We could have made it longer.....
On Saturday, we were invited to our neighbors for the 2nd annual neighborhood BBQ and swim. I was running a bit behind schedule and was still putting together my meat, cheese and cracker platter as the designated party start time past. I looked out my back window to see if anyone was in the pool and saw my neighbor unrolling a spool of contractor's plastic down the hill sloping from their backyard into the park. He the then aimed a lawn sprinkler towards the plastic and turned it on. This could mean only one thing:
Slip 'N Slide!
As we arrived at the party, neighborhood kids were already sliding down the plastic and having a good time. The kids were flying off the end of the plastic slide, and there was lots of hill left.
There was definitely room for improvement.
The next thing I know, many of us were headed off to our respective garages, returning with additional materials. We laid more pieces of plastic end to end and secured them with tent stakes. We then connected together garden hoses and hooked up a few more sprinklers to keep the entire length of the plastic wet and slippery.
Once complete, our rough estimation was that the slip 'n slide was approximately 130 feet long.
It was a blast for kids AND adults.
The plastic was wide enough such that we could spin and roll on purpose on our way down the hill. As the water saturated the grass around the plastic, it got muddy, and we became covered with dirt and bits of grass clippings.
Nobody cared. Parents and kids went down the slide in a steady stream.
Click here to see a 14 second video my son took of me going down the slide.
The thing is....we could have made it even longer. As you can see, the park continues to slope long after the length of plastic we laid down. Plus, once we got everything wet, some sliders were still flying off the end of the slide.
How much did this afternoon of fun cost?
A big fat goose egg.
This was all done with supplies that we already had collectively in our garage. Between four different families, we collectively had enough plastic, tent stakes, hoses and sprinklers in our garages to construct this slide of fun.
It just took a little imagination.
