Are you ready to meditate with Kari?
Make sure that you're all comfortable and warm in your bed,
That the light is just right in your room so you can relax your body and let go of your busy day.
Tucker and Leo had gone to an event that Lee and Noah were invited to.
It was like a family work day for their parents and there were bouncy castles and candy floss and snow cone machines,
There was a rock climbing wall,
There was a barbecue,
Which Tucker was very happy about because there were so many different nice smells.
He couldn't get his head around it.
There were so many smells.
They were ready to have a very fun day.
Lee and Noah had invited Linnea Jane and her sister,
Aria June,
And they were going to have a lot of fun.
Leo was a little bit apprehensive because there was big crowds,
Lots and lots of people,
And the day was quite sunny,
So the combination of it being really warm and crowded,
Crowded,
Loud,
Busy spaces was not something that was Leo's favorite thing at all.
He was constantly looking around or jumping as if there was a loud noise or he just looked very anxious.
Tucker was totally fine.
He was sniffing everyone.
He was wanting to lick little children's faces because they got all yummy things all over their faces from what they'd been eating.
He kept telling Leo that everything would be okay.
It's okay,
Leo.
Don't worry so much,
Leo.
Everything's fine,
Leo.
It's okay because we've got Lee and we've got Noah and they're going to take care of us.
They'll make sure that no one steps on our paws or no one tries to take us away or anything like that because we're safe.
We're totally safe,
Leo.
And also Linnea Jane is watching out for us,
Aren't you,
Linnea?
Linnea turned around and nodded.
Her sister,
Aria,
Said that she was watching out also.
Both of them were watching out.
In fact,
All four kids were watching out for the dogs.
It was going to be fine.
Tucker was drawn to one particular thing there at the family day.
That was a bouncy castle that had like water sprinklers all over it and a big splash pool at the bottom of what looked like a hot dog slide.
It's a sausage slide!
Genius idea!
I've always wanted to go on a slippy slidey bouncy castle,
Haven't you,
Leo?
Leo gulped.
Oh no,
No,
I don't think so.
That sounds like mom and dad's wooden stairs but wet.
And a hill.
And it bounces.
It sounds absolutely horrible.
Tucker said,
Oh come on,
Leo,
It should be really fun.
I think,
You know,
For you to get out of your comfort zone,
You have to start doing things that are uncomfortable.
And I mean like if we just go on this hot dog sausage slide once.
If you just do it once,
Leo,
You'll feel so brave and so confident that's how people build up their confidence,
Leo.
They have to do things out of their comfort zone.
And isn't that right,
Lee?
Lee said,
Yep,
That's definitely right.
I have to push myself.
Sometimes I really don't want to do it.
And my mom will say,
Lee,
Come on,
You know you should try.
And I'll say,
Yes,
I know,
Mom,
But I don't want to.
And she'll say,
But Lee,
This is how you get confident.
You have to try things that you're not used to doing.
Because the more things you try,
The more things you get better at.
But you have to practice to get good at things.
And sometimes if you don't practice and you don't try,
Then you don't even know if you're good at anything.
And then the less that you know and the less that you try gives you even less confidence.
And then you end up thinking that you're not good at anything and you don't know anything.
Anyway,
My point is,
Mom goes on and on and on about it.
Noah said,
I can vouch for that.
Mom definitely goes on about that.
I think she's right.
Personally,
I like to try lots of new things.
I try things all the time.
I like to say hello to people I don't know.
I like to lick and taste kitty cats if they'll let me.
In fact,
I like to lick and taste absolutely everything.
And some things are pretty darn awful to taste.
Some things just taste so nasty.
Like,
Leo said.
Yeah,
Like what,
Tucker?
You eat absolutely everything.
No,
I don't.
No,
I don't.
I can think of something right now.
Give me a second.
Mushrooms.
Mushrooms.
Mushrooms are slimy and they taste nasty.
Leo said,
Actually,
Yeah,
That's true.
I don't like mushrooms either.
Tucker said,
You don't like very much at all,
Leo,
But you do like tins of tuna.
Tuna,
I think is your favorite thing.
Tuna and salmon,
Maybe.
Linnea Jane said that tuna and salmon were her least favorite foods and she'd much rather have a mushroom,
Said Leo.
No,
Definitely not.
Aria said that she would go on the slide with Tucker because it looked like a lot of fun and it was a hot day and it would be really nice to get wet and cool.
It'd be nice to get wet and cool,
She said to Leo.
Leo said,
Oh,
OK,
OK.
It did sound good to cool off.
He thought about maybe being able to just be in the pool at the bottom of the slide and not have to do the sausage slide at all.
But Tucker said,
No,
No,
No,
Leo,
You have to do the whole thing to build your confidence.
You can't just stand at the bottom and then everyone else is doing the whole challenge and you just do the tiny bit at the end challenge.
That's like saying you're doing a marathon and then only doing the last ten steps of the marathon and then saying,
Yes,
I did a marathon when you cross over the line,
But really you didn't.
What about the whole of a 20 million billion miles it takes to do a marathon?
That would be cheating.
You have to do it,
Leo.
You have to do it and we'll do it together.
And then,
Oh,
I had an idea.
Maybe Lee,
Noah,
Aria and Linnea Jane can do it with us.
We'll line up in a line and we'll do it all together.
How about that then?
Leo actually liked the sound of that because he would have all of his friends around him going down the slippy sausage slide together rather than having to be super,
Super,
Super brave and do it all on his own.
Sometimes you get confidence when your friends do things with you.
So,
Yes,
He agreed that that would be very,
Very helpful.
The bouncy castle was extremely bouncy.
The steps up the back of the bouncy castle were very bouncy and very slippy and very,
Very wet.
And it was an absolute nightmare for Leo.
The whole process was just horrific.
It was like the worst thing that you could possibly think of times 10 million.
The kids helped him every step.
It took a long time because he was scooby-dooing and slipping and sliding.
He kept doing the splits.
It was horrible.
But they finally got to the top of the slide.
Tucker was very,
Very excited.
Oh,
I can't wait.
He was running around in circles,
Chasing his tail.
And at the same time,
The sprinklers were landing on him.
Oh,
He feels so nice.
Does this not feel nice,
Leo?
Look at yourself.
You should be so proud of yourself already because you accomplished it,
Leo.
You got to the top of the hill already.
You got to the top,
Past all those scary,
Bouncy,
Slidey steps.
Mummy would be so proud.
You won't even go under steps at home.
So,
I'm super impressed.
Leo did feel proud of himself.
He was swelling up a little bit and his shoulders went back as if he was a bit braver than he was 15 minutes ago before he tried to get up these steps.
He actually felt a little bit more mature,
Like braver and proud of himself a little bit,
But not all the way because it was daunting,
Very daunting,
Staring down the big,
Giant,
Slidey sausage there in front of him.
Tucker wasn't daunted at all.
Tucker just stood there and then he was slavering at one point and Leo said,
Are you all right?
And Tucker said,
Oh,
Yes,
I'm fine.
I was just thinking about sausages.
Are we ready?
Said Tucker.
They were all sat at the top of the sausage slide together.
Leo and Tucker were in the middle.
Aria and Linea were on the outside of one side and Leigh and Noah,
Her brother,
Were on the other side of the dogs.
Leigh shouted,
On your marks,
Get set and all of them pushed off with their little tushes at the same time.
Go!
They started going down the slide.
The sprinklers were spraying them all over,
Really,
Really fast water sprays on their heads and their faces.
Leo felt like he was being blinded.
It was all happening very quickly,
All happening so fast.
It was very,
Very intense.
The slide was super,
Super fast because it was so wet and the wetness and the height of the slide combined made it a very,
Very steep,
Slippy slide.
They got to the bottom and they landed in the splash pool area.
Leo felt the cool,
Fresh water all over his body.
For a moment,
He just doggie paddled there on the spot.
The kids were laughing.
They thought it was awesome.
Tucker was on the side already,
Shaking off all the water,
Ready to go down the sausage slide once again.
But Leo was just swimming around in the pool at the bottom.
The sprinklers wasn't as intense down there,
So it felt like just light,
Gentle rain falling on his head.
He closed his eyes for a minute and all the noise of the hustle and bustle of the family's special day kind of disappeared for a minute.
He was so proud of himself.
I mean,
It was just a sausage slide.
It wasn't like he just jumped off a building or anything or ran into a house on fire to save someone.
It wasn't like he was doing anything super extreme.
He was just going up a bouncy castle and then sliding down the other side.
But to him,
It was such a big deal.
And he did it.
He could have easily said no.
He could have easily backed out halfway up the steps because it was so challenging.
He could have easily got to the top and said,
No,
I'm going back down the steps.
I'm not going down that horrible,
Slippy,
Slidey slide.
But he didn't.
He did it.
He swam all the way to the side,
Got out and shook off all the water.
And all the kids were patting him and telling him they were so proud of him.
And he did such a good job to the point where Leo actually decided he wanted to go on it again.
Tucker was beside himself.
Leo,
I'm so proud of you.
I'm so happy.
Let's do it,
Leo.
Let's do it.
Maybe just me and you could do it this time.
The kids can go down without us and me and you can just do it all on I would like to do it standing up,
Sliding down on my paws like I'm surfing.
Leo said,
Oh,
I'm not ready for that.
Tucker said,
OK,
Maybe I'll do that next time on my own.
For now,
We'll just sit down on his tushies and we'll do it together.
And that's what they did.
The second time up the steps was a lot easier for Leo because he wasn't so scared and he wasn't slipping and sliding all over the place as much because he was so scared.
And every time he did slip,
He didn't feel like he was going to die,
Which was even nicer because that's horrible when you think,
Oh,
My gosh,
This is so bad.
I'm going to die.
It didn't feel like that anymore.
He only went on it twice.
Tucker did go down on his feet as if he was surfing and he said it was absolutely amazing.
Leo will just take his word for it.
Noah wanted cotton candy,
So that's where they all headed to next.
And then later,
Tucker attempted to climb the rock climbing wall,
Which was absolutely hilarious.
Luckily,
He had a harness on.
None of the kids or the dogs were allowed to try and climb without a harness.
Safety first,
Please.
They had barbecue food.
They had lots and lots and lots of beans.
Well,
Tucker had lots and lots and lots of beans.
Unfortunately for everyone else,
Because he tooted all the way home and they kept having to put the windows down in the car and he kept going,
I'm so sorry.
It was those beans.
Those beans make my belly do crazy stuff.
It was a very good day.
Leo felt really good about his accomplishment.
And when they got home,
They were exhausted.
Both of them slumped down on their dog beds and quickly fell fast asleep.
The end.
