slip, slide and skate

The Olympics have come to the house of Pook and Bug.  I remember this from four years ago.  The hearth has become a ski jump, pillows become moguls, and the "Happy Lap" around den, kitchen, dining room and living room has become the short track for speed skating (aka "speed slippering").  For the record, Bug can finish 13.5 laps faster than Apolo Ohno can finish his 13.5.  He has not yet requested a gold tipped glove yet, but the request may yet come.  We're huge TiVo people here, and we're watching everything a day late.  We cruise through (most) commercials, get bored with a sport and bypass it, and best, we decided to check out the speed skaters on fast forward.  They can move!

With no school tomorrow for President's Day (we had Friday off too for a teacher workday),  I was thinking of taking the boys on some sort of field trip.  I had the art museum in mind, but a search earlier shows them to be closed on Mondays (how dare they?) so I had to look for other options.  Indoors because I'm a weenie in the cold.  No zoo.  No science museum because I gave my parents a grandparent's membership to it for Christmas and I don't want to ruin it for them.  To get your money's worth you need to visit about three times and I'd rather not take the boys there just a few weeks before my parents move here.  So, I was open to ideas when I heard a neighbor mention taking his son ice skating.  Hmmm.

I never did much athletic activity as a kid, but I did figure skate for several years.  We had a great, casual program with lessons at twelve levels.  Whenever you felt competent at a level you could go to the end of the rink and take the test over it.  If you passed, you joined the next group up.  When you finished all twelve, you could help teach the first few classes.  I've never taught a beginner to skate, but I have taught many people to skate backwards, including my 6'2" father.  Why not the kids?

It will be a challenge to teach them both at the same time.  I'll have to leave one on the wall while I work with the other.  Pook had an "unpleasant" experience with his first and only chance to roller skate, so I'll need to be careful to keep them trying at something that may not come easily.  I will report back with results for Team Pook and Bug in speed and figure skating competitions!


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That was fun!  We had two hours of falling on fannies, but they were doing great!  Our minister (from Vancouver via Texas) is an ice dancer and figure skater and he showed up just as we'd finished.  We bought a couple of drinks and two gum pops and watched him a while.  I want to take the kids back relatively soon so the skills they gained today can continue.  It was fun introducing them to an activity I'd liked as a kid.  I only wish my good skates still fit; my feet got bigger with pregnancies so I had to wear rentals.