Ice, Ice....

Our kids' first time on ice. Notice: Thea Belle's immediate response to the ice. And Atticus' glee! And Dietrich directly began attaining the skill -- first using a push guide and then furiously making his way over and over across the ice, falling in rage, an yet, he did good. He was really pretty good. He was doing better with his frustration when a kid about 12 came out on the ice in hockey skates with a stick and puck and did some serious skating. Deke looked at him and started off for his 300 attempt and when he lost his balance and skidded out, he started screaming in rage. So it was a pretty emotional time for him. Even so, when we left, he was crying on the edge of the ice because we were leaving and he wanted to keep going at it. Atticus went back and forth between skates and boots, enjoying all of it, even the slapstick falls. We kept Thea Belle and Lincoln in boots. They played in the snow at the edges and fell quite a bit, but were heavily padded in snow gear, so no one got hurt.

Our friend Dana was walking by our house when we were falling and tripping and forcing our way out of our house to the park and we invited (or lassoed?) him into joining us. He's from Michigan, so he can skate (-: (p.s. Do you see the yellow patches in the ice -- this is melted and frozen over goose poop/pee.This was the stinkiest ice rink I've ever experienced. Everything that touched the ice had to be washed with lots of soap and hot! water. Revolting.

And he has brothers so he can do seriously fun boy-play...