For the second year in a row we went to the Olympic Oval after Christmas for a family skate. It is cheaper than the Hudson family Bonspeal (curling) that we used to do - and lets face it, I may not be the best skater, but I am better at skating than I am at curling. The oval is great because it is indoors so the kids aren't too busy getting cold to learn how to skate. Really, the only thing they need to whine about is their feet hurting (why do skates have to hurt to much?). The Oval also has these nifty red skate aids that work way better than the chairs I used to push around the ice. The kids love them.
This year Mary, Karen and my Dad were sick and Anne was away at a Basketball tournament. Sam and Greg went out for lunch instead and Andrew didn't come because his foot hurt from playing basketball ( really - none of the guys go in for skating - the Canadian hockey gene is not dominant in our family) That left me, my mom, Cory and Deanna to deal with the 7 kids. That doesn't seem like too bad odds, but since they all needed help to skate we felt pretty out numbered. After a couple of laps Alice remembered how to skate and became her happy independent self. When we were able to acquire enough skate aids for Jackie and all the three year olds things got better. By the time Sam got there we had everything under control.
The skate aids were so fun for the 3 year olds. Each were so different. Eve would just lock her feet in and slide, asking to go faster and faster. Audrey would glide some of the time, and the other half of the time she would try to skate. And Dotty would talk the whole time and move her feet constantly. I don't think she ever got the glide down - so it was really tiring for her - until she realized she could stand on the lower bar of the skate aid. She loved that. It was so great Deanna was there. We love visiting with her and the kids all love her. She's the best aunt ever. And you can see from this photo, that skating with the kids is a bit hard on the back, so we appreciated her help.
Thank goodness I remembered to bring snacks this year and a water bottle. I am not sure if eating in the oval is allowed, but we didn't see any signs and weren't asking any questions. With so many little kids, the gold fish and muffins were sooooo necessary. Eve here is proudly talking about how she can walk by herself in her skates with out falling over. She kept asking to push the skate aid by herself like Jackie did, but couldn't quite get it. Next year. Sadly, I don't have any good pictures of Jackie or Elise skating, probably because I didn't see them very much. I took a couple of laps with Jackie but she kept getting annoyed at me for telling her to watch where she was going. Jackie liked pushing the skate aid really fast, and felt that she could do that better if she watched her feet. I am amazed she didn't run into anyone. The only picture I have of Alice is the first one on this post. She had a shaky start, but soon remember how to do it and loved it just like she did last year. We really need to skate more often.
Props go out to Uncle Cory, who grew up in California and really doesn't know how to skate, yet valiantly tried in skates that were two sizes too small. That's a Dad that loves his little girl! Though, since he was watching the kids this year, he wasn't filming - so no super cool video skating montage this year. We'll all have to make do with this blog posting.
The skate aids were so fun for the 3 year olds. Each were so different. Eve would just lock her feet in and slide, asking to go faster and faster. Audrey would glide some of the time, and the other half of the time she would try to skate. And Dotty would talk the whole time and move her feet constantly. I don't think she ever got the glide down - so it was really tiring for her - until she realized she could stand on the lower bar of the skate aid. She loved that. It was so great Deanna was there. We love visiting with her and the kids all love her. She's the best aunt ever. And you can see from this photo, that skating with the kids is a bit hard on the back, so we appreciated her help.
Thank goodness I remembered to bring snacks this year and a water bottle. I am not sure if eating in the oval is allowed, but we didn't see any signs and weren't asking any questions. With so many little kids, the gold fish and muffins were sooooo necessary. Eve here is proudly talking about how she can walk by herself in her skates with out falling over. She kept asking to push the skate aid by herself like Jackie did, but couldn't quite get it. Next year. Sadly, I don't have any good pictures of Jackie or Elise skating, probably because I didn't see them very much. I took a couple of laps with Jackie but she kept getting annoyed at me for telling her to watch where she was going. Jackie liked pushing the skate aid really fast, and felt that she could do that better if she watched her feet. I am amazed she didn't run into anyone. The only picture I have of Alice is the first one on this post. She had a shaky start, but soon remember how to do it and loved it just like she did last year. We really need to skate more often.
Props go out to Uncle Cory, who grew up in California and really doesn't know how to skate, yet valiantly tried in skates that were two sizes too small. That's a Dad that loves his little girl! Though, since he was watching the kids this year, he wasn't filming - so no super cool video skating montage this year. We'll all have to make do with this blog posting.
1 comment:
Looks like it was a blast even though the adults back didn't think so. what a great place to learn with all those training bars.
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