Skating Party

 Yesterday we attended our Dentist's annual Christmas Skating Party.

 Last year, was a total disaster.  The party always goes from 3-5pm.  Lilly's not out of school until 3:30.  By the time we drove down to Peak's Ice Arena in East Bay, Provo, it was 4pm.  We got some donuts and hot chocolate and waited in the line to see Santa, and then got skates for the kids and I.  We tried three of four pairs each for the kids, and eventually ended up with skates that were too large because they were out of the size we needed.  They also had no more walkers, so I ended up dragging both kids (Max was just barely 2.   Neither of which could stand in skates) around the ice for about 10 minutes and the party was over.  Oh did I mention that Max was deathly afraid of Santa and so I had to stand in the picture with a screaming Max, trying to slip out from under my arms?  Yeah.
So this year, I said to myself,  "If we can't be there, when it starts, we aren't going."  So I checked Lilly out of school at about 2:45 (45 minutes before school is out).  We tried to be discrete, but when we walked down the hall to meet Lilly, her teacher, peeked her head out the classroom door, just as Max screamed "ARE YOU READY TO GO ICE SKATING LILLY?"
 Way to go Max.
It was worth it though! When we got there, there was nobody there! We pretty much had the ice, skates and walkers to ourselves!

Lilly's NOT falling in this picture, she's "doing tricks."

                                  

 My sister Shaunie and her husband Jake, and little boy William came too!

Lilly of course, made friends in seconds flat and soon realized that she didn't need the walker to skate! GO LILLY!  She skated around with these girls most of the time.

She even had an older boy come over and talk to her.

Max soon realized, that he too, could skate without Mom and kept himself busy sucking on the finger of his glove, while he skated wherever his heart desired, as FAST as he wanted (or COULD) go.

This boy is clearly amazed by Max's mad skating skills!

Look at him go!

Not sure why he has his fingers in his "warm " chocolate. (when asked, he told me he did NOT want HOT chocolate) 

I must say, it was MUCH better than last year.  Oh, and they told me that next year, the party will be from 4-6pm! I won't even have to check Lilly out of school!
The kids got to see Santa, (picture coming in the mail), and Max told Santa that he wanted two blue monster trucks for Christmas, and then was sorely disappointed when Santa didn't produce them.