Look before you leap

We went to my kids’ uncle’s house for the 25th and 26th. We are always guarenteed a good time when we go there. They have a son that’s older than my youngest and younger than the older ones so they all enjoy being around eachother.

Their uncle moved up north from us about a year or two ago and they live right on a lake. When we got there the lake had over 4 inches of ice so everyone figured it would be pretty safe to walk on (well, that and the fact that people were snowmobiling and ice fishing on it).

My sons have never ridden or driven a snowmobile before, so they were asked to stay at 30 mph or lower, which was a good idea! After awhile, their other cousins (the girls) decided to go out there and drive around for awhile. The boys hooked up a snow disk to the back of one of the machines and they were pulling people around.

Everyone was having a good time sliding around on the snow disk, occasionally being thrown (c: and zooming around on the long open frozen lake and the road that leads up to the house. That was until one of their cousins, H, thought it would be really cool to jump a huge snow drift. It seems she has the same problem my middle son at home used to have…she considered the fun of the jump without considering the consequences.

So, there they were, H and her friend, zooming toward this huge pile of snow. They hit the snow, climbing to the top of the snow pile and then soaring into the air. The fun was short lived, however, as the airborn snowmobile landed and H realized she was about to slam into the back of her mother’s car.

Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt. H, it appears may have a broken thumb as well as bruises on her leg and a stiff neck. She hasn’t been to the doctor yet, but it’s obvious she will live to see another day. The passenger had no injuries at all and the car looks like it’ll make it. The snowmobile, however, is gonna need a lot of reconstructive surgery.

For the record, H says it was really cool right up to the point that she realized she was going to hit the car. I’m glad I only got to witness the after effects (seeing her on the couch, seeing the snowmobile torn up and jammed into the back bumper of the car). I’m glad I didn’t get to witness the actual incident. As of this writing, her mother still hasn’t seen the snowmobile, and that’s probably a good thing.

They took a picture of the snowmobile still lodged under the bumper of the car. Maybe I can get a copy one of these days and post it. In the mean time, we are all saying our thank you’s to God that all she got was a broken thumb, some really bad bruises, and a really cool  memory of 3 feet of air time in a snowmobile.