When icy roads made her family’s normal drive to school a dangerous option, a mom of two from New York thought outside the box. She put her two kids onto a sled in their snow gear and buckled up for the most adventurous school ride yet.
Charlotte Guernsey, 47, is a realtor, bridal shop, and wedding venue owner from Hudson Valley, New York. She and her husband, 51-year-old law firm owner Dennis Vetrano, live with their two children–Travis, 7, and Cordelia, 6–on a ten-acre mountainside property outside of town.
On Dec. 16 as Charlotte was getting her kids ready for school, Charlotte’s employee called alerting them that there was ice on the roads.
“On this particular day it was raining in town, but we were all ice because of the difference in the altitude,” Charlotte told The Epoch Times. "I didn’t want them to be late for school or miss school, just because we had ice on the road, so I figured let’s put them in the sled and get them down the hill ... I thought it would be fun for them, kind of an adventure!
“I also took it as kind of a learning opportunity for them, to show them that no matter what obstacles come up [there’s an] opportunity to think out of the box, and always figure out another way to make something happen.”
The mom instructed her kids to put their snow gear on, and then the excited trio bundled onto their sled together. The children were “a little bit scared at times,” Charlotte said, but overall, their half-mile brief commute down the hill was a hoot.
Charlotte said: “There were a couple of times we were a little out of control because it was very icy ... but we got to the bottom and met my employee, who was able to pick us up and drive us to the elementary school about five minutes away.”
Although there were times when her kids fell—Charlotte describes them as being made of “rubber bones”— they just bounced and laughed.
“I think it’s definitely a morning they won’t forget!” she said.
After seeing Travis and Cordelia to school, Charlotte trudged back up to her house in 25 minutes. She spent the next four hours spreading salt on the dirt road snaking down the hill with her husband and employee to help melt the ice.
Charlotte had bought up 10 acres of property on the mountain. Nobody else had wanted it since it was hard to build on. So Charlotte decided to take it upon herself to make it happen. Now, they’re the only house on the mountain.
“It’s very rare that we can’t drive, it’s really only when we get this icy condition [and] we don’t have a vehicle with chains ready to go, where we have to either walk or sled down,” she said.
Charlotte shared footage of her sled ride on social media, where the video went viral. She was shocked by the outpouring of positive feedback, claiming most netizens were happy to see her kids having fun and praised her as a mom for making positive memories.
“I wasn’t doing it to be a great mom, I was doing it to get them to school,” Charlotte said, “What seemed to be something that was going to be a disaster ended up being so much fun ... just taking those moments and trying to turn them around and enjoying that family time, that’s what life’s about.”
Some people who have been concerned about the trio’s safety noted that they should have worn helmets to which Charlotte agrees. However, she said at that moment they didn’t have any.
Since that day, Travis and Cordelia have been ardent supporters of their icy day school run.
