Ice Skating Is Hard...

I just love winter-- I mean, I wish it didn't last quite as long as it does...but there are some fun things to do.  Gingergread men, for instance, you can't make them in the summertime....well...I guess you could, they just wouldn't taste as good. 

Cute hats?  Too hot in the summer!

And ice skating.  This is definitely not something you can do when it's warm outside!  At least not where we do it :)  Our city has the funnest little outdoor skating rink.  There's a big Christmas tree in the middle of it which makes it SO fun to skate around. 

And they have the teeniest little skates!  So cute!

Of course, you have to bring your own baby seal...

The kids were so excited, and even though it was raining (yes, raining in December...) it was still a lot of fun and we managed to stay very warm. 

My camera kept fogging up!  And there were lots of raindrops on the lens--I think the pictures still turned out pretty though :)

Gotta love those rosy cheeks!

The kids were excellent skaters!  Bridger was all over the place--I think he felt very secure with his helmet on...one time I even caught himself banging his head intentionally on the ice...hmmm...

He loved to spin around, fall down, slam into poles and into the tree...really, he did love it. :)

Kennedy was very brave by the end of the night too!  She was great on her skates, just hasn't figured out how to stand up again yet :)  Her preferred way was to crawl on hands and knees all the way back to the side until she could get off the ice and stand up again.  Just to do it all over again!

Charlotte LOVES being outside!  No matter if it's hot or cold.  Jer and I took turns holding her while the other one skated--we just aren't good enough to do it at the same time!  Actually, Jer is pretty good.  He can skate backwards, and in my book, that classifies you as being a good skater.  Me?  Not so good.  Of course, there wasn't a lot of opportunity for this in the small Florida town that I grew up in.  At least that's what I'm blaming this on.  I can do a lap.  I didn't fall.  Although, it's hard to skate and carry on a conversation at the same time....  However, my ankles really hurt by the end!   Does anybody else have this problem?  Any tips from you experts out there?  I'll just keep practicing.  :)

After skating, we went out looking for fun Christmas lights.  Here are a few of our favorites:

And a night like this just couldn't be complete without hot chocolate and candy canes.  Who am I kidding, we do that every night :)