Ice Skating Adventure

December 28, 2010

Columbia, Missouri does not have a single ice rink. There's one down in Jefferson City, but that is a 40+ min drive. While we were in Utah, we took advantage of the cute one they have in downtown Salt Lake City. We also took advantage of Grandma and Aunt Rosa. With four kids, we needed four adults to make this happen! I was terribly nervous about how we were going to pull this off. It was, after all, our FIRST time ice skating as a family!

When we got to the rink and started to put on our skates, we put the kid's skates on first. Soon they were done and we adults still needed to put ours on.  I was pretty impressed how they just hopped off the bench and started to walk on their skates.  I thought they would be falling all over their feet, but they didn't. 

They must have been so excited about ice skating because while we were all in the middle of trying to get our skates on, and Tanner and Lexie were just standing there with theirs already on, he asked one of the adults in our group what he needed to do next. (He did not ask this of me because I would never have given this answer, but it was awesome nonetheless.)  The reply was, "go get on the ice!"  So they did!  They didn't wait for someone to hold their hand or anything, they just jumped right in and went for it.  The over protective mom in me was shocked and super impressed. My kids are definitely tougher than I give them credit for. 

Grandma, bless her heart spent most of her time holding Porter while Derek, Rosa and I tag teamed Tanner, Lexie and Colin. 

Rosa's positive attitude really came in handy with this activity!

Colin didn't last long on the ice.  He was just too small, but he still went around a few times then jointed grandma on the sidelines.

Derek was the hero of the day for Lexie.  She kind of cried her way around the rink the first two times.  Then Derek took a look at her skates and decided to switch them out.  As soon as he got her situated with different skates, she was a happy camper.  She went right out, grabbed the railing, found a friend and went around and around the rink.  She had a great time!

Once the kids were all tuckered out, we left them with grandma and some hot chocolate (which you can see all over Colin's face!). Derek and I went out for a mini "date" on the ice. The last time we went ice skating was when we were dating, so this brought back some fond memories.

In all, it was a grand time.  The kids loved it.  I wish we had more opportunities to ice skate. I can see the kids really picking up on it if they had the exposure.  I'm so grateful we took the time to create this memory! Thank you Grandma and Aunt Rosa for helping us!  You made the memory all the more sweet!