who here has trouble finding time to work,spend time with the family,and get your sled ready for winter,what to do ...
no time
- Thread starter arcdoo
- Start date
It's tough, my kids are little and break stuff faster than I can fix it. They need lots of time, I'll ride less this year but maybe more when they're older.
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sledhead699
Member
become a sledaholic and quit work. and snowmobile the rest of your life. hahah maby not
I've got a great story to share with you guys.....but first, I gotta say I know exactly where you are....
I used to quit sledding every spring. I'd sell all my stuff. Sled, Trailer....even the shovel under the hood. I loved to ride, and I would go full bore from December until the last day I could possibly ride in the spring. Then the guilt would set in. I hadn't spent any time with the kids or the wife for the last 3-4 months....waaaaay to much money wrapped up in gear etc.etc. I'd fire sell it all and swear it off for the summer. Then fall would come and I'd but all new gear, another sled, another trailer and I'd start the cycle all over again.
One day in the spring, I came home from riding and my son (who was about 8 at the time) met me at the door while I was bringing my gear in and told me what a great day he had at the pet store. Seemed the wife and the daughter had taken him there to burn some time waiting for me to get home. He said to me "Dad, I want to buy a hamster and then I can get some clothes and dress him up in them".... ..... ......
Without hesitation (gut reaction I guess) I said "Son, how would you like a brand new motorcycle?" I took him down the next weekend and bought us both one! And I am happy to report that he is well on his way to being a lot more like his father.
Since then, I try to get him out in the shop when I am working my sled. I tell him about my rides, and we talk about how someday...the old king will be his. The wife does not like that at all, she is a little nervous about her boys safety.
Anyway, it took a few years to get the balance figured out. But its no different than learning how to sidehill. I ride one day on the weekend. I leave early, and I get home in time to take the family to dinner and watch a movie with them. And come Sunday morning, painful as it is somedays, I bounce out of bed and I take the family to do something fun. Its hard to be that creative every weekend, but you gotta do it. And 2x a year, I go on a long riding trip where I stay out for 2-3 days and that combined with the weekend drill is plenty of riding for me. In the fall, I start working on my sled in early Sept. that gives me 2.5 months to get ready without spending all of my time out there.
Cheers!
--Chris
I used to quit sledding every spring. I'd sell all my stuff. Sled, Trailer....even the shovel under the hood. I loved to ride, and I would go full bore from December until the last day I could possibly ride in the spring. Then the guilt would set in. I hadn't spent any time with the kids or the wife for the last 3-4 months....waaaaay to much money wrapped up in gear etc.etc. I'd fire sell it all and swear it off for the summer. Then fall would come and I'd but all new gear, another sled, another trailer and I'd start the cycle all over again.
One day in the spring, I came home from riding and my son (who was about 8 at the time) met me at the door while I was bringing my gear in and told me what a great day he had at the pet store. Seemed the wife and the daughter had taken him there to burn some time waiting for me to get home. He said to me "Dad, I want to buy a hamster and then I can get some clothes and dress him up in them".... ..... ......
Without hesitation (gut reaction I guess) I said "Son, how would you like a brand new motorcycle?" I took him down the next weekend and bought us both one! And I am happy to report that he is well on his way to being a lot more like his father.
Since then, I try to get him out in the shop when I am working my sled. I tell him about my rides, and we talk about how someday...the old king will be his. The wife does not like that at all, she is a little nervous about her boys safety.
Anyway, it took a few years to get the balance figured out. But its no different than learning how to sidehill. I ride one day on the weekend. I leave early, and I get home in time to take the family to dinner and watch a movie with them. And come Sunday morning, painful as it is somedays, I bounce out of bed and I take the family to do something fun. Its hard to be that creative every weekend, but you gotta do it. And 2x a year, I go on a long riding trip where I stay out for 2-3 days and that combined with the weekend drill is plenty of riding for me. In the fall, I start working on my sled in early Sept. that gives me 2.5 months to get ready without spending all of my time out there.
Cheers!
--Chris
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sledhead699
Member
good to hear the family didnt give you the boot. good for you man props
Here's my fool-proof plan:
Get an OK job with actual paid vacation days....CHECK
Marry a motorhead of the female persuasion....CHECK
Forge iron-clad agreement with wife to never have kids....CHECK
Buy some slightly used sleds at a reasonable price....CHECK
Buy a tow vehicle that doesn't cost an arm and a leg to drive....CHECK
Grab my motorhead wife, use some of my paid vacation days, load up our slightly used sleds, jump into our economical tow vehicle, travel to cool and exotic places to ride, and remind each other that none of this would be possible if we had kids........CHECK
Get an OK job with actual paid vacation days....CHECK
Marry a motorhead of the female persuasion....CHECK
Forge iron-clad agreement with wife to never have kids....CHECK
Buy some slightly used sleds at a reasonable price....CHECK
Buy a tow vehicle that doesn't cost an arm and a leg to drive....CHECK
Grab my motorhead wife, use some of my paid vacation days, load up our slightly used sleds, jump into our economical tow vehicle, travel to cool and exotic places to ride, and remind each other that none of this would be possible if we had kids........CHECK
E
Ekliptix
Active member
That was my problem last season, and I was single! Just obsessed with work and making money resulted in only about 5 trips all season.
As with last year, my new year's resolution will be to work less, only this year I bought a new-to-me sled so there's a bit more pressure on to leave the office and have some fun.
As with last year, my new year's resolution will be to work less, only this year I bought a new-to-me sled so there's a bit more pressure on to leave the office and have some fun.
My wife knows I love her. Ive taken her out sleddin a few times, she's "too girly" she says. She's allrigth that I go sleddin with the guys, and I take the daughter out around the block, adn let her wrench on the sled with me, she loves that. After all, I allways come home to to them, and they know it.
It will get better trust me.
I have a 6 year old and a 10 year old.
When they were little, I used to feel trapped in the winter with all the "kid maintenance "stuff. They were so much work, and not much sledding.
Then a few years ago, I bought my (now 10 year old) son an old beat up Yamaha Bravo to ride. Now we go out and ride all the time.
As the kids get a bit older, time seems to free up for AWHILE. Now my son has basketball on the weekends, so that will put a dent in my sledding.
I anticipate getting time to ride in about 10 years or so.......
But I still take my annual trip out west with Hilly and the crew. We have been doing that since 1991 and that is one trip that I cannot give up. It would kill me to do that.
I look forward to bringing my son out there and watching him make stupid rookie mistakes. It wont be too much longer and he will be out there with us.........
IT WILL GET BETTER!
B
Burns
New member
I know the feeling of no time. My wife and I had our first last October. He was sick for a couple of months of the get go and sledding was put on the back burner. I got out for 3 days and Feb and 1 in April. Apparently I should have aimed for a weekend in March as well because now we have # 2 coming in early Dec. As I told the riding buddies - I really #$%ked away the sledding season. Oh well on the flip side I have convinced her that I deserve to get a new sled for the 09-10 season.
Mike
Mike
When my wife was expecting our first kid. I went sledding a week before her due date. She made me agree that if I go and she has the kid wile I am gone I had to sell the sled. She did not have the kid but come to find out later she did everything she could think of to try and get it to happen. That was close one.
I went half a winter with out a sled I do not want to do that again. That was bad.
That was close one.I went half a winter with out a sled I do not want to do that again.
That was bad.I hear ya......steal time from wherever you can. After my wife and I became parents in April and moved in June its the only way I know how to get it done now.
Easy for me.
Family first, work to provide for family, sled after I take care of family.
Family first, work to provide for family, sled after I take care of family.
