Skating

Last weekend we took the kids ice skating for the first time. Erin has been asking to go skating for a few months now (ever since she discovered "skating" in her socks on the hard floors). So Tom and I figured winter break made a great time to take the kids skating. I haven't been in years, neither has Tom, but we were both able to maintain our balance.

Erin was a little unsure at first. Jeffrey barreled off. The rink uses upturned 5-gallon paint buckets for the kids to skate behind. Jeff took off, using his toe picks to push himself along. Erin tried to glide more gracefully, but got frustrated at first. But after a while she really got it. Jeffrey, on the other hand, quickly got tired. Tom and I tried to skate with him holding hands, behind him with the buckets, etc . . . but he just wanted to sit at the side. Eventually we discovered we could sit him on the buckets and push him around the rink. He and Tom worked out a deal where Tom would push for 2 laps, then he would skate for 2 laps. He wasn't willing to do that for mommy.





Once Erin got comfortable in the skates she had a blast. At one point I suggested that maybe she didn't need the buckets. I figured we'd skate around to the edge and leave the buckets. Erin just stood up, and skated off. I had to gather up the buckets and follow her. Her moves were a little choppy, and she spent a good amount of time falling down, but she had a blast. And she didn't go back to the buckets. She skated for about 45 minutes without them. I'm so glad she had a good time.

After skating for about 2 hours. We waddled off the ice. Complained about achy backs and knees, and turned in our skates. Daddy treated everyone to some hot cocoa afterward. It was a great afternoon.