About a month ago we decided to head to the anniversary celebrations up at the local (read: ONLY one within 25 miles) swimming/ice skating/gym/arcade place up in town and take advantage of their free ice skating.
It had already been a few years since I'd been on skates, and the kids had never been (I know, I know, how can I call myself a Michigander?) so I wasn't quite sure what to expect besides... awkwardness.
At least for me. Wasn't sure how the kids would do. Colby didn't try it at all. He'd been working long hours and didn't feel like lacing up some skates onto his tired feet.
I had to draw the line at taking two kids out on the ice by myself, so the little one sat forlornly on the sidelines with Daddy. I don't think I've ever seen her quite so bummed out while being held for an hour.
That's right. We lasted a whole hour. Not sure quite how I did it. My feet were screaming at me, oh, about 5 seconds into it. Remind me next time to go straight for the hockey skates and NOT the figure skates next time. My feet are WAY too used to being wide and comfy in my crocs for that kind of thing!
So there were 4 skating frames for little kids to hold on to and about 20 kids who needed them in order to keep from falling down. I managed to snag one right away for Emmy, but Josh quickly decided he could probably figure it out on his own and keep up with his group of school friends all out there skating proficiently in the middle of the rink.
He did surprisingly well! He stayed on his feet for the most part and even when he fell he got himself up without help and laughed his way on toward his friends.
ALL of the pictures turned out quite blurry, this was the very best of them.Emmy, on the other hand, simply wanted to WALK on the ice and was immensely frustrated by how slippery the ice was and her skates on top of it. She walked gingerly around the rink on her tippy toes, grasping tightly her metal tube frame. When she'd fall she still clung to the frame and cry there until I picked her up and set her carefully back on her feet. In between she'd giggle and say she was having too much fun to stop!
And so we went. In that hour, we went around the rink exactly 4 times. It was an incredibly painstaking process, but whenever I'd ask her if she were ready to be done she would look at me with a horrified expression and say, "NO!".
Halfway through I took a break from Emmy and grabbed Elayna for a quick ride around the rink with me pushing her on a chair. Someone yelled at me that I wasn't supposed to do that as I skated by, but hey, it wasn't like I was the only one out there with a chair on the ice. So sue me. It was the highlight of my little one's day.
Thank you, dear, for cutting off the top half of my head.The next day I took Elayna back for a quick dip in the pool, just my little Bean and I. I was so excited! It was about 12 degrees outside, and a swim in a warm pool in a humid place sounded like a little piece of heaven!
We quickly changed in the locker room and grabbed our towels as we dashed toward the kiddie pool. They have a nice kiddie pool area with the floor sloping just like a beach, and a fun shower spot and several water jets on the side and a bar above the other end with more shower jets. In the deeper area of the kiddie pool is a slide!
The air felt a little chilly as we walked past the big pool to the kiddie pool and I couldn't wait to get my feet over there into that warm, inviting water...
"What in the world?!?!", I couldn't help but yelp out as I stuck my toes in the shallow end. Surely there must be some mistake, I thought as I continued to be dragged farther in by my little one. This is WINTER, for heaven's sake, not summer! The water needs to warm us up in February, not COOL US OFF!!!
I looked around at all the other parents and kids in the water. Most of them didn't seem to be too bothered by the temperature. I guess the whole 'free swimming' thing balanced out for them the shivering coldness of the water as long as their kids were having a good time.
The kids were having a good time, right? I looked around at the 1 and 2 year old kids shivering in the knee-deep water. Hmm... maybe not so much. I tried to back slowly away from the shivering children but Elayna would have none of it.
"You want to play in the water?!", I asked incredulously.
"YES!!!", she cried out as she splashed her legs around.
Okay, then. *sigh* Not even a hot tub in the corner to warm up in afterwards.
I settled myself in on the edge of the pool and shoved my hands under my legs to keep my fingers thawed. I glanced around at the shivering kids and noticed one young woman who looked to be around 20.
I wonder what she's doing over here in the kiddie pool, I thought to myself as she stood there between the two shower poles.
I shivered at the thought of even getting close to those goosebump machines.
And then some kids wandered over to her and started calling her mom.
Oh.
Oh, really?! Wow. She SO didn't look like a mom. She looked like she was barely out of high school and her hair was all perfect and her makeup was all perfect and there she was in a string bikini with a little tank top over it.
I looked down at my very plain black swimsuit with my white as a ghost arms and my hair pulled up in a messy pony tail and the cellulite I didn't want to even think about on the backs of my thighs. Ugh. I was just getting into that stage of pregnancy where no one thinks you're pregnant yet because you don't really look pregnant, you just look... chunky in the middle.
Seriously, I think that stage is more depressing than the 'big as a house' stage. At least no one secretly wonders if you're just FAT!
Right about then I glanced back up at her and she was looking at me. For one split second I just wanted to scowl and scream across the kiddie pool at her, "I'M PREGNANT!!!" and stomp away to the locker room for a good hormonal cry.
Thankfully right then she got distracted by her shivering kids and I realized my own was starting to get some mighty big goosebumps, so I scooped her up and we headed for our towels.
At least there was a nice, HOT shower waiting for me at home... and some self-tanner waiting for me the next time I went to Wal-Mart.
No comments:
Post a Comment