I went out right after breakfast to finish the job of clearing the ice. Calvin came out a few minutes later, ready to skate. I helped him get his new, big (my size) hockey skates on and soon he was out on the ice. His technique leans more towards speed and imbalance than grace and fluidity, but he clearly enjoys skating. As soon as I finished my ice prep work, I went back to get my skates and joined him. I don't get a lot of time alone with Calvin these days, and when it involves a shared interest like skating we really have fun together. Although I like doing things with the whole family, sometimes we need a little one on one time.
We took a break for lunch, then we went back out, with the addition of Starflower, Mr. Attitude, and Sally. Sally looked a bit puzzled at first, thinking "I know this is where we went swimming when it was warmer... why can I walk on it now, and why am I sliding everywhere?"
Starflower and Mr. Attitude ended up not skating, but they still had fun. I hadn't gotten around to buying laces for Starflower's skates: when I bought them from the thrift store they were without laces. Still they were a bargain; like- new Riedell brand, probably $50 new, for $9. The skates I bought for Mr. Attitude turned out to be a bit too small, but I made a late afternoon run to the storage shed to fetch Calvin's old skates, which should fit him, and some laces for Starflower's. They'll be skating tomorrow. In the meantime, they had a good time pushing a lounge chair around on the ice.
This smile says it all.
We escaped with only a couple minor bruises and eggs on the head. Calvin probably took the worst hit to the head, and for a while I was concerned because he complained of a bad headache. But now he is playing video games, apparently back to normal, and even looking forward to skating tomorrow.
As for me, well, I love skating, but I spent most of the time just acclimating myself to the ice once more by taking long, slow strides. My style is the opposite of Calvin's; I pay attention to form. I did make the decision to retire my 25+ year old skates and search for something new; the leather around the ankles has creased and softened over the years to the point where the skates no longer offer good support. I wish I could find a pair like Starflower's for myself!
All in all, a good day, and I know I'll be feeling it tomorrow. And it was worth it.
4 comments:
Good job clearing the ice and making memories ... and bruises. I find the two often go together :)
Seriously, that looks like fun and I know your kids and Sally appreciate all the hard snow shoveling you did.
That looks like so much fun. skating on ponds is a big no no around here. Around here clearing off the surface of a pond means using a net and scooping the dead leaves off of it, ha ha.
Here in the south we are preached to as little kids to never try and skate on an ice covered pond because its rare that they freeze hard enough to hold a persons weight and little kids rarely pay attention to the thickness of the ice when they slide out on them.
Thinking back now to all the times I got in trouble for it I often wonder why someone didn't tell me to check the thickness of the ice before they told me to never never do it! I wasn't stupid, after all I knew when I shouldn't be out on a pond. Probably for the best anyway since a lot of kids would rush right out onto them without paying any attention.
What fun! Today is another perfect day for skating, at least here in the Cities. Our pond has some sort of flow through it because there's a wide section that doesn't really freeze deep enough to support a person - and of course that area is the part of the pond right in front of our house.
FC- You should have seen Sally out there sliding around! It was great fun, bruises (concussions perhaps?) and all.
dragonfly- That happens here all the time, kids or adults who should know better go out on ponds or big lakes when the ice is not safe. There were a couple snowmobile and ATV fatalities over the weekend, from breaking through the ice. I knew our eight inches or so here was plenty, although the kids were freaked out once when suddenly it cracked right beneath us! That was normal, from heat expansion, not from our weight there. :)
Tracy- too bad your pond doesn't freeze well; it's so nice to have a place to skate! I realize I have been lucky over the years to have places to skate; when I was growing up my grandpa would plow a rink on the lake where he and grandma lived, and our first house when we got married was on a pond.
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