Ice Princess

Grandma and Grandpa Tigue gave Madison a pair of pink ice skates for Christmas. She has been so excited about them and has been begging to go ice skating ever since. Having a newborn in the house and recovering from surgery made it a little tough to take her.

But if she is going to play hockey, she needs to learn how to skate.

So, last Saturday night Daddy stayed home with Cam and I took Madison to the Rec Center for open skating.

I haven't had skates on my feet in about ten years - so I was a little nervous. I even rented skates because I wasn't sure if my old hockey skates were in any condition to be used.

It's like riding a bike. You don't forget. After a few minutes getting used to figure skates (darn toe pick!) I was feeling pretty confidant.

But, enough about me. Madison is quite the little skater. I grabbed her a walker to hold on to and started teaching her "little steps." Before long, the little steps became bigger steps....there was even a stride or two in there!

If blurry pictures are any indication, this kid is fast!

After awhile, she wanted to race. She even would get a little cocky now and then and say that she didn't need the walker. After discarding it, she would quickly realize that she did still need it but at this rate, it won't be long before she doesn't need it at all. Because I was really getting the hang of skating again, I started skating circles around her and sometimes I would spin around and skate backwards. She saw me do this a couple times and tried to turn herself around backwards in mid stride too - it didn't go so well for her! I told her she needed to master skating forwards before she tried backwards.

This rink is used primarily by the figure skating club, so there are murals on the wall of figure skaters doing different moves. Once she noticed them, she was trying to mimick the murals. I would see her skate by me with her head back, chin up, and holding one leg straight out behind her. It was the funniest thing I ever saw.

I didn't think Madison would last long - I figured we would be skating for a half hour or so...but she skated for nearly two hours and didn't want to get off the ice when the Zamboni came out.

Her pink skates, pink MN Wild jersey and pink scarf, hat and mittens were definetely the hit of the Rec Center. She had a lot of comments about how cute her skates were.

Madison and I are going skating again this weekend. We had so much fun together and I love being able to teach her how to skate. Maybe this weekend Daddy and Cam will come too!