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Longest Skating Rink in the World
Jan. 18th, 2004 03:06 pmWell, today was a lot better than yesterday. Yesterday sucked.
Went to the Canal to skate as a family together, and it was a miserable experience due almost entirely to Justin. He was in a fine state. He'd been bugging everybody about going skating for weeks, wanted to go RIGHT NOW, whined as we went about getting ready to go, was distracted and unable to do even the simplest tasks by himself, complaining about everything... before we'd even gotten into the car Chris and I were ready to kill him. And we weren't terribly happy with each other, either.
Got to the Canal and it didn't get any better. His skates were too tight, he was too cold, he couldn't skate - the entire experience seems encapsulated into one looooong whine in my memory.
We finally just left, which made Daniel cry too, because we'd been there less than half an hour and he'd hardly been able to skate at all. Everybody was out of sorts, none of us were speaking to each other... great way to start off the skating season.
Today was much better. I took Daniel and we skated for about 2 hours, had Beavertails and hot chocolate for lunch, and had a great time. Chris took Justin for a sled ride in the forest next to our house, then took him tobogganing down the hill. They both came back soaked and happy. We're all exhausted, but in a good way.
I'd like us to try the Canal together again, but we'll have to have some backup plans next time. Like, bringing the sled with us so we can just drag Justin behind us if he gets tired of trying to skate. After all, it's supposed to be a nice thing. I'll be damned if I'm going to repeat my father's approach to family outings: "We're going to do this, come hell or high water, no matter how much we all hate it." Because that's just ridiculous.
Went to the Canal to skate as a family together, and it was a miserable experience due almost entirely to Justin. He was in a fine state. He'd been bugging everybody about going skating for weeks, wanted to go RIGHT NOW, whined as we went about getting ready to go, was distracted and unable to do even the simplest tasks by himself, complaining about everything... before we'd even gotten into the car Chris and I were ready to kill him. And we weren't terribly happy with each other, either.
Got to the Canal and it didn't get any better. His skates were too tight, he was too cold, he couldn't skate - the entire experience seems encapsulated into one looooong whine in my memory.
We finally just left, which made Daniel cry too, because we'd been there less than half an hour and he'd hardly been able to skate at all. Everybody was out of sorts, none of us were speaking to each other... great way to start off the skating season.
Today was much better. I took Daniel and we skated for about 2 hours, had Beavertails and hot chocolate for lunch, and had a great time. Chris took Justin for a sled ride in the forest next to our house, then took him tobogganing down the hill. They both came back soaked and happy. We're all exhausted, but in a good way.
I'd like us to try the Canal together again, but we'll have to have some backup plans next time. Like, bringing the sled with us so we can just drag Justin behind us if he gets tired of trying to skate. After all, it's supposed to be a nice thing. I'll be damned if I'm going to repeat my father's approach to family outings: "We're going to do this, come hell or high water, no matter how much we all hate it." Because that's just ridiculous.
