Yes, he still had his share of falling, but he got right back up and tried again. Zeky and I were the only ones who actually skated the full loop. Laura, the gal taking them the rest of the way home, came and sat with the girls while he and I braved away from the rail and skated away from the safety zone. My legs and feet were quite happy when we got back to the beginning and got to rest again.
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They all really did have a good time despite being really cold. They even got to watch the zamboni come out and smooth out the ice. We took that time to get Zeky a bigger pair of skates and wipe runny, cold noses.
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The four skaters showing off their slippery footwear.
Elli, Alegra, Diella, and Zeky
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And finally everybody said they were done and we all went in and took those wretched things off our feet. I don't remember skates hurting so bad. Ha! I guess I wasn't this old either. :) Here is Laura helping out and making sure we all had all of our parts and pieces. Thanks Laura for your help!
By today the children were bickering a little more, but with fun things planned in the evening to keep them all busy, it helped a lot. I learned some lessons while having two more children in the house.
-Feels better to keep up with the dishes all day long than let them pile.
*Is better to make them keep up with the dishes.
-Is more difficult getting school accomplished.
*Helps to have them compete against each other to get school accomplished.
-Telling them what fun we are going to have helps motivate them to get ready.
*Seeing the sheer excitement on their faces from a surprise is much more fun.
-Having a quiet reading time is necessary to a peaceful day.
*Letting them choose between certain books is necessary for peaceful reading time.
-Establishing bedtime rules from the first night is imperative to going to sleep.
*Simply telling them they cannot do anything but breath and sleep works too.
-When all of the house is a disaster zone and the mom needs tranquility, computer games help.
*For calmness amongst ALL children at the same time, movies are better.
-And just when the meal is over, it helps to make sure all bellies are full.
*Even if you do and bellies are full, expect to have starving, wasting away children in 10 minutes or less.
Thanks for sharing your children with us for a few days. We all had a great time and hope we get to do it again soon! It was a good taste of what the families who took such good care of our children did for us while I was in the hospital. It's a blessing to have those relationships with others where we can take care of one another in whatever the circumstance. I'm glad yours was for a vacation in Florida and not a vacation in the hospital.
Hope you guys made it home safely!