Skate night

The kids' school rents out the local skate rink twice a year and the school families turn up, pay their money and have a fun time. It doesn't raise a lot of money for the school, but is done more to encourage school spirit. We decided to go for the first time on Thursday night. The kids were soooo excited - it's all we heard about all week! I was pretty excited too - I used to roller skate all the time when I was young, and wasn't too bad at it! I realized that it had been 20 years since I last was on roller skates, but thought it would be like riding a bike. So after spending the entire night at the end of the rink holding onto the rail, and being outskated by all 3 kids, I can safely say it is NOT like riding a bike - you DO indeed forget!! That, and I'm sure my centre of gravity has changed lol!!

We all started off on roller skates, and the kids had a very hard time. Joaquin refused to even put his on - he was literally screaming when I took his shoes off, so we just let him be for the first half. Sofia changed her skates for roller blades, and then she was off! She's never been on them before, but within 5 minutes she was skating round the rink like a pro. Coleman was so sweet. He had such a hard time staying up, but I have never seen a child try so hard. He kept those skates on the whole 2 hours, and stayed on the rink the entire time too. He was down the end with me, going back and forth holding onto the rail. He must have fallen over 100 times, but by the end of the night, he was able to go a few paces without holding on.

We finally convinced Joaquin to give it a go, and he didn't really try too much - he was far more interested in the video games! Uh, do you think he's related to his father??!!
As for me, well I tried, I really did. My feet ached and I sat down a lot. I had even worn a t-shirt in anticipation of being hot from all the laps of the rink I was going to do. I shouldn't have bothered lol! At the end of the night I was about to take my skates off when another mother/friend from school said, "Joanna, have you even been around once??" I said nah, I'll do it next year! She told me that no, I was going to do it now! So thanks to the kindness of a friend, I got up and actually made it around the rink....without even falling over!

What?? You didn't think there'd actually be a photo of ME skating did you??!!

Then there's Roland. We were lucky to even have him there at all! He was on day 2 of the worst gall bladder attack he's had, but he figured he may as well be sore at the skate rink instead of at home. His attack finally ended today, after 3 days, and he now has an appointment for surgery. March 12th. His doctor was going to wait a couple of months, but Roland called today and said uh-uh, I need it sooner than that!!

10 mins after we walked in the door, Grandma called! The kids were still super-hyped up about skating, so it was perfect timing for them to tell her all about it. This is Sofia talking to Grandma, pretending to be mad at me taking a photo of her! And here is Coleman pretending to be mad like Sofia!Today (well yesterday if you go by the date on this post - it's 12.30am right now) were the Valentines parties at school for the kids. I am one of the room Mom's for Coleman's Kindergarten class, so I get to help out at the parties. His was at 1, and Sofia's was at 1.30. Her class is right next door to his, so I went to hers and helped out too. Joaquin is one lucky boy. Since he is just 4, he tags along everywhere with me, and he got to go to both the parties!!
He stuffed his face so full that he didn't have any dinner. It was a fun day. I am so grateful that I can stay home during the day and be involved in things like this with the children.