Winter Weekend

With Christmas and Hanukkah now less than two weeks away, and the coldest weather of the season arriving, it really feels like the holiday season. This weekend, we took advantage.

On Friday night, Kai and I visited our town’s holiday festival that featured fabulous ice sculptures…
live reindeer…

and holiday lights.

Then, yesterday, we went skating as a family.

Kai has been doing really well at his skating class so my wife bought us all skates so that we could skate together. After our first family bike ride, we were looking forward to our first family skate since Kai learned to skate.

We wanted to skate outside, but our local park district has not created the outdoor rinks yet. But my wife remembered that they had build one next to Wrigley Field. So we drove into the city.

I’m not sure if it was the new skates or the unfamiliar environment, but Kai did not skate like he does during his Saturday morning classes. He barely moved along and said he wanted to go home. I wasn’t about to give up so easily.

I grabbed his hand and dragged him along. I haven’t skated much since I was a kid so my own skating is labored. My feet ached. But we moved along. Sometimes my wife would grab Kai’s other hand and we would pull him along together, and later she skated with Kai so that I could snap pictures.

After a break while the ice was Zamboni-ed, we went out for a few more laps. Kai finally started to skate more. He didn’t skate as well as he usually does. But at least he moved on his own a little bit.

It wasn’t a smashing success. But Kai didn’t quit. And it was time spent together on a sunny day.

I’ll take it.