Spring Break Fun - Ice Skating!

At last...the moment Jaden couldn't wait for...ICE SKATING! When we left Las Cruces for our 4(ish) hour drive to Albuquerque, Jaden insisted on wearing his gloves and hat the entire way, in anticipation for ice skating later that evening! He absolutely could not wait. I'm not sure why he was so excited about it or what he even really knew about ice skating in the first place. After thinking about it, I came up with two possible reasons for his overwhelming anticipation to step foot on that ice: 1. He wanted to be just like his former figure skating mother and get a early start at doing the twirls, jumps, triple lutz, and of course, the triple salchow that I used to do in my younger days; OR 2. He loved watching the figure skaters in the Olympics and was excited to try his hand (actually, feet) at it. Hmmm...I kinda like the way the first one sounds. I'm gonna go with that one.

But whatever the reason was, once he stepped foot on that ice he was a natural at it! I wasn't sure he would actually want to continue once he discovered the possibility (the very likely possibility) of falling. But he was amazing and would have stayed on that ice forever if I hadn't pooped out on him. It was so exhausting trying to keep my balance and make sure I didn't fall (after all, it has been a while since my ice skating days...haha), while also holding him up and making sure he wouldn't fall! It was so much fun getting to skate together. And once ice strollers are invented, Elijah will get to join us instead of watching from the stands.

On the way to Albuquerque...Jaden's ready to go ice skating.

They had the most adorable little ice skates!

All suited up and ready to start training for the Olympics (you know, like his mom used to do). Actually, he'd been suited up for about 12 hours at this point. The only thing he needed was the skates!

On the ice at last! We hung very close to the wall, just in case...and used it many, many times. Acutally, I used it more than Jaden did :o).

Being the beginners that we were, I didn't know about the "skating bar" until we saw a little boy, a little older than J, gliding around the ice with ease (and no exhausted mom trying to hold him up). He was holding onto an interestingly shaped metal bar and pushing it along to keep himself up. Brilliant idea, I thought. Sam hurried to get us one and Jaden was excited to get to skate by himself. Well...after about the third fall, Jaden decided he was done. And uninjured, thank goodness! We had a blast!