From the minute I first found out I was pregnant, people asked me if when the girls would start skating. I think most people assumed they'd be born with skates on. But I didn't want to force anything on them if they didn't want to. Plus, I was worried about them starting too early, getting frustrated (and cold!) and hating the whole idea of ice skating. So we went slowly. The rink has a "Mice on Ice" program for when they're little, but it was during the work week and didn't really work for us.
We went skating for the first time when they were five or so. We went to the outdoor rink downtown on a sunny January day. So it wasn't super cold. But the ice was kind of melty. Being the outdoor rink there's no zam, just a guy with a shovel and a hose. They did okay, but it was nothing to write home about.
Then last year we hit the Ice House again just to feel it out. They did okay, but my back was so sore after basically carrying them around the rink.
Then last weekend the Trailblazers had some extra ice we used for family skate. Without the public skate crowd, they really were able to get into it more and said they were interested in lessons. So this Saturday we started their skate school. The girls listened to their teachers and had a good time. They learned some basics.
The bonus part of skate school is the public skate punch card where public skate sessions are included with our lessons, so we hit up public skate again today, and I can honestly say that by the end of public skate today, they were skating on their own. There were laps WITHOUT FALLING. Attempts at skating backwards even. Lily was making me laugh talking about all the different types of skating - hockey, figure, and "Disney on Ice."
They've asked for skates for Christmas. Pink ones, of course.
