Ice Skating Party/Fiasco

When given the option between a full on birthday party or a fun evening with a few friends, Catherine chose the latter. But since her friends happen to be our friends as well, it ended up being a huge party anyway! 

She really wanted to go ice skating, which we haven't done in a long time. She invited Sara, our neighbor girl, plus Emma and Paul. And we can't invite Emma and Paul without inviting the Oliveras and Knoxes, so we had quite the group at the rink.  

Aaron, Jon & Elijah (the non-skaters) and Elise

Helping Elise around the ice

Seth having the most fun of his entire life.

Aaron, also having the best day of his life.

Elise and Luke mastering the ice skating walker things.

I didn't fall down a single time!

You can see Mariana, Elise, Bekah, Melissa and Marley in the background.

Luke and Elise

(Note that Aaron and Seth are sitting on the bleachers in the background?)

Catherine, Elise and I had a blast at the rink. It took Elise a couple of times around the rink before she got the hang of it, but then she was off. Seth and Aaron? I've never actually seen anyone be that bad at ice skating. Seth's ankles just kept wobbling and he couldn't keep them locked into place. Aaron kept trying to walk on the ice. Literally. He'd lift his skate and try to take a step. We offered him one of the walker things to practice with, but he raged at us. "Those are for little kids!!" And so they spent the evening alternately gripping the side of the rink or falling all over the ice. 

Eventually one of the younger kids came to tell me that Seth had fallen. I wasn't really concerned since that's what he'd spent most of the night doing. But when I got over there his face was whitish green and he had droplets of sweat all over. He'd twisted his leg underneath him when he fell and his knee was in a lot of pain. I got him off the ice and had him sit until it was time to go. Aaron happily joined him as they grumbled about this being the worst activity ever. 

Most of the skaters, ready to head home!

Getting ready to sing to Catherine

A legit smile because Gabe was making her laugh.

Blowing out the candles on the fruit pizza she made herself!

She got extra bonus fun because the Oliveras spent the night so we could hang out the next day. Gabe and Seth protested mightily that THEY never get to have sleepovers, but Catherine and Emma did! I told Gabe if he can get his family to come spend the night they can have a sleepover. 

And, as it turned out, Seth's knee was in pretty bad shape. It was swollen and bruised. He gimped around at church the next day, then basically stayed on the couch with it propped up until he felt better. Of course, then he tried to play gaga ball with the young men and hurt himself all over again. It was 2-3 weeks before he was feeling back to normal. 

So I guess next time we just take the girls ice skating and the boys can stay home and stare at screens. Or maybe we just get the boys some lessons! Kenna thinks it may be related to their hypermobility issues (so they can't just lock their ankles and knees in place like the rest of us). But at least Catherine had a great time!