Skateland!

 I don't think I have been to Skateland since....junior high maybe?  I remember going more often in elementary school when Mendoza would do their fundraiser nights.  I loved Skateland.  I loved having a super smooth surface to skate on.  I used to rollerblade all the time as a kid, and got pretty good at it.  Granted, I haven't rollerbladed in years--but its like riding a bike, right?

I got my answer tonight at Skateland, which is where Karianna, Jordan, and I spent the evening!  Talk about a throwback-lots of memories popped up as we parked in the lot and ventured in to rent our skates (for both kids) and blades (for me).  I am super happy to say skating came back very quickly for me-I was able to get right up and skate with relative ease, even being able to spin without any trouble.  My backwards skating is not so smooth-I can do it, but not very fast.  Regardless-I really enjoyed flying around the rink.  I had 3 falls, one of which was actually pretty hard-and my own fault.  I hit the curb wrong, and landed with all my weight on my left hand.  It didn't hurt that bad in the moment, but as i am writing this post 3 weeks later, it still twinges, especially when I do anything weight-bearing.  I'm sure I annoyed the tendons/ligaments to all ends, but I'm also sure it will heal in time.  Not enough to keep me away-I'd love to get a pair of rollerblades!

Now, on to the kids!  It was SO much fun to see Karianna and Jordan trying out skates!  Karianna has been to Skateland a few times, and while a little tentative, she was quite good, and was able to keep up with the pace set by other skaters (generally speaking).  We rented a walker thingie, and she used that for a while to get her bearings-by the end she was skating around on her own without falling at all, and was quite proud of herself-she now says she wants skates (and I am trying to convince her to jump to blades).  Jordan was super impressive.  He is very physically agile as it is.  He is not afraid to fall, and when he does fall, he know how to do it in a way that protects his body.  He set himself up really well to be successful at this, and he was!  he mastered skating with the walker fairly quickly despite 30 or so falls.  He started experimenting with letting go of the walker, and before I knew it, he was trying to skate around the rink on his own.  His first time around, I was sure one of two things would happen.  he would make it, but would be near tears because he was falling so often, or he would be elated that he did it and wouldn't care that he fail.  it was the latter :)  He was so proud of himself!  By the end of the night, he had skated around the rink multiple times, and several of those were done without falling at all.  Both kids loved it-I loved it-and we are definitely okay going back!  I like the thought of this fun, new tradition!