Raising Maine

The new ice skating fashion

The kids crack me up with their various ice skating outfit choices. For instance, last week G. wore one of her favorite long fleece skirts. She sews them herself and pretty much wears one every day. It's our compromise to going tight-less (she's not a fan of wearing tights for more than her hour-long ballet class or ice skating because she finds them too itchy). I want her to stay warm and she wants to be comfortable so the fleece skirts meet somewhere in the middle.

Playing train and tag are favorites with the girls during open skate.

G. happily reported after her hour on the ice that the long skirt was easy to skate in. I'm skeptical but it's just not that important a thing to argue with her about. And hey, it's motivating her to become a better seamstress, a life skill that will come in handy throughout her life, so I've zipped my lips closed on the subject.

Today, L. showed a little variety in her skating outfit choices at the Portland Ice Arena. She and a couple of her friends shared their holiday spirit by wearing red and white capes at the arena's Christmas party.

Seen Team gallery from the Portland Ice Arena's Christmas party.

Speaking of Seen Team, we also took some photos at the
4-H Winterfest at Pineland Farms on Sunday.

Now I think I need to catch up on a little sleep after a busy couple of days...

Art, L.'s back on skates and a Lucy update

Taking a trip to the Portland Museum of Art is more than a little different from our usual outdoor adventure. It took a few minutes for the kids to adjust.

There's no yelling, running, touching or chatting it up with people you meet along the way.

Once the kids got the hang of it, they enjoyed themselves. Especially the search to find paintings on their Kid Cards (we were given them from a friendly docent at the front desk). The Charles DuBack card was a particular favorite and the questions on the Card were thought-provoking and fun for the kids to answer. Another Card asked questions about Confidences by Renoir and the kids discussed how it "glowed." Of course I was aware of the many diligent security guards (I spotted 6) keeping an eye on us during our 1.5 hour visit.

It's official, L.'s back on the ice to skate again. She had some seriously good karma the other day to find a pair of almost new Glacier skates (a good brand we were told by our ice skating friends) for $3.99 at Goodwill. That's not even the shipping cost on eBay.

But today I am nursing 4 bleeding blisters from tying skate laces. I have some kind of brain cramp about boot laces. Someday I hope to remember to wear gloves BEFORE the painful lesson reminds me again.

Lucky Lucy the Chicken is doing well with her physical therapy this week. Instead of the usual Cheerios to coax her to walk across the yard, L.'s apple core did the trick instead. Another lesson for me on chicken eating preferences.

Good beginning, rough middle, happy ending

The day started off sunny and warm and the kids had a romp through the sprinkler with their friends in our yard.

But our plan this afternoon included spending some time indoors - to ice skate. Their skating friends had let us know that the Ice Arena at USM was opening today for the season and asked us join them for open skate. The kids were thrilled at the prospect of ice skating in August.

After digging out the skates, the girls of course had to find their favorite skating outfits.

But during the last 5 minutes of open skate, L. fell down - hard - on her knees. She's not a big crier when in pain (she's broken her arm 3 times and the crying didn't last more than a couple of minutes in any of those incidents - even the one that required surgery) but this fall had her in tears for longer than usual. That of course prompted me to overreact and take her to the emergency room. (And BTW, none of those broken bones were sports-related - a slip in the shower, a leap off a playground swing, a fall off a chair.)

Of course I planned ahead for a long wait at the ER with a quick stop to the library on our way into Portland. L. agreed it was worth the 5-minute stop for a couple of books to pass the time once we got there.

It turned out that nothing was broken but she'll be in some pain for a while and have a nasty purple bruise.

After leaving the emergency room I called Fino to let him know about L.'s accident at the rink. Before I could tell him exactly what had happened, he interrupted to ask apprehensively. "Oh no, did she break her arm again?"

I had thought the same thing when I had first seen her crying on the ice. And crazy as this sounds, I was happy to report it was only a couple of badly bruised knees. Those broken arms for L. were almost as traumatic for her parents as they were for her.

So L. is staying off the ice for at least a week - a real hardship during sunny August - and now vying for a better pair of ice skates.

"My skate boots are too wobbly mom. I need those hard boots like Katie has so I don't fall like that again."

Whatever it takes for some no-broken-bone insurance, I'll take it. E-bay here I come...

Gearing up for rollerblading

The kids and I decided to learn to rollerblade this year. With all the ice skating we did this past winter and the fact that G. really wanted to do it, we decided to get ourselves some rollerblades and give it a try.

We found G. a brand name pair at Goodwill for $5 but L. and I didn't have any luck finding our sizes there. L. found a nice used pair at Play It Again Sports in Portland for $20 and I bought a new pair there (I couldn't find any used in my size). As for safety gear, we had knee pads and helmets from our various other sports activities so we only had to buy wrist guards to complete our shopping. And with the addition of this new gear, our basement has truly been taken over with sports equipment.

After getting all our gear together, I realized that finding paved trails was harder than I had thought it would be. There really aren't any in the Sebago Lake area where we live. So we decided that our first day in our new gear would be at Deering Oaks Park in Portland.

I liked the park's trails because when I had trouble stopping, I just ditched myself in the grass; it was much softer. And yes I admit to throwing myself on the ground to stop when I can't gain control of my speed, regardless of the sport. It's what I did when I learned to snowboard and since pavement is a lot harder than snow, the grass was a more appealing option. The only complaint we had about Deering Oaks were all the rocks, twigs and sand on the trail. But it was manageable. And the barely-there "hill" in the park was just enough to pick up speed but not feel out-of-control. The kids liked that a lot.

The next day G. insisted we go rollerblading again so we headed to Bug Light in South Portland. That trail was great; it was flat and rock- and twig-less. Although we did dodge some lettuce, tomatoes and olives, much to the amusement of L.

We're going to try out the Eastern Prom over the weekend but we're still on the hunt for other paved trails in southern Maine. If you have a suggestion, post a comment.

Fun on the Common

The kids brought their ice skates to Massachusetts in hopes of doing some skating during our mini-vacation. During our last trip to Boston, the kids wished they had brought their skates to try out Frog Pond on Boston Common. So on this visit, we met up with a friend who lives in Davis Square and he drove us to the Common with our ice skates so we didn't have to drag them on the T (I hate driving in downtown Boston so thanks Craig!).

The kids' verdict on skating on Frog Pond:

The ice is yucky and all chewed up.
It's too crowded.
It was fun but I like the indoor rinks at home better.

We had a good time but the kids are spoiled with the indoor rinks in the Portland area. Ice on an outdoor rink just can't measure up.

After skating, we went to a bagel shop for some hot cocoa and a snack. I can't remember the name of the place but the kids and I were totally entertained by the way they sliced their bagels.

We ordered a bagel and it was sent down a conveyor belt with a metal spinning wheel. We thought it was a novelty to watch the bagel move down the belt but when it got to the wheel, I jumped in surprise.

The noise scared me initially because I didn't expect it, nor did I think I'd see the bagel flying down the belt afterwards.

What was really funny though (or scary depending on your perspective) is that we found this "bagel belt" so entertaining. We took a picture of it.

Took a quick video clip and basically lived up to the stereotype a lot of Massachusetts people have of folks in Maine.

But really, it was quite entertaining...

Hearts everywhere

The kids were skating on the "rink" in the yard this afternoon and commenting on the fact they they needed their own Zamboni to smooth the ice out.

But after taking some goofy photos of a Flat Stanley, they got over their complaining about bumby ice. They were having fun anyway.

As they were skating around, L. yet again, spotted a heart shape. This time carved in the ice.

I really don't know how it could have been made, we certainly didn't leave any ice molds out there nor do we have the tools to chisle out the shape.

L. is quite smitten with her recent "heart" discoveries and vowed to continue looking for more.

Tough love time

The kids were outside during the storm yesterday clearing off their little ice skating rink. It's basically just a low area of the lawn where water collected and froze earlier this week.

They cleared the "rink," came back into the house and then decided not to go back outside again to ice skate. They decided at that point they were too tired.

Of course the motivation to ice skate was lessened since I told them they couldn't wear their skating outfits and tights in a nor'easter.

Watching the Olympics

The kids have been skating with their friends every week at USM's ice arena for open skate time. And as I have learned, it's not just about the the sport, it's also about wearing the skating outfits and special tights.

So there's little doubt that the ice skating competitions during the Olympics will be the highlight of the next couple of weeks at our house.

Outdoor/indoor fun, depends on the weather

My family spent a busy week enjoying typically outdoor-type activities, indoors.

On Wednesday we went swimming during a public swim time. There are several pools open that offer "open swim" in the Portland area including, St. Joseph's College in Standish, Cape Elizabeth's community pool and Riverton School community pool . The Maine Masters Swim Club has a list of pools in various towns around the state.

On Thursday we went ice skating at USM's ice arena.

L., not an accomplished skater, was trying out a knee slide. Her friends with more skating experience were doing some tricks but L. came home with a sore knee and a plan to, "work on standing up stuff next time."

On both "outings" we took our various Flat Stanleys and it's amazing the silliness that can come out of having a couple of flats around.

Not to mention the fact that now the kids have a new way to entertain themselves. It seems we're educating the world of flat people about Maine's variable winter weather via the car window...