Southern kids meet ice

******Edit: There is some confusion, mainly since I forgot to mention this. I have been ice skating, many times. I know what I am missing. I have a scar on my knee from a skate being stuck in it. I suspect that I owned my own skates, but I don't really remember. In high school we used to skate all the time at the rink at the mall. In Hong Kong. Some of you don't know I spent some years as an expat in HK. Anyway, back to the regularly scheduled story:


The day after Christmas we went to the Carolina Ice Palace. It is the official practice ice of Tara Lipinski. Tara Lipinski lives across the street from my parents. We rarely see her at her house. We did not see her the day we went skating. Good thing. She would have been mortified to know the lack of skating skill that her neighbors grand kids have.

That's okay, though. We had a blast. I use the term we very loosely. No, I did not don skates. I am very sure that if I fell I would be like the old lady in the old TV commercials,

"I have fallen and I can't get up!"

No thank you. I do not enjoy any activity that may involve pain. Or movement. That irritates my husband a little. But he knew what he was getting before we got married. I never once, while we were dating, had the idea to play basketball. Or go rappelling. Or white water rafting. Or biking, etc. You get the idea.

So my 6 children and my husband all donned their first pair of ice skates and went skating. They had fun. I think the girls had more fun than the boys. The boys quit early to give their feet a rest and exercise their new Ipods. They really know how to sacrifice.

See my sweetheart here? He has on some sensible rental skates. Now, rental skates have little brakes in the front and long backs so you don't fall backwards. These are appropriate for 36 year old man who has had his ACL replaced twice. Who now is self employed so our insurance is a $10,000 deductible HSA policy. Who has never ice skated in his life. These are pretty safe skates. No serious injuries. We hope. Do you see where I am going with this? Those standard rental skates didn't fit right. So he went and traded them for these:

Hockey Skates!!! Umm, can I help you there, partner? Those are a little harder. They are really for more advanced skaters... Oh, what's that? Mind you own stinkin' business? Okay,buddy I warned you.

Actually, he did great. He didn't fall once. Everyone did really well.

This was the least blurry picture of Harrison. I never got any of William.

Ella spent a lot of the time holding on to the side and "walking" around the rink. Once we convinced her to skate, she did great and had fun. Of course the girls made friends with the two girls that showed up dressed in skating outfits. They tried to teach them some cool tricks, but rental skates aren't very sharp. Rachel did learn to jump up in the air!

Molly started with the walker, but gave it up after about half an hour. She had never even been roller skating before, so this was really a new experience for her.

I spent a lot of time tying skates tighter and trying to convince everyone that tight was the way to go. I now wish I had a picture of the, umm... homeboy? that came out onto the ice for about five minutes. He had his skates tied the way young urban men like their sneakers tied. and their pants. Very loose. It didn't work out for him!It was dark, even when I tried the flash. It was just too big a place.Here is Rachel after she had really gotten the hang of it. She skated towards me and said some kind of smart alec thing about ice skating not being hard at all...blah, blah, blah...

She past by me with this I am so cool look about her and then...












































Splat!!!!!

That is what you get for being a show off, Little Miss Smarty Pants!

How sweet is this picture?