skating party

Ashley was invited to her twin friends' birthday party at The Skate Station, and she was really excited because she's never skated before.

It really is a tragedy that my daughter has never been on roller skates. What kind of a mother does that make me? Skating is all I ever did when I was her age, and I was going to be a professional roller-skater when I grew up. Maybe there's still time for that dream to come true... 

 I decided to pay for Ethan to skate, too. His feet have grown so big, he fits in Chris's old in-line skates, so he's been practicing on our sidewalk outside lately. He decided to try out roller skates. He did pretty good! In the picture below, he's the tall, skinny, dark ghost next to the fluorescent-green-and-red-shirt-boy's arm.

 In the picture above, you can see Ashley and her birthday friend Julie hanging on to the wall at the right. That's what they did for quite a long time. The other girls were mostly wobbly on their skates, but most of them had been once before, so Ashley was the wobbliest. But she caught on eventually.

I loved watching all of the girls take turns holding hands with each other and worrying about each other every time someone fell down. Such sweet friends. And, as a mom, it's always a sigh-of-relief kind of feeling when you see how much the other kids like your child.

The girl in the blue and white striped shirt in the photo above is Ashley's almost-twin. For years now, people have confused the two of them at school, or else asked Ashley if they were sisters. It's less pronounced now that their faces are maturing into pre-teen-ness, but I still occasionally have to do a double take when Edesse is nearby.

Sweet Ashley was nice and shared her games and prizes with Ethan. 

 If our local skating rinks weren't so expensive (it was over $9 per person), I think I might want to hang out there all the time and let my kids get their energy out. Now Ashley wants skates for her birthday. We'll have to see what we can do about that. :)