Slip-Sliding Away....

The other day the temperature dropped to 87 degrees and the humidity fell below 90%, so we decided to take advantage of the chilly weather and explore a nearby park.  The main attraction of this park was its giant dip and roller slides, and it did not fail to impress the kids and me.  I must say, these Okinawans know how to build a park.  "Safety, schmafty" seems to be their motto for playground construction.  

The park area is huge, and the "attractions" are not bunched together in one section of the park.  The entrance we used was nearest to the toddler area, so at first the kids were like, "Gee, thanks, Mom...you really you really know how to pick 'em...."  But then, as we walked a little further, we found this...

The way it works is, you hold onto that bar at the top, dangle there while you build up some courage, then let go and slide down.  The picture really doesn't do it justice, but that first drop goes straight down for about 8-10 feet.  Even the kids questioned my sanity when I encouraged them to go down the slide.

There was another group of children there and an adult who I can only assume was their father.  One of the boys (who we discovered, after muddling through the language barrier, was 11 years old) was terrified of going down the slide.  This is when I realized that kids are pretty much the same everywhere.  At first his siblings were encouraging him to go down the slide, then they resorted to teasing him because Emma and Mary (two girls) we going down the slide and he was too chicken.  (This time, the language wasn't an issue.)   While the children are basically the same, parenting techniques seem to be a little different.  I guess the dad finally got tired of his son's wimpiness and he decided to help this kid conquer his fear.  So, what did he do?  He went up to the top of the slide, dangled the screaming, terrified child off the edge of it, and then LET GO!  I wanted to get a picture of it, but I thought that might be considered rude.  I did get this shot of Emma about to go down the slide, and in the back you can see the dad grabbing his son's hands right before he forced him off the edge of the slide.  It was certainly an entertaining (while slightly disturbing) sight. 

The dip slide was fun, but I had promised the kids there was a huge roller slide and I, for one, really wanted to find it.  Again, it was a large park, and as we were walking away from the dip slide toward the legendary roller slide all Michael kept whining saying was, "Mom, I don't think that slide is at this park.  I really want to stay at the dip slide. The rest of this park is lame.  It's probably a dumb slide anyw....OH MY GOSH!"  That's when we came upon this...

(Quick side note:  You know at the airport before and after your carry on luggage goes through the x-ray machine, it slides on those roller things?  That's what this entire slide is made out of.)  Someone had told me that the trick to really get going fast was to sit on a piece of card board while you're going down the slide.  Naturally, this cool mom was prepared, and it helped that we've just moved in so we had some extra cardboard lying around the house (and I remembered to put it in the van.)  The first challenge of the slide was getting to the top of it, with cardboard in hand.  Here's Andrew climbing to the top: 

They all loved the slide.  Here's a quick video of Mary getting to the bottom.  You'll also feel the sisterly love as Emma tried to block her dismount with her cardboard. 
    

Finally, I couldn't resist.  It just looked like so much fun.  So, I ignored my phobia of falling from high places, and I took the plunge.  I shot a video of the maiden voyage so you, too, could experience the thrill of riding down this giant roller slide.  Try to ignore the slightly unshaven legs in the foreground.  If you prefer to not hear a grown woman scream like a twelve-year-old girl, you might want to skip the video, or at least click on the mute button. 

We had a great time at this park, but by the end of it we were exhausted from all the sliding and dropping and climbing.  Luckily this park is very close to our house, so I'm sure we'll make frequent visits to get our roller slide fix.  Or, at least to watch parents terrorize their young children!