Ice Skating

For New Year's weekend, we headed down to Richmond to spend time with the P family. They are always super fun and plan lots of cool stuff for us to do while we're visiting. On New Year's Eve we let the kids stay up until midnight and then run down the cul-de-sac banging pots and pans. On New Year's Day they took us to an ice skating/laser tag/arcade place. The kids were thrilled with all of it, but especially the ice skating. On the way in Little Guy informed me we were going to have to buy some ice skates. I explained that we just rent or borrow them. He told me he was going to get two, one for each foot.


I can't believe they have ice skates for kids this little. I couldn't get over how cute they were. Little Guy was very proud of himself when he figured out how to stand up with ice skates on.


Buddy was especially excited to learn to ice skate because he realizes this is a skill he needs to be able to play hockey. He told me beforehand he hoped he was good at it. Because of this, I think he was a little disappointed by how hard it was, but by the end he was a lot better and a lot more pleased with himself.

We signed the kids up for laser tag at a specific time then rented skates and went to the rink... just in time to watch the Zamboni for 10 minutes. The kids of course all loved watching the Zamboni, but we were on a schedule now! When we got on the ice, Buddy and Princess Sparkley stuck to the wall with me slowly making their way around the rink. B took Little Guy ahead of us just holding Little Guy's hands up above him and having him skate between B's legs. B told Little Guy not to worry about moving, just to keep his feet under him and B would move them. LG's left foot started to slide out in front of him and he said, "but that foot's going crazy."




Then the big kids, the cousins, the aunt, the uncle and B went to laser tag (we only made it one lap) and stowed their skates and coats in a bench around the rink. Little Guy was not happy about ice skating now that he realized how much it hurt his feet and arms. I convinced him to come out with me again and we went one more lap. Then we stowed our skates and coats and walked around the arcade some until everyone was done at laser tag. B took Buddy and PS around again and they got much braver, letting go of the wall. I hung out with Little Guy on a bench until I left him with his aunt and uncle and I joined the kids on the ice. Then B and I skated around together holding hands all romantic-like. :)



And here's the video I got... as you can see, they aren't so much "ice skating" as they are "walking on ice without help." But this is much improved from the first lap around the rink where they were clinging to the wall for dear life and still couldn't keep their feet from sliding away.

{more pictures to come, H got some with her camera when I was busy ice skating and helping the kids}