Date on skates

This has been a tough week in our household.  A face to the floor in prayer and weeping kind of week.  I am probably being a little overly dramatic...but also completely honest when I say that.  I know what we were going through this week was not a "huge" deal but it seemed big to me at the time.  On top of some serious monthly hormones, our cat was incredibly sick and my husband suffered a concussion from church basketball league (two big blows to the head will do that to you I guess).  I don't know what other people's homes are like but when my husband is down for the count things are a little rough around here.  Not only was Craig down and out but we also had to try to be extremely quiet to let his brain heal. 

Quiet is not how I would usually describe our home. 

Poor Craig.

We have been trying to get out of the house off and on but it also has been cold....highs hovering around 0 degrees....so that has been tough as well.  Lots of pent up energy in the house....very little outlet.  Lots of noise, quite a bit of yelling (I am sorry to say on both the kids and parents parts) So today, when my stubborn (and darling) two-year old would NOT NAP AGAIN (this is the week he decided not to nap....oh what a week to decide that!)....I took the boys for an errand spin around town.  Yes, it worked like a charm and he went down for a nap around 2.  We usually cannot allow this because we are off to pick up our first grader around 2:30 but Craig is home so it worked great.

Isaac and I picked up sis and I told them we had a little date planned.  A 45 minute escape.  We took our skates and headed to the nearest free neighborhood rink in town.

We laced up our skates and hit the ice as some 20-somethings were leaving.  Which was good since this lady hasn't skated for 16 years.  Back when I was in high school and we would skate as good, clean fun on the weekends.


Our first few minutes looked a lot like this:

Slowly, slowly we started to get the hang of it

This is one of my favorite parks in town.  I just love the backdrop of the hill full of trees.  We love to sled here and swim here in the summer....it is just a fun park.

Then we started to cruise.  I had forgotten how hard skating is at first.  It took awhile for it to come back to me.  Andie really picked up speed and was doing well.  Isaac started to glide a little at the end.  He was fascinated with a 9 year old boy playing Hockey and skating like a pro out there.

Success!! Out of the house, enjoyed some time with my oldest two kids, and we burned off a little energy.