Labor Day Weekend

So who had a great weekend? Anyone? Anyone?

Ooh! Ooh! Hand raised high. Ooh! Ooh!

I did.

Saturday we were busy cleaning, and doing errands. We were gone most of the day but I was totally fine with that since I still had 2 more days off of work.

Sunday we did some lounging in the morning but then in the afternoon Jaclyn and I went ice skating. A friend of mine was having a birthday party for her hockey son and invited us to come skating. Jaclyn has been dying to go skating ever since she saw some movies featuring ice skating stories. This has been the first opportunity. I knew I would be putting her in skating lessons this fall so Thursday evening I found her some used (like new) skates for only $15. With some new pink laces and use of my magic eraser they looked brand new. My sister as well as a few other people we work with were also invited. Plus a ton of other people.

So we get to the rink, put on our skates (mine-rented), and we head for the ice. Jaclyn thinks she will just get on the ice and she will be spinning and doing triple sowcows. However, that was not to be. She kept telling me that her tummy was nervous before we got there. I tried to prepare her for feeling that cool sensation on her bum but she still thought no problem. She puts her skate to the ice and whooom. She almost goes down. I am holding her hand and manage to keep her up. Now I am nervous as I have not ice skated in at least 20 years. So I am also prepared to kiss the ice. But the cool air and smooth glassy ice was so inviting that I didn't even care if I ended up close and personal with my reflection.

Jaclyn and I are inching along the side so she can hold the wall. We make it about a 1/4 way around the rink and 15 minutes has passed. I was a little bummed because I wanted to go. To feel the wind through my hair. But my child needed me. Then my sister came to the rescue. She grabbed Jaclyn's other hand and we started off. Each of us holding a hand trying to hold her up. Me going backwards, Missy going forwards and Jaclyn getting brave in between. Us continually saying "keep your feet flat and together". She thought she could swish swish swish with us pulling her. And by the time it was all said and done she could. And she would say go faster. I want to go faster. There were a few close calls where we almost bladed over another child or adult who came in our path. By the end we were all going forward as fast as we could.

And with 2 minutes left in this beautiful skating session........

We are going fast down the straight away when all of a sudden I am kissing the ice. OUCH!! My knee cap hits first. Then my arm and side. Jaclyn is down closer to Missy and it was ugly. You see we were getting cocky. Jaclyn lost her footing kicking my skate out from under me and before you knew what was going on we were down. It must have looked really bad because a man near us was asking if we were ok. And trying to offer me a hand to get up. I said we were fine through my laughter and tried to get myself up. I wanted to save what little dignity I had. But you better believe if I couldn't get up on my own I would have had to swallow the last bite of pride. Ahh but thanks to my toe pick I was able to maneuver myself to my feet. Jaclyn is not quite crying but also not whining. There was some sort of inbetween crying thing going on about her thumb bleeding. I would have taken a picture of it but the cut was so miniscule that it would not have shown up on film. It was also bleeding if you want to call it that. It was more like a red line.

So we are now done skating and getting our shoes back on. We get a snack for Jaclyn from the vending machine and get in the car. We drive the 30 minutes back home and all is well in the world. We had a blast.

A little while later I decide to look at my knee. OH MY GOODNESS!!! Who put that goose egg under my skin! It is scraped and swollen. My husband just shakes his head and goes on about his business (of doing nothing).

It was still a load of fun!!

Even though a few days have gone by and my knee is still a little sore and I discovered a scrape on my arm.

I am now the proud owner of my own ice skates. I will be hitting the ice once a week if at all possible.

Monday we went to a local county fair to check out the livestock. My daughter is so good about not hounding us for rides at the fairs that I even let her play a $5 throw darts to pop balloons guaranteed large prize for kids game. She got a cute stuffed purple butterfly that hasn't left her side yet.

The most important part of the fair for Jaclyn and I was her discovery of the elephant ear. I have been teasing her about eating elephant ears since last winter. All summer we weren't able to get one. Once I tried but she chickened out. She was very concerned we were going to be eating a real elephant's ear with powdered sugar on top. Needless to say she was happy it was not. I took her picture taking a bite before we left the fair. Now I will need something else to harass her with.

From the fair we went to my SIL and BIL's house for a cookout. We had a lot of fun there and found out they are remodeling their living room and will be giving us their entertainment center. It is much nicer than the cheap thing we use so that was a nice surprise. We should get it sometime in October. The trick will be to get it to our house. Now I will really need to get my butt moving to paint and re-arrange the furniture that I have been talking about doing all year.
We stayed there until 7:30 and then had to hurry home to catch Prison Break.

If I had my pictures off of my camera I would post some but sadly I am not that up to date transferring the pictures from my camera.

I hope everyone has a great short week. I know I am glad it is already Wednesday.