On day 3 we decided as an entire family to spend the day at Winter Park Resort. Even in the summer, there are lots of things to do there. We really had a great time! At the end of our very fun day, we had an accident on the alpine slide. I sent an email to my parents the next day, telling them what happened to us. Here's part of that email...
On our last run down the alpine slide, the four of us, in this order (Kaleb, Sarah, Aaron, Derek) lined our sleds up in the start zone. Braylen was riding the chair lift up the mountain with Grandpa at this point. A staff employee went down the slide ahead of Kaleb in order to clean the slide, so we waited in the start zone for the "all clear." Moments later the employee at the start zone removed the orange cone and told Kaleb to go. (We were on the fast slide, where we had been all day.)
Kaleb went down the mountain. I followed him. Almost halfway down I came upon a very slow Kaleb telling me to stop. The employee cleaning the slide had not reached the bottom yet, and Kaleb had come upon her, stopping in time. I don't know how, but I stopped in time. Then I heard Aaron coming. I screamed at him to stop. He stopped, but hit the back of my sled. Thankfully he's light, and he didn't hit hard at all. Then we heard Derek coming. I will never forget the terror I felt in that moment. This all happened in a matter of seconds and there was no time to get out of the way. Derek hit Aaron's sled at 29 mph. (He was tracking this run on his GPS phone app, so that's how we know the speed.) Aaron flew off his sled, and so did Derek, and they tumbled together in a horrible mess of sleds and bodies. I must have screamed, because later Kaleb told me that's what scared him the most. I clawed my way up the slide, trying to throw Aaron off into the grass. I was terrified of slide burns all over his body, not to mention everything else that could go wrong. Derek gave himself up for Aaron, doing everything he could to lift him up above the wreck. Both Derek and I were in long pants and long sleeves, and that is what saved Derek from serious burns. When everyone came to a stop, we immediately assessed Aaron. He could stand, walk, and talk. I was frantic, peeling off his shirt to look at his body.
Getting back on the sleds to ride to the bottom was so very hard. The employee stayed with us of course, and we went very slow. Nobody ever came down after Derek, which is a huge blessing. The employee had radioed to the top when Kaleb came down, and they shut the slide down after Derek had left the start zone. We made a train on the sleds all the way down. At this point, Aaron began screaming. He cried like a siren all the way down the mountain.
We went straight to the medical clinic and here are the injuries. Aaron has a slide burn on his left elbow, about the size of a nickel. His left pinky, ring finger, and index fingers all have burns on the palm side. He has some bruises at the base of his neck and his lower back. And THAT IS ALL!!! No head bumps. No broken bones. Miracle of miracles. Derek is sore all over. He has no burns, thanks to his long pants and shirt. He didn't bump his head either. His ankles are very sore, and the heels of his shoes show where he used his feet to try to stop himself. More miracles that he escaped serious injuries.
Braylen and Grandpa saw the whole crash from above. They found us in the medical clinic and they were both in tears. Needless to say, we spent all of last night debriefing as a family. We were all very shaken up.
Today is a new day, and we are all doing well. Aaron is his old self, very spirited and happy. (Except when I change his bandages!) Derek needs to rest, and he needs to ice some joints, but he is otherwise doing very well. We were SO VERY PROTECTED through this traumatic ordeal. We are resting in God's protective hands today.
This happened 3 weeks ago, but it is something all of us will never forget. Derek and I have had a lot of conversations about our crash, sharing things we've learned and how this experience has changed us. Aaron healed so quickly. We talked about God having big plans for him, since he sure does go through one ordeal after another!
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| Aaron riding the chairlift up the mountain. We did this so many times that day! |
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| Kaleb jumping on the trampoline. Aaron, Braylen, and I also did this. (I forgot I'm not 15 anymore, did too many backflips, and felt queasy much of that night and the next morning.) |
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| Kaleb on a mini zip line. Aaron did this too. |
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| One of our many times at the top of the alpine slide. |
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| This is us, all lined up right before the crash. We planned this to be our last time down the slide, so Derek took our picture. This is one of those pictures I like to look at, but at the same time I don't like to look at it. |
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