the side of it, then hop back on. So she took off slowly. I could feel the sled push through the snow. Crunching beneath me. I turned into it...it was feeling familiar to me, I just was trying to remember where I'd felt this way before...before I new it, I had dumped myself. I had leaned the wrong way. Then it dawned on me that this was like skiing. You use your legs the same way, turning and such, I had it down. Then Larisa pulled out the Tabogan sled, and hooked it up. Put one of the kids in the sled for weight, and one on the back to Mush. The Tabogan sled was bigger. It was stronger and didn't have a lot of room for your feet. During this run both the kids were hootin, holloring "Faster, HIKE, HIKE!!!" between there squeals of laughter and fun. Then they switched. Kurt was on the back this time. This time Kurt fell off. So me and Jonathan watched Larisa stop the snowmachine. Austin yelled...Where did he go and then before we knew it Kurt was running to get back on the sled. He was laughing, and said, "I just got white washed" I got a turn, and Kurt was in the front. Larisa went around a few times, but then decided that I needed to learn about hopping on and off the sled to avoid stuff. There was a tire that I missed the 1st time around, the second time I was trying to figure out how to miss, but couldn't steer around it. This sled was much larger than the sprint sled. I ended up running over it. Then the 3rd time around I was able to hop off run along the side of the sled while I still had a hold of the sled. The sled went over it with ease, and then I hopped back on...Larisa yelled out, "Good Job, MOM, that's how it's done" There is nothing like feeling accomplished. I could see why the boys loved to do this. It was very rewarding, and we were just learning to feel the sleds. We went in after that. It was so fun. I'm so glad that we got the chance to do this. Jonathon begged to have the boys spend the night. So I let them. They fed 57 dogs. The 4H club that holds the mushing program owns them. The boys trained puppies, they played with the dogs. They harnessed them up and took some of them out for a run with the sleds. They got ran instead of the dogs. They learned which dogs were harder to harness than others. Some of the dogs personalities were very strong and others were just cuddly bears. They came home Saturday afternoon and couldn't stop ranting and raving about how neat it was, the things that they did. How hard it was to feed that many dogs, with Salmon oil, watered down dog food, left over food....and other things, they stir it up and serve the dogs. the Salmon oil helps the dogs pack on the fat that will help them stay warm during the winter. The dogs in the winter also won't drink as much so that's why they put water in the food. So that the dogs are getting the water intake that they need. The boys loved helping and learning more. For PE I wanted to get the kids into something that they couldn't do back in Utah. We found the Mushing program. It is something these boys' won't forget. They are meeting kids that aren't involved in drugs and things. While we've been homeschooling, and such Kurtis hasn't taken any kind of medicine for ADHD. He's able to take as many breaks as necessary. The Mushing has the outlet for him that he needs. It's neet for these boys to learn about the dogs and the breeds. It's neat also for them to learn for the dogs safety as well as the mushers. I'm so glad that this is such a great experience for them. It sure isn't Soccer :)