Catie on the go: Skating II

Today my FIK mom friends all got together at the prefectural skating rink to try the 4 kids out on skating for the first time. I’d seen a poster at the Sports Park playground last weekend and asked one of them to translate it for me. I said I would like to go skating and suddenly it was a party- I love these guys!

I was expecting a smallish municipal rink and was surprised to arrive at a large complex with 2 full-sized hockey rinks and a speed skating oval- all lit with lots of seating. They even had 2 zambonis running for public free skate (and no, they are not smaller than American zambonis). The ice was a little soft, since it was 50 degrees outside, but we all had a good time! Catie’s roller skating classes really paid off. After a couple of rounds holding my hand(s), she skated around the ring several times with minimal or no help from me with only a few falls! I couldn’t believe how well she was doing given that she’s not the most coordinated child, it was her first time on ice, and she was on single blade figure skates. She really enjoyed it too- she kept yelling “I’m Catie, I’m SKATING!”

We skated for a little over an hour and by then the kids were tired of trying to keep themselves upright. I thought Catie was going to fall asleep on the bench, but they all rallied when we reached the snow pile. You wouldn’t think a small snowbank would be that interesting, but they climbed it, slid down it, made a fort, and had a snowball fight for the next hour and a half! By then, they were all soaked, cold, and exhausted and finally let us leave (thank goodness!).