Sunday, December 30, 2007

Miki on Ice!






This afternoon we went ice skating for the first time in a long time. Well, E was the only one who actually rented skates and did the proper thing. Miki and I just shuffled around, she in ladybug gumboots and me in street shoes.

The fire dept. reserves ice time on one of the indoor rinks in town. They do it every year around this time as a New Year "social event" for members and family. There were a few other youngsters there for Miki to admire and interact with, but unfortunately Miki's 2 best friends couldn't make it because they were in Vancouver picking up their newly adopted dog. We're going to meet the dog tomorrow morning.

Anyway, E strapped on skates and I plopped Miki in her umbrella stroller. Since it was a private skating affair, we were allowed to do whatever we pleased; staff at the rink told us, "you can dig it up for all we care." It took me a second to realize that she was refering to the ice.

I slooshed around the perimeter and took photos of Miki and the stroller gliding around the big rink as Mama gingerly attempted to find her "ice legs" after eons of neglect. She did quite well, truth be told, and didn't fall once.

Miki eventually tired of the stroller gig and wanted out. I let her shuffle along and she did just fine. However it was only about 10 minutes of this before I began to stress too much about human heads and the "unforgiving surface" of ice and E went to fetch a helmet. A traffic cone joined us on the ice - Miki trying to use it, of course, as a third balancing point - and then variations on a theme got silly: she sat on it, legs and arms wrapped around like a monkey as I pushed her; we tipped it over and she tried to ride it cowgirl-style; and at one point I upended it and dropped Miki in feet-first so it and she resembled a big orange and pink ice cream cone!

We (I should say 'she') lasted about an hour. What with no nap prior to this late afternoon (3:15pm) event it was amazing she lasted that long. As soon as we were home I rekindled the woodstove, spread a blanket on the floor in front of the fire and fell asleep. Miki conked out in her bed immediately and Mama on the couch.

ZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzz.......

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

HI TJ. First time I had a chance to see Miki-On-Ice. What a fantastic show, better than Disney-On- Ice. Thank you for taking all those great scenes. Heather has been wanting to get Evann on the ice, too, and was talking about it about the same time these photos came.
See you soon. L, Mom

Unknown said...

Do they make strollers with ice runners? I made it skating once this year at the local outdoor rink, but they closed it after a storm blew junk onto the ice. Lots of parents there with kids about Miki's age -- and the tots skating better than the adults, in many cases!

-Liz (yr cuz)

EMpty said...

Haha! This is great! What an inventive skating day! Tell her that Auntie Mac will definately go skating with her the next time we visit together! :)