Ice skating lessons

LMS has expressed an interest in ice skating, so when I realized we have an indoor ice arena that offers lessons, and there was a new 5 week session starting soon and it was a fairly reasonable price, I signed her up.

This afternoon we headed over to the arena, dressed warmly and toting LMS's pink bike helmet. They have all the kids wear helmets (their own or loaner ones), which I think is great. I don't remember seeing kids with helmets on the last time I went to an ice rink, which admittedly was a long time ago. I saw at least one kiddo crash and burn and hit her head on the ice, but her helmet saved her from any injury.

We picked up skates for LMS and got her laced in. They're single blade skates, which surprised me at first- I was expecting double blades for the little kids. But really, it makes more sense to start them out on the single blades so they get used to it from the beginning.

I didn't expect this, but if parents want, they'll let them skate along with the kids (the tot class anyway). Skate rentals are included in the lessons, so I grabbed a pair and went out on the ice with LMS.

Hmmm, yeah, it's only been about 15 years since I last went ice skating.  (I actually taught myself on the frozen 'lakes' that would form in the fields next to our house.)  Though I fully expected to land on my bum at least once, I managed not to disgrace myself and was feeling much more confident again by the end of the half hour lesson and 15 minute practice session.

LMS was really excited about the whole idea of skating, but once she got on the ice she wasn't too sure about it- it was a lot more slippery than she was expecting. She did pretty good though, and shook off the falls pretty quickly, though she didn't appreciate it when she fell because the kid next to her took her down with him.

I quickly realized that allowing parents to skate with their kids was purely in the instructor's interest. There was one instructor and a helper for ten to fifteen 3-5 year olds (I forgot to count how many kids were in the class). Any extra hands were more than welcome, and there were 3 or 4 parents who got on the ice.

It was quite funny to watch the kids. They were like dominoes- if one went down, it caused a chain reaction and the kids around him/her also went down. Luckily for them they're short and don't have too far to fall :)

By the time practice was over, LMS was upset because she wanted to stay and keep skating. So while the class was a bit of a roller coaster, we managed to end on a positive note and she's looking forward to the next class next week.

I forgot my camera, so no pics this week.