1st Time on the Ice

After having no luck finding an ice rink in the Maple Grove area that was open before 4pm on a weekday I decided to look for one closer to Jackson and my school.  Through a website, I stumbled onto George Enloe Park.  I picked this one because the website stated that it had a sledding hill in addition to an ice rink.  I figured that if ice skating was a bust, we still had something fun to do. 

Before heading over I called the used children's store in hopes of finding some ice skates.  I guess I waited too late because they were all sold out.  Then I remembered my classmate telling me that she put all 3 of her boys on the ice in their tennis shoes 1st before having them balance on skates.  So that's exactly what we did!

 

 JV fell 3 times before making it to the actual rink, but he would roll over and say, "I do it." while picking himself up.

 With some encouragement he made it all the way around the rink.

 He really liked when we sang "The Wheels on the Bus." and pretended to drive the bus.

 And this is the reason for the helmet!  Yes, it was quite a fall, but the helmet did it's job and JV didn't even whine.

 

After skating for 30 mins or so we changed shoes, grabbed the sled and headed to the hill.  That hill would have really impressed BV.  Unfortunately I left the camera in the car so I have no pictures, but we will defiantly have to go back.  JV and I went together the 1st couple of times, but then he wanted to sled by himself.  "Just me." he would say.  So off he went.

 

Lastly we stopped by the playground on the walk by the park.  With the combination of a skating rink, warming house, sledding hill, and 2 playgrounds I would rate this as one of my favorite winter parks!