Grandma Week 2013: Day 3, Saturday Skate and Other Fun Stuff

If you don't fall every now and then, you're not trying hard enough! –Unknown

When I was little {and I say "little" instead of "when I was a kid," because I'm pretty sure I'm not a grown-up yet} we used to go roller skating every other Saturday morning. We'd usually go to the 10:00 session, pay our admission, get our hands stamped, rent our skates and spend the next two hours having a fabulous time rolling around the rink. There was a D.J. who would play music, dedicate skates to "couples only" {I forgot to ask my sister, Julie, if she remembers what what we did during those; I imagine we sat them out because we were only in elementary school}, led the hokey pokey, announced birthdays and had the skaters reverse direction every now and then to keep it interesting. Because we went so often, my dad had his own skates. He was pretty good, too. He could skate backwards and everything. So it was a bit nostalgic and a lot of fun to go roller skating during Grandma Week this year. My dad dusted off his skates and was the first one on the rink. He was skating like a pro from the word go.

{Top Left: Dad (a.k.a. Grandpa) lacing up his skates
Bottom Left: Still got it
Right: Skating backwards

Our family grew up in two sets; the big kids {me, Julie & Mark} and the little kids {Jill, Robin & Andrew}. My memories of Saturday skating trips mostly include my parents and the big kids. I think the last time I went skating was in the 80's. But the little kids went skating too. Jill, who is the oldest of the little kids, was quick to get on the rink and got her groove right back on.

{Top Left: Mantis
Second Down Left: Cap'n Underpants
Third Down Left: Grandma & Cricket
Bottom Left: Miss Butterfly
Top Center: Julie, Miss Butterfly, Jill
Center: Jill & Cricket
Right: Grasshopper
Bottom Right: Grandpa, Mantis, Grandma, Cricket & Julie}

We had a few spills. I think everyone fell down at least once. My skating skills were pretty rusty. I have a couple of new bruises, but it was fun to visit this childhood memory and share it with my kids. Grandpa spent time helping any of the grand kids who needed a bit of coaching. Everyone was on skates at one point or another and rink allowed scooters as well, so almost everyone switched off a bit. Miss Butterfly rented roller blades and kept up with the best of the skaters. Grasshopper preferred to scooter most of the time. And whatever the mode of transportation {see also, Baby Cricket in her stroller} everyone had a really fun time.

{Top Left: Lizard Boy
Center Left: Toad
Bottom Left: LadyBug & Grasshopper getting their skates on
Top Right: Grandpa, Julie, Jill, Frog, Grandma & Cricket
Bottom Right: LadyBug and me}

As is tradition, my mom also rented a bouncy house to go in the back yard. The kids bounced in it off and on all day long. The kids watched as the Guy With the Bouncy House got it set up. Toad came in to report that it had been staked to the ground, blown up and if it was OK with Grandma, it was OK with the Bouncy House Guy for them to jump in it. When Grandma gave her approval, a delighted Toad announced, The bouncy house is officially open!

{Top Left: Cap'n Underpants
Center Left: Mantis doing a flip
Bottom Left: Miss Butterfly
Top Right: Grasshopper, Frog & Mantis
Bottom Right Front Row: Cap'n Underpants, Mantis, Toad, Lizard
Back: Frog, Grasshopper, Miss Butterfly & LadyBug}

In between the bouncing and skating, we had cookies for breakfast {you can when you're at Grandma's, you know}, ate crêpes for brunch, stayed in our jammies until noon, had a good time chatting with each other, cooked hamburgers on the grill and ate ice cream bars and popsicles.

{Top Left: Frog
Top Right: Cricket & LadyBug
Bottom Left: Mantis, Cap'n Underpants, Grasshopper, Woodland Sprite, LadyBug, Toad, Miss Butterfly
Bottom Right: Pixie

Disclaimer: I used my iPhone for all the photos over the last few days, but I doubt that my fancy camera would have made much of a difference in the quality {well, maybe if I read the instruction manual} as it is hard to shoot a moving target. Obviously, we're going for quantity over quality here.