Saturday midday family skate

Young A (5 y.o.) has got his own ice skates now and was very keen to try them out, Saturday was the first chance to do so.  So a bunch of us went there to share the excitement.  A's cousin, B (10 y.o), was there by popular demand, being the other one of A's generation who has got the ice bug bad.  Then there was me, Jess and Craig on the ice.  And Nan came along for the ride and to watch from the barrier.

We had a ball.  We were there a bit over an hour and a half and it was really good to spend time with A on his new skates.  He started taking tiny unassisted steps on the ice, by the end of the session he'd gone through using a sled and was back to unassisted steps.  Except that now they looked a lot more confident and one could see the beginnings of a stride happening.  He looked very pleased with himself afterwards, if a bit tired, which is what it's all about.

Craig and Jess and B had a fair bit of fun with A, and amongst themselves.  Most fun was watching B and Craig racing each other, and B showing Craig how to do hockey stops (and in doing so, demonstrating that my patient example-setting of back and forth stops on alternating feet has had its impact because that was exactly what he did with Craig to show him what to do).  B even raced me for a lap, and held it together quite well for the first half before losing it on the crossovers and apparently having a good stack (which I didn't see).

As for me, I didn't push anything too hard as I had a hockey game that evening and another the next day and knew I'd need to conserve my energy for that.  It was great fun though, playing the patriarch of this growing skating clan!

At the end of it all I learned that both Jess and Craig have now ordered themselves their own skates (Bauer Supremes) and they should be there in a week.  I can see Craig moving into Ice Academy in first term next year.  Jess denies she will, but would be pretty good if she did and I'd put money on her joining the family pursuit at around the same time.

Finally, Jess located a bargain deal for Ice Arena tickets recently, which gets us on the ice for about half price.  Yay Jess!