Christmas Ice Skating at Riverside

It has become a bit of a "thing" for me to take the kids ice skating every Xmas and this year was to be no different. Yesterday the weather and roads were diabolical and so we ended up housebound all day. So with today being much better we decided to get out of the house and head over to Riverside Ice Rink for some skating.

 

We arrived early which was perfect as we managed to get parked easy, got Holly a balance penguin and also there wasn't too many people on the ice initially. After the 12 o'clock Zamboni we went back on the ice for a while but by then it was getting really busy, but luckily we was all getting pretty hungry and so decided to call it a day.

 

This year Tina decided not to come on the ice as she doesn't really enjoy it much. As the two boys are that much older then I could manage fine on my own as it only meant watching over Holly. All three of the kids did absolutely amazing today. Within a few laps Joshua and Brandon had regained their confidence and were off here, there and everywhere - they were even starting to learn to skate backwards.

 

How ever Holly topped them all. At first she could hardly stand up (even using the penguin). I spent a few laps bent over and supporting her and then to get her used to some speed she actually stood on the penguins feet and I whizzed her around. Within no time at all she had learnt how to angle her feet to be able to push forward and was then skating with the penguin all on her own. After about 2 hours on the ice she then wanted to abandon the penguin completely and skate holding my hand.

 

Our Xmas visit to Riverside for some ice skating.

 

Joshua at Riverside.



Holly looking so grown up with her skates on and balance penguin ready to go skating.

Brandon giving his little Sis a bit of a helping hand.

For the first half hour to hour I stayed very close to Holly and helped push her along as she couldn't get any traction.

Me and the kiddies absolutely love going ice skating.

Holly getting braver as we build up the speed.

As with most sports Brandon takes to skating like a fish in water.

Great picture of Josh - not sure what exactly he is doing here.

Getting Holly used to going faster and faster by standing her on the front of the penguin and pushing her around quicker.

Holly was so proud of herself that she finally managed to skate on her own using the penguin.

Starting to look like a natural and finally getting that traction to push off.

Lovely picture of Joshua and Holly.

It wasn't long after this that Holly started to want to break away from using the penguin.

Another great action shot of Holly.

Joshua teaching himself to skate backwards.

Then Brandon trying some backwards skating.

The end of our session as the ice started getting busy and our feet were all starting to hurt after 2 hours of skating.

Final selfie of me and Holly - really proud of how well she did today.