Sunday, May 17, 2009

Well trained!


DD went to a classmate's birthday party this afternoon. They had rented a local ice rink. The group had the entire rink to themselves for about an hour and got to watch the Zamboni clean up the ice before they skated. Then when the Zamboni came back out, the girls retreated to a squash court where tables were set up for them to have snacks, cake and ice cream. While they were doing that the public skating session started, so once they were done with snacks they got to go back out on the ice for another hour. DD had a blast. The only other time she's been skating was when she was in pre-school. She was nervous at first this afternoon, but gradually gained in confidence, despite three quite hard falls resulting on one very bruised knee.

I discovered that skating is not like riding a bicycle. Even admitting the fact that I was never particularly good at skating even when I was a teenager, my performance today was pathetic. I could blame the rental skates I suppose. I still have the skates I had as a teenager, and they still fit, which thoroughly confused DD whose feet are still growing. However, even though DH kindly cleaned the rust off them, my blades were in dire need of sharpening and when I discovered that there was no one at the rink who could sharpen them for me I decided it would be safer to go with the rentals. I pottered around the rink a couple of times and that was enough. It was much more fun hanging out at the side of the rink gossiping with the other mommies and taking photos of the kids.

DD enjoyed herself so much that she decided that she wants to go skating again on a regular basis AND she'd like her next birthday party to be at the rink. The last few years she's had the option of taking a family trip to somewhere like Washington D.C. instead of a party and has always chosen the trip. So I asked her if she'd rather have the skating party than a family trip. (The party would probably be the cheaper option!) Her answer proved she is well-trained: "Hmm. Can we go to Canada?"

7 comments:

ADDY said...

She's smart - she can go skating in Canada!

Nicola said...

I can't wait till my boys can skate. They have only been once and both resembled bambi on ice - legs skittering all over the place and in every direction apart from underneath them. I used to love skating as a kid but now I am just too scared of falling over. I don't seem to bounce as well as I used to.

Iota said...

Great idea for a party. I'd worry about broken bones, though.

Michelloui said...

This made me laugh!!! Skating parties are popular here. The first time my daughter went I thought, 'yeah! Im from MN I can do this!' Of course its not at all like riding a bike as you say, and again as you say I was never an exceptional skater so I feel I did extremely well just not falling over... have fun when it's the DD's birthday party!!

slartybartfarst said...

Hmm, chipped elbow from Kuwait ice rink...recommend elbow protection.
Thanks for falling into the trap I laid by assuming that the marathon I referred to was in the good old US of A. It wasn't, but I did win it. Boston, Lincolnshire, England, the original one...

Little Britainer said...

I think I went do a disco birthday party at an ice rink once. I think I spent much of it clutching the sides... Skating always LOOKS so fun - and in London and NY now in the winter there are a lot of temporary rinks in picturesque places, which always make me want to try again.... I'm sure it would be a disaster.

Unknown said...

I think this is a GREAT idea for a birthday party, particularly as it is summertime!

Can you imagine what someone from 100 years ago would have thought of such a party? It would have only been the very upper classes who could have had a summer party in an ice rink! Wow!

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