skating

Shawn attempts to build an ice skating rink for the kids every year.  Some years it turns out splendidly:

winter wonderland

When it turns out, it is the best thing EVER!!  The kids don't seem to get cabin fever because they have something really fun to do outside and they get some physical activity that seems to help them not be as antsy and look for unconstructive things to do, like teasing each other incessantly.  The first year that we did this, we went to a second hand store and bought a lot of ice skates so that neighbor kids could also join in the fun. Now we have quite a few skates of all sizes,  and the kids like to invite their friends over for skating parties.

The problem is, that the skating rink only turns out about every other year.  This year we thought we had a good start on it until our beloved dog, Jack, went out and ripped a whole bunch of holes in the plastic.:(  Shawn still thinks that he can save it, but I'm beginning to think he may not need to bother.  The ice on the pond is great this year! Now we just need to get a snowblower out to it so that the ice doesn't go bad.

The kids have raced home from school every day this week, snarfed a snack and headed outside for as much skating time as possible before the sun goes down. They say the ice is particularly good over by "the good turtle-catching spot".

Kami and Caden are really good skaters, skating forwards, backwards and doing fancy turns.  Maddie is going to really get it this year, and the smaller kids do better "skating" in regular snow boots, but they always have to try the skates several times.  Kami and I were shaking with laughter watching Nolan here:

He was relying completely on Kami to hold him up, and when I asked him how the skating was, he said, "really good!!"

Just look at him go!!

They come in with glowing eyes and rosy cheeks when it has gotten so dark that they can no longer see anything.