Ice Skating

For a few years now I've been wanting to take the kids ice skating and we have just never gotten around to it, so when I mentioned it to them a few days ago they were all super excited and wanted to go.  I talked to a friend and convinced her to go with us with her kiddos so we made our plans and made a day of it!  

We went to Avalon, and outdoor shopping mall, that has seasonal ice skating and planned to eat lunch before ice skating.  I also had one of Harper's friend's with us so we had quite the crew! 

Lunch was great and ended with popsicles for the kids. They were being silly and having the best time!

We started walking towards the ice rink and ran into a Facebook crew that was there promoting the virtual glasses company they own. The kids were too young to try it out, but they did get these super fun "thumbs up" magnets and the guy we talked to was so nice!

Next we made our way over to the ice rink.  They weren't quite open yet, so we hopped in line and took in the pretty views of all the decorations while we waited.

As we were all getting on our ice skates my friend, B, and I looked at each other and wondered if we had made a mistake in bringing 7 kids ice skating.  They were all complaining about not being able to get the ice skates on, how uncomfortable they were, etc.  However, crisis averted and we got everyone's skates on and made our way to the ice.

There was a lot of clinging to the all for some of the kiddos who hadn't ever had skates on before, but the smiles stayed on their faces the entire time.

I braved the ice so I could hold onto Hudson's hand and help to keep him from falling, although he probably didn't need my help.  It was a workout, though!

Harper said she didn't fall one single time.  She never let go, but she didn't fall so that was a success in  her book!

Just as it was time to go they were really getting the hang of it.  Handley didn't want to leave, so I told her maybe we could try again soon.  She was getting brave and going into the middle of the rink as it was time to go and really wanted more time, but the rest of us were done!

It was a really warm day yesterday so a lot of the ice had puddles on it where the sun was shining and because he was working so hard, Hudson got hot and wanted to take off his sweatshirt.  I laughed to see him ice skating in short sleeves, but he swore he was hot!

It was the perfect way to spend our first day of Christmas break and the kids made such fun memories with their friends!