Winter Fun!

So it finally got cold enough for the City to flood our neighborhood ice rink!  And as soon as the ice frozen solid (enough), we were out there taking advantage of it.

One of our Christmas presents to Addy was ice skating lessons, and so far she loves them.  "Falling is fun" according to Addy, at least for the moment.   One of the things they do is push large traffic cones around on the ice to help them with balance.  So Graham improvised and got out this plastic bucket for Addy to use to practice...well, as you can see, we should have signed Cora up for lessons as well :)

Addy was convinced that this stick that fell into the water as it was freezing is her own personalized initial in the ice.  "A for Addy!"

The ice rink really is a source of great neighborhood fun!  And really it's a credit to Graham and our neighbor Charlie that we have the rink at all.  (To read the story of the ice rink, scroll down).

We also organized the first neighborhood broomball tournament of the season, which drew quite the crowd.  Here's Graham giving a refresher on how to play to some very exuberant boys who couldn't wait to play.

Game on!

Addy was super excited to play.  Here she is being an apprentice goalie.

I even got in on the action this year.  (I'm the lone grown-up in this shot!  Notice how Addy is actually running away from the ball!)

Despite the flurry of the game around, you never know when it's time to just sit down and have a deep conversation...

The Ice Rink:  Years and years ago, Shaker Heights used to flood numerous rinks around the city.  But for any number of reasons, stopped doing it.  Four years ago, much to the amusement of the neighborhood, our neighbor, Charlie, and Graham tried to extend our garden hoses across the street and flood the rink on their own.  I still don't know if they thought the City wouldn't notice, or how it was all going to work, but it didn't matter because they soon realized that the effort was futile.  As you can see from the picture below, to flood the rink, the City opens the fire hydrant and it takes almost five hours of that gushing stream of water to fill it - garden hoses were just not going to cut it!  Anyway, the next year Graham petitioned the City for the rink - the deal was they flood it and then the neighborhood solicit volunteers to be ice wardens and maintain it.  And, they agreed.  I was always the skeptic, never thinking the City would go for it, thinking no one would use it, but I have to admit I was wrong.  Very, very wrong.  There are always people on the rink.  From the neighborhood broomball tournaments we organize, to pick up hockey games, to the young woman who took to figure skating by moonlight three nights a week last year, it is quite a treasure to have.

Ready to freeze!