Sledding is par for the course

LYNN – The smile never left 2-year-old Aiden Greeley’s face as he bombed down one of the sledding slopes at Gannon Municipal Golf Course, secure in his father’s lap.”Every time we get to the bottom, he says, ?I want to go again,'” said Brian Greeley, a Lynn firefighter based in the Highlands.Sledding the slopes just over the hill from Gannon’s 10th hole is a local tradition and a rite of passage for Greeley, who took Aiden on sled rides Thursday morning that were tamer versions of the ones Greeley and his buddies enjoyed as boys.”Kids would set up jumps and fly over them,” he recalled.Sledding at Gannon is also a way to make days off from school fly by for children who have enjoyed snow days since Tuesday’s blizzard. Under the watchful eye of Children’s and Family Services mentors Jon Trapp and Derick Jenkins, Gabriel Gonzalez sledded for the first time in his life on Thursday.”It kind of feels like a roller coaster when you’re going down,” he said.The Marshall Middle School sixth-grader played video games Tuesday and Wednesday but jumped at the chance to spend Thursday morning under blue skies and a bright sun on Gannon’s slopes.Pickering Middle School seventh grader Justin Mejia broke in his “Tandem Racer” snowboard sled on Thursday and bragged about the snowball fight he won Tuesday. Brian Greeley savored his morning outside with his son and said the sled rides would yield a few fun stories and maybe even some pictures to show his wife, Laura, and Aiden’s grandparents, Stu and Colleen Greeley and Bernie and Sue Noon.”We’ll get a good half hour of sledding in,” he said.Andreu Medrano, 13, and his niece, Anaih Medrano, 7, of Lynn spent four hours sledding at Gannon Wednesday and returned Thursday with Lorraine Medrano for a few more runs.”I like going down the big hill but it’s a lot of work climbing back up,” Anaih said.Andreu said he preferred staying indoors and watching movies, but Lorraine Medrano said spending time outdoors is an important part of days off from school.”They need to burn off some energy,” she said.Lynn resident India Esteras spent Tuesday through Thursday helping daughter, Nimarie, a Drewicz School kindergartner, build snow people and make hot chocolate. They stopped by the children’s room in the public library Thursday and borrowed five movies, including 5-year-old Nimarie’s favorite, “Justin.””I’d prefer she was in school, but at least we got to play in the snow,” Esteras said.Medrano said the only disadvantage to sledding at Gannon is the difficulty she faced combining a winter outing with a dog-walking excursion.”I wanted to bring them, but I figured they would get run over,” she said.