End of Summer Activities

The summer activities came to end the week of August 16th. Both girls enjoyed their gymnastics classes and seem to have learned a lot. If nothing else, they looked adorable in their little leotards.

Ice skating proved to be the big surprise of the summer. It was a last minute addition to the schedule and turned out to be their favorite activity.

I was amazed at how much they learned and at how confident they became on the ice. No, they aren't Olympic-caliber yet, but they did make a lot of progress. They can now march across the ice, do a 2 foot glide, forward swizzles, backward wiggles and moving dips. From week to week, it was fun to see them spend less and less time on their bottoms. Both girls passed Basic 1 and are looking forward to taking Basic 2 next summer.

I took all three girls to a public skate session. Madeline and Mallory had won free passes for dressing up as punk rockers (they were really dressed more along the lines of Debbie Gibson) at one of their lessons. I thought it would be fun for all of us to go.

Putting a 3-year-old on skates was obviously something I hadn't thought through. First of all, as I was putting on her skates, she accidentally kicked me in the elbow with her skate and made 3 of my fingers go numb. (They quickly regained feeling.) Then we got on the ice. Brianna was terrified that she was going to fall on her "booty." So, Madeline and Mallory skated around us while I skated bent over holding onto Brianna. She did fall on her booty one time, but it was more of a sit than a fall. Each time we passed the exit, Brianna told me that she wanted to get off the ice. I kept telling her "one more time." She never did get the hang of it. In fact, she really hated it. I don't think ice skating lessons are in her future - at least not for a while.