Christmas Countdown 5 - ice skating!

Starboy opened today's paper advent calendar door and found ice skates. He knows Martin and Sylvia enjoy ice skating (are you beginning to see a theme?), and he gave me a confident "Yes" when I asked him if he'd like to try it. There's a rink in Santa Monica and one in Pershing Square downtown. We headed downtown straight from school because it's closer.

 It turns out they have appointed times you can skate, so we had to wait for the next session. Rye chose gorp at the cafe, so he could pick out the M&Ms and not eat any of the rest of it.

For an extra $5 (on top of the $8 fee, the $2 skate rental, and $7 parking) you can get a granny walker for the littles. It's genius. Starboy didn't want to give it up. But his skating improved about two hundred percent or more in the hour we were there, from cartoonish slippery feet to actually standing and gliding (while being pushed). It was so awesome.

 

I have a great pair of leather skates. At home in the basement. Ah, well.

It's not quite the same as Rockefeller Center, but it is pretty when the lights come up at night. And we both had a ball, even though Starboy was soaking wet and freezing in the end.

Today's book was Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin, a wonderful story about the pioneer snowflake photographer. Only Google this if you have a half hour or more; the photos are addictive.