Ice-Capades-Ish

Last night Rachael asked me if I would go ice skating with her and the kids. She was just going to take Kristen, but if I went, then she'd bring all the kids, so I agreed. Natalie was also in town so she went too. Rachael's in-laws and Lori, Todd, and Tony came so we had quite the group. Tony was too small to skate and with a baby in her belly, Lori wasn't getting on the ice, so they left soon after they figured out that watching us skate in circles wasn't that entertaining!

The rink is just around the corner but it's been probably 4 or 5 years since I've been ice skating (I believe it was for Kristen's birthday).

Natalie had the great idea to stop and get hand warmers to stick inside our gloves so we got a pair of those and headed to the rink.

I was a bit nervous about being on the ice at first and then to make it even worse, I dropped one of my hand warmers on the ice and had to bend over to pick it up off the ice without falling! Luckily, I'm very flexible and didn't have to bend my knees or else I'm sure I would have a wet butt the whole time!

Jack was using one of those metal handle things to help him skate and after a while, it looked to me like it was making it worse, so I pulled him into the middle section of the rink and we skated back and forth. Natalie came over too and we got him skating without help and did pretty good! Later on, we were trying to help Katya do the same thing. I think it helped her a tiny bit, but she was still falling down with all limbs out (picture Bambi on the iced-over lake). It was funny sometimes, but she'd get right up and at it again. A few times she started crying so I started telling her that the hardest part is getting yourself up after falling on the ice (which is true if you fall down!)
About 20 minutes into the skating, my legs were killing me! The skates were digging into the backs of my legs, just above the ankles, and they're still killing me! At least I didn't fall down like Katya, because her knees are all bruised up! And you know how bruises like that hurt worse than they look!
We had a lot of fun! When I went over to Rachael's house this morning, I asked Ben why he didn't go and he said, "Why would I go there, when I could stay here and play DOMINOES!" Sounds like Derrick and Ben had a Domino tournament or something! (Sounds fun, too!)