No Players in This House

It's no secret that we are Canadian, here at the Khlopchyk house. And it's also no secret that Canada equals hockey. My parents hail from a small town in Saskatchewan known as Canada's hockey factory having produced at least six NHL hockey players (Wendel Clark, Kerry Clark and Barry Melrose to name a few).

Playing hockey is the norm for boys and many girls here in Saskatchewan. In fact, I would venture to guess that the majority of boys play and that number of girls playing is increasing exponentially by the year.

With a house full of boys, you might think that we live at the rink. But we don't. In fact, until last weekend, we hadn't set foot in a rink since sometime during the winter of 2007/08.

You may or may not know that I spent a good deal of my teen years on figure skates. I loved it. I vowed that while my kids did not have to follow in my footsteps (blade tracings?), they would, as proud Canadians, know how to skate.

We started off well with Jack, enrolling him in skating lessons during his Kindergarten year. Then we slacked off so much so that Kamden, who is halfway through Kindergarten, has not really been on skates, unless you count the three times when he was three. I tend not to.

This winter, while it has had it's cold spells (do the words -952 ring a bell from last winter's rants?), has been unseasonably warm since January hit. We don't get the kind of winter where we can enjoy the activities you tend to associate with winter, sledding, skiing and skating, you know on account of liking out limbs enough not to want to freeze them off regularly. While the weather was warm (hello blizzard of epic proportions today!) we got inspired and got the kids suited up with some second hand skates and hit our local outdoor rink.

('twas night and my nighttime camera skills, well, I don't need to tell you, the quality of this photo pretty much says it all, but the subjects are sure handsome, in my bias opinion)

Today, we had plans to meet some family at an indoor rink but given that it snowed buckets in a blizzard like we haven't yet seen this winter, we stayed home. Shoveling the driveway is a fun activity too (not for me, I stayed in).

The kids really enjoyed renewing their skating skills and we won't talk about how I almost bit the rhubarb when I tried to show them a simple spin. Suffice it to say I am not 16 anymore. We plan on hitting the indoor rink more often this winter and if the Quasi Arctic stays away a bit longer we might even hit the outdoor one again too.

While I doubt either one of my boys will play hockey (Jay never did either), I still vow that they will be able to hold their own when they strap on the old blades. It's just the Canadian way, eh.

(Has anyone missed my infamous winter rants? Without the ridiculous weather, I have nothing to complain, I mean, write about)