Winter Cleaning and Making Ice

Talk about a dedicated hockey family, we went over to the arena and helped to clean up and make the ice. I am well aware of becoming too involved with something that might be perceived as superfluous in the grand scheme of life, but the kids really wanted to do it, and I am always happy to help. It’s important, however, to always maintain perspective and remember that we’re here to have fun, and it’s only a game... yeah, right.

The ice came in this week, but before the rink opened, there were tons of things that needed to be done, including cleaning and making the ice. We’d helped a little in the past, mainly holding the hose and cleaning the glass, but this time around, we were a little more involved. It helped that other kids were there and the kids had a blast. As one of the mothers said, even self-entertaining is helpful.

We headed over during the end of last week and did some cleaning. The rink was being prepped for the ice, so the building was cold and the infrastructure in place. There was still time before the ice was put in, so we did some sweeping and mopping, and cleaning of glass. The kids were great, they worked hard and didn’t make a stink about having to work. It helped that we were the only ones there, so they didn’t feel like they were missing out on the fun.

Over the weekend, the kids said they wanted to go back and work on the ice. I was hesitant because as much as I love hockey, I don’t want it to completely consume us, especially before the season even starts. They wanted to do it, and the weather was dark and rainy, so they couldn’t really do a lot outside. Also, R needed to do get some work done, so she wasn’t going to complain about some solitude. So the decision was made, and we headed over.

This time around, there were a lot more people, and tons of kids. This worked out beautifully because A&N had a blast playing with their new teammates, and I could get some work done without having to worry about them. We went in that late morning, thinking we’d be there for a couple of hours, and instead ended up staying for about five hours. Everyone was content about this.

It was nice that they had pizza, and the rain subsided enough so that the kids could go out and run around on the football field. By around 4:00, I decided it was time to roll, and even then, they didn’t want to go because the other kids were going to linger. I had to practically pry them away.

All in all, it was a good weekend. We got to help out DF at the rink, the kids worked hard and showed a lot of initiative, they had a load of fun, and R was able to have some quiet time to get some work done.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Eridony for the pic.