It's Saturday and the kids are driving us bonkers in the house. The weather is wet and yucky outside, so no dice to just throw them into the backyard to play. The past couple of weeks, I have been on the hunt for relatively cheap indoor activities to do with the kiddos on the weekends.
Last week, our adventure took us to an indoor play arena / arcade...which was fun, though more fun for the kiddos than me. It was quite loud, crowded, and crawling with, well, kids. Oh, and I did I mention how "fun" it is to crawl up into the jungle gym to help the 2.5 year old Juddo get over a few obstacles (that he repeatedly wanted to climb over). At least I wasn't the only parent crawling around with a youngster who was trying to play with the bigger kids on the larger gym. However, I did notice that this gym was conveniently next to...an antique mall. Guess where we might go when Papa Ralph comes to visit?!
This weekend, I wanted something I could be more involved in with the littles. I decided to kick a bit old school.
We went...
Wait for it...
Roller Skating!
It was a blast! The rink was about 15 minutes from home and open skate was from 1-4pm. I got there around 2 (with the kids micro napping in the car on the ride out). Brian had to work, but I told him that if it was successfull we would look into coming out again as a family on another day. Now, Tamlin has skating on the Fisher-price skates outside, but Jude hasn't skated ever. I had read online that the rink had the toddler skates for rent, so I was stoked that both kids would be able to have fun.
However, when I got there, they were out of the toddler skates! 30 pairs all rented! The attendant was nice enough to check the rental prior to me paying for admission, but she assured me they did have small sized normal skates. The manager apologized and gave me 50% off! Wahoo!
Once inside, I had major flashbacks to the old roller den in 'Bula. The dazzling laser lights, the hip music, the mushroom shape chairs, carpet up the walls, cheesy snack bar, arcade games ... oh, such memories of skating to Michael Jackson, Paula Abdul, and New Kids on the Block.
The kids are already digging the place and dancing to the music as I step up to get their skates. Tamlin gets a pair easily, newish with a harder plastic shell...
and Jude first tries the smallest pair they have (and one of the oldest pairs!). I did have to up Jude to the second smallest pair they had, size 8. And these little ones are the old-school brown skates with orange toe-stops! Oh the boys looked so cute in their skates, jeans, and white t-shirts. I opted to stay in shoes 'cause I knew the boys would be looking and clutching on me for support. Next time though...
I showed Tamlin the basic means to move forward and that he needs to go on tip-toe to stop. I told him him to stay close to the wall for support and not to be afraid to fall on his bum. I held Jude up by his hands, which he clung to desperately. I kept positive and did not laugh at their attempts to keep their balance...oh it was cute. Both boys were real troopers and tried their hardest to skate. We even attempted the actual rink floor for about a quarter of the circle, but mostly we worked our way around the outside (carpeted) area. We did make it into the center of the rink for the birthday song and the hokey-pokey, the later of which was a hilarious attempt at staying upright while the wee ones turnaround on skates and simultaneously try to pull you over. Skating (and helping to skate) is hard work, so we did take a break to eat the highly nutritious slushy and warm pretzel. Jude informed me that he wants his next birthday at the roller rink...which I may really keep in mind as a fun idea.
Before we left, we played a couple of games of skee-ball and won enough tickets for a couple of pieces of candy. The attendants were all really nice and made sure both boys got a treat, even if the # of tickets was a bit less.
I think we made it entirely around the rink 3 times in two hours, but
it was a ton of fun. By the end, Tamlin was actually skating for
several strides before falling down and using his toe stops. Jude was
even maintaining an upright position for minutes at a time! Both of
them attempted to even "dance" while upright on their wheels.
All in all, the boys loved it and had a blast. I loved being involved with making them smile and get some exercise, even if my back is a bit sore from helping them keep their balance for several hours.
Can't wait to go again, with Brian and even other family members. Can't wait to get a pair of skates back on my feet too! I love to skate and remember street skating during gradeschool...may have to pick that up again :-) I remember wearing a pair of white skates with blue pom-poms.
I had a terrible itch to participate in all the special skate songs at the rink: backward skate, speed skate, shoot the rapids. I even told Tamlin about all the skating I used to do, and that even his Papa Ralph used to skate! Good times.
http://www.rollarena.biz/
