Ice Skating

We went ice skating with our homeschool co-op today. It was my first time EVER and I am excited to say I didn't fall once! Yes, I trepidly stepped onto the ice and clung to the wall for a few minutes, but then I let go and did fine. The kids were excited to get back on the ice--they took lessons for 8 weeks last spring but haven't been back to the rink since. I skated for 1 hour and the kids skated for almost 2. It was fun.

See the gentleman in the white hat? Nobody knows who he was (he wasn't with our group), but he was so nice and wanted to help those of us who needed some help. Here he is helping Lauren to skate backwards, and then later he helped her try to turn in circles. He also helped give me some pointers and skated me around the rink a little when I first got on the ice.

Miss Patti also helped Lauren to skate backwards.

Lauren kept practicing and practicing going backwards for a long period of time. It was so fun to watch her because usually her attention span is short, but she was like the Energizer bunny and kept going and going.

Don't worry--there were some falls with the kids, but they were just fine...see:

This video clip makes me smile because it's just a bunch of boys gathering as a group, but there's always someone falling down.

Evan is getting faster on the ice. And look at one of his friends literally running on the ice instead of gliding.

A lot of friends and a lot of fun (and a lot of blisters, but I didn't get any pics of those)...

First Snow Day

It is January 10 and we finally got snow for the first time this season (it actually started falling yesterday). The kids were so excited! I wish I had gotten a picture of Lauren this morning when she woke up and scooted up a chair to look out the huge front window in the school room and marvel at the snow. After we did school this morning and ate lunch, we went outside for about an hour. Evan shoveled a little then left me to finish up while he and Lauren played. Lauren enjoyed making snow angels; Evan liked throwing snowballs (which I tried to get a picture of, but the batteries in my camera died); and I tried pulling them around in the sled, but it wasn't working out so well. I love the first snowfall of winter!

Lauren had to upgrade to a pair of Evan's old snow pants, and we got a good laugh out of it because she was puffy around the waist. See the look on her face? It's kind of a half smile, half upset look, but she was joking around because it didn't really bother her. Not sure where she got this analogy, but she said she looked like an old lady with puffy legs.

Lauren created a snowball and pretended it was a frog. She called it froggy and asked if he could live in our freezer. I would have said yes except our two freezers are very full of food right now. She asked if he could live on the front porch chair and I said yes, so that is where froggy is sitting right now. She keeps checking on him to see if he has melted yet.

My Kids Rock

Yes, the title is pun intended because I am talking about rock climbing LOL! This month at our homeschool fitness class, the featured activity is rock climbing. Lauren's group does it on Tuesdays and Evan's group on Thursdays. This week was the first time for both of them to try this activity.

Lauren really gave it a valiant try on Tuesday. She walked right up to that rock and started climbing until she got about 5 feet off the ground, then she wanted down. I don't have a pic of how high she actually got because I was under her holding her little tushy trying to get her to go a little bit higher, so she climbed higher than me. I am very proud of her try. She agreed with the teacher that next Tuesday she would try to reach the number one that is taped to the rock a little bit higher than where she stopped. She is excited to try again, and of course, she was her usual wonderful self cheering on all of her friends.

Lauren eying the rock

 Listening to instructions

 All geared up

 Getting tightened up

 Starting her climb

Today when it was Evan's turn he walked right up to that rock and started climbing like he's done it many times before. I couldn't believe how quickly he was climbing. As he was getting closer to the top he wanted to stop, but the teacher and I kept urging him on, and he reached the top and rang that cow bell. I was so impressed! There were more belayers today, so he got to go a second time and made it to the top again pretty quickly. One of the teachers told me the path he was climbing up was 40 feet high. Sure seemed higher to me, though. One of his friends was climbing on a path close to him at the same time and when they both came down, Evan told his friend, "good job." I love how my kids support their friends.

Listening to instructions

 All geared up

 Getting tightened up

 Starting to climb

 

Ringing the bell at the top

 Coming down