The kids were busy enjoying the splash park when the lady beside me said Lawrence Park was converted from a summer playground into an ice skating rink each winter! Even though the smell of sunscreen was heavy in the air and my heart was still full from watching Ross, Rayna and Ruthie dance in-and-out of shooting water, in that moment, the reality of summer quickly faded and I instantly started dreaming-up visions of all 5 of us effortlessly skating around an ice skating rink on a snowy night.
We’d be holding hands.
Oh, we’d all be laughing too.
No complaining kids.
No 2-year old melt downs.
And in my mind, there would most definitely be a trip to the soda shop afterwards for hot chocolate.
(…Yeah, I have a HUGE ‘slight’ problem with building things up too big in my mind.)
And in the blink of an eye, those wonderful summer days were over.
The crisp fall days quickly turned icy cold and plans were being made for our long-awaited ICE-SKATING DAY!
The anticipation was building as we pulled into a parking spot downtown. But shortly after changing a super dirty diaper in the front seat of my car and trying to convince a strong-willed little girl that she NEEDED to wear a hat to keep her head warm, I saw Matthew leaving the shoe rental stand with only three pairs of skates. He must have noticed the confusion on my face because he quickly explained he’d grabbed his size, but would be happy to sit out with Ruthie if I wanted to skate with the big kids instead.
After I quickly realized my vision of us ALL skating happily together was never realistic to begin with, I grabbed a seat outside the rink and watched Matthew, Rayna and Ross enjoying their time together.
Within a few seconds, Ruthie’s experience became more enjoyable too when she found a huge piece of dirty ice laying on the concrete and decided to make it into a SNACK…
At least I had a sweet view…
Her sister’s old hat…
Her mom’s old scarf…
Her brother’s old gloves…
And an adorable winter coat that we purchased from a consignment store for only $8 with another little girl’s name written inside…
Oh, well! At least she was WARM!
…and happy!
Still snacking…
I finally traded my boots in for skates!
And, got a few extra pictures with Matthew’s phone…
