Ice Princess

To celebrate my Cousin Sara's, boyfriend's daughter's eighth birthday we went ice skating!! It has been so many years since the last time I put ice skates on my feet so I was really nervous. When we got there we went up to our party room to visit and eat pizza before it was our turn to go out on the ice! When it was time for us to go down and get skates Eddie had said that he wanted to skate, which was surprising to me because we had never gone before and I didn't know that he enjoyed it! We talked a little about letting Grace go out on the ice if they had skates that fit her, or if they had a chair that she could be pushed around it. When we went to get skates we found out that the smallest size they made was an eight and Grace only wears a seven. I'm sure that we could have managed, but the fact that she would have had no balance on skates that didn't fit her, with a very crowded ice rink didn't really sit well with me. Eddie laced up his skates and we headed out to the ice to join the rest of the group.
Wrapped up warm in Shannon's scarf!

Eddie, James, and Devin were the only adults in our group that skated, the rest were Mackenzie's friends that had come to her party. I was really pleased to see that because of the package Devin got, one end of the rink was coned off just for us and they got a "trainer" to help them learn how to do things correctly! When Eddie got out on the ice he was a little wobbly which made me a little nervous, but he got it together really quickly and skated around with the boys for a few minutes.
Watching the skaters with her Auntie

Keeping warm with Mommy

We did notice that there were little green chairs set out for our group that were basically there for the kids to hold on to the back to and push around for balance. We were debating on asking if we could put Grace on them and have Eddie push her around and then before I knew it, Shannon had taken her over to Eddie who had pushed a chair over to the doorway and she was out on the ice! My heart was racing because there were no straps on anything on this chair and Eddie wasn't the most experienced out there. They took off slowly across the sink and when they came back towards us Grace was smiling from ear to ear!
Action shot!

Having so much fun with Daddy!

Then as Eddie started to spin around to turn she slide right off the chair and bounced on the ice! My heart stopped! I couldn't even watch what was going on and when I turned back around she was back on the chair and skating away with her Daddy.
The Fall!!

It didn't faze her in the slightest!!
She was having the time of her life out there!! She is such a thrill seeker and has no fear!! They skated around for a few minutes and then Eddie's back started to bother him since he almost had to bend completely over in order the push the chair so we started to pull her off the ice.
Family Shot

Let me tell you she was not having it!! She cried and cried and was so broken hearted! I took her back over to where we were standing so she could watch the kids and Daddy skate around but nothing cheered her up. When Eddie lapped around he saw how upset she was and pushed the chair back over to the door so that she could go back out there! She ran over to him, jumped in the chair and off they went!
Ice Princess!

Whitney decided that she wanted a chance to push Grace around because she was enjoying it so much that she ran and got herself a pair of skates! This also would give Eddie a brake and be able to skate at full speed. Thank goodness I have Eddie and Whitney to take her out to do things like this. Put a pair of roller skates in front of me and I am all over it! Ice skating, not so much!!
Playing with Auntie

After an hour had gone by, my babies cheeks were bright red and her teeth were chattering I decided it was time to call it a day and go back up to the room to get warmed up! Grace was reluctant, but didn't put up as much of a fight this time.
All smiles and pink from her day on the ice!

We went back upstairs for cake and to watch Mackenzie open her presents! The party I thought was a success! Between running around the party room and being out on the ice the kids all seemed to really have a good time! Thank you guys for inviting us to celebrate Mackenzie's birthday and letting us experience another first for Gracie with you guys!!