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A few weeks ago, my friend Fr. Tim sent me the following video, along with a message that said something like "not to scare you but this is your life in about five years."
I held off posting this here, even though I've watched it repeatedly and I love it every single time. I finally decided I'd show it to you (with fair warning, there is a bad word said at 3:09, fyi). I figured a lot of you readers are either a) women with sons and I think you should see what you're up against; or b) former boys who will weep at the beauty of this thing. I told Fr. Tim that I must be a 15-year-old boy deep down because I almost cried when I saw this, I thought it was so cool. Having said that, I sure hope my boys don't try anything as crazy as this. The guy who made this, when asked how his parents reacted said "my ma cried when she found out."
After you watch this, here's today's question: what is the craziest thing you've ever done? And how can I make sure my boys don't do anything this crazy (that last question, don't worry about. Because I think it might involve surgically removing their God-given male brains from ages 14-23).
By the way, I did let the boys see this, which I don't entirely recommend. When the video ended, I looked around and didn't see Augie. He was already in the playroom building something with the Skyrail. Yowzah.
Monday, July 14, 2008
You're So Money Monday
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32 comments:
Being the mother of five girls and only one boy, I was deeply afeared for them the entire time. :-/
o-kay, my boys thought this was cool, and I am sure that my Charlie is already thinking of ways to do this from our attic window. Of course a few years back, Paul let them jump off the garage roof into a big pile of leaves...Gracie liked it the best.
I think the most important word in this whole video comes at the end where it says, "Engineered by...." These kids knew (a little) what they were doing--the slide was built with the right lift at the end, and the pool placed at the (mostly) right place where they landed. So, points for engineering.
As a mom...AAAAACCCCKKKKK!
My mother-in-law (mom to 3 boys, 3 girls) has said that in her opinion, a mother's job with boys is just to try to make sure they don't kill themselves before they turn 18. Anything beyond that is a bonus.
My boys saw this on AFV. They all said, "Awe! That's awesome! AND dangerous!"
This reminds me of a story that my mother-in-law ( the mom of four boys)tells of her boys and their male cousins sled riding out the window and down the roof of their cousin's house. After they passed over the porch area they had about a ten foot drop to the ground.
As far as my boys ( ages 15 and almost 12)One day last winter my husband seen foot prints on the roof of our attached garage from the upstairs bathroom window. After punishing the fifteen year old who he was sure was the culprit (Christmas was well over so it wasn't Santa ;-)The eleven year old admitted that he wanted to make a snow cone but didn't want to get snow from anyplace that the dogs had been outside( that left the roof).
Other than that , though our boys are true boys,with God's Grace, our constant watch, or the watch of their big sister, has halted many "great" ideas.
I'm terrified! And laughing. Sort of. All I can think of is the emergency room, wheel chairs, and serious spine injuries. My eldest boy is 6. If he ever does this he is SO grounded. Thanks for the terrifying and amusing ride! I think. :)
Note to self--don't leave my boys home alone for 10 days! Yikes!
Gotta love the ingenuity of these guys. They are the brains (kooky, awesome brains) that will find our alternatives to oil and such for the future, or build the next ride at Six Flags.
PS Notice the guy in the arm sling? Wonder if he was injured in the building of the slip in slide?
So, did Fr Tim offer some reassurrance in the form of "guaranteed" plenary indulgences for all your five boys in the event they are motivated to do such tasks?
I am guessing that the guy wearing the sling is the one that did NOT land in the pool ... *sigh*
I'm in awe. Never in my entire life - even during my carefree world-wide-open younger years would I have conceived of anything like this...
Gosh I admire boys.
Watching this video was like watching my own boys each day (times 50) -- terrifying.. unfathomable... and impressive.
Last year my cousin, whose driveway is this long with just a slightly less steep grade, set up a Little Tykes roller coaster and sent all of my kids, 6,3 and 2 down it. My job was to stand in the yard and catch them before they ran into the lake. I was terrified but the kids had a BLAST :). They keep asking when we can go back.
One reason why I will stay home with our boys! I had brothers who loved to get up on the roof for all sorts of experiments. And our neighbor's boy and his friends were one time jumping off of the roof into the deep end of their pool. All latchkey kids (the neighbor and my brothers growing up).
Actually, what is it with boys and roofs? Or fire (this was my brothers' big one)?
My husband grew up in the country on top of a mountain. He has three older brothers--and nearly all of his cousins (mostly boys) on his father's side of the family lived on the same country lane. Here are just two examples of the crazy things they did: 1) my husband and one of his cousins created home-made napalm, and nearly caught the woods on fire (I am not kidding!) 2) all of the cousins went sledding in the winter down the steep side of a rock quarry. To make things more interesting, they built a series of ramps and jumps--once with gasoline induced flames to leap over. The sled? An old door. I kid you not. And they all lived to adulthood. Though there were some broken limbs, I think.
Good luck to all those out there with a pack of boys! Enjoy the ride!
Having grown up with no males at all in my home, I wasn't sure I liked having a boy...and then 3 more in quick succession. But now I have come to admire their spirit and yes, even their recklessness at times.
I loved the video. I am much MUCH more fearful of one of them eventually wanting a motorcycle!
10 days??? WHAT??? First off...not brilliant idea...
As a mother, I am so afraid of this potential.
As a former teenager, I LOVE the reckless abandon by which they live....LOVE IT!!!
But, I realize I am an old lady...it made me quiver...bummer.
My son almost lost his leg due to a stunt. May God have mercy on you and the boys too!
hrm... I am still stunned. I could see it happening here - with both the girls and the boys. The scariest part of it would be that my husband (who IS an engineer) would be the brains behind the brillance.
Delurking here to say that my husband's best friend broke his neck on a Slip 'n' Slide when he was 19-years-old. He's now 41 and a paraplegic in a wheelchair. He's the coolest guy you'll ever meet but he would have a thing or two to tell all of our young boys about the wisdom of being so daring and of thinking you're invincible.
I've seen this video before, and all I can do is laugh. Guys are such... guys!
My brother-in-law would have been the first one on this slide. My husband grew up on a farm, and his brother would do things like jump out of the window on the SECOND story of the barn and try to land in the DRIVEWAY. Insane. There are so many stories about this particular brother it is an absolute miracle he survived childhood.
All you have to do is start the physics lessons young and pray. Between their ingenuity and grace they will be fine and have a blast.
Aunt Anna
That.. was... awesome!
If our boys ever pull something like that off, I'm not even sure I could scold them. In fact, I might take a ride.
Of course, I have been trying to convince my wife to put in a pool at our house... so I can jump off the second story balcony into it.
Our boys will come by it honestly...
All I can say is their Guardian Angels were working OVERTIME! :)
You gotta love the Pixies!
OMG! I showed this to 11 & 7 yo dss and they were sucked in like they'd found their Oz! I had to forward this to my aunt and uncle (whose ds is 10) just so that I could say, "This is why our boys will NEVER be allowed to hang out as teens!"
Already the 7 yo is plotting how to engineer a slide off of afore mentioned cousin's second story roof into their 4 foot pool below!
As someone else said, part of me loved that free spirit and brains (hey at least they aren't playing video games), and I probably would have slid as a teen (where were the girls)? The Mom part of me was inwardly shrieking the entire time!
Tracy of the former Woodland Word
That was great! When I was that age, some of the neighbor kids and I started doing the ultimate slip-and-slide while my parents were gone for the day. It kept getting bigger and better. Once we got to the roof, though, the neighbor across the street called the cops and they came and put an end to it. Now I'll always wonder what if...
As a 27 year old big kid, I kinda want to try this now. I don't think my superiors at the monastery would appreciate it, though... :-)
Wow. My three boys are young still but they'd try this slide in a heartbeat. Gulp.
What I wonder (but don't want to know really) is *how* they got onto the roof?!
I love this video! My boys are young but look what I will have to look forward to! oh fun!
Oh my.
Chronicler sent me here and while I really don't need another blog to read I have three boys in a row and I fear this may be required reading.
I can't believe at 44 that I'm thinking "cool, maybe I can build one!" OK, maybe I can believe it. When I was about 12, we built a "luge run" (ice sled run) that ran from the top of our garage, complete with a sharp 90 degree turn a the bottom to avoid running into the neighbor's garage.
Rock! I want one. Now.
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