Frozen Family Fun

It came about only because of groupon—something that I might have thought was a good idea, but nothing I would have ever remembered to act on.

The groupon was for ice-skating at a local gym. It was a reasonable deal and I knew that everyone would have fun, so I bought enough passes that we could all go.

And then I let life get in the way until it was the last possible moment and we had to go or forfeit our money. So we went.

It was our family night activity the week before we left for Utah. The little kids were excited, but Josh was irritated when he learned that I had only enough passes for our family and not another one to bring a friend along for him.

We often bring a friend for him when we go somewhere—the five years between Josh and the triplets is significant right now, and if Josh has a friend he’s happier doing whatever it is we’re doing.

But this time I made the deliberate choice for a family-only activity. I wanted this to be family bonding time; especially when we ended up going just before half of us left for Utah and half of us stayed behind for two more weeks. Josh wasn’t pleased, but I was firm.

When we arrived at the skating rink everyone was a little apprehensive. Russ skated as a teen, and I think I skated once (unsuccessfully, as I recall) as a child. Josh might have skated once, but this was a first for the little kids. We pulled on our skates and moved carefully out onto the ice.

Everyone got the hang of it, though some faster than others.

Rachel was pretty fearless,

but she did fall quite a bit too.

Jenna was a bit more cautious but still did really well.

Jared wished he was wearing hockey skates instead of figure skates. (I have no idea if they would have made any difference. But they probably would have been more manly.)

I even managed to have a good time.

In the end it was exactly what I’d wished for. We hung out as a family. We laughed together and fell together and helped each other back up.

When it was over we went and had ice cream and talked and laughed some more.

I think we will go ice skating together again…