skating at the O L Y M P I C ice center

When Justin and Ty were little, I think they could ice skate just about as good as they could walk. Anchorage is a hockey town- it’s just what you do up there.  It's also a very expensive sport to play.

Justin especially wanted to be a hockey player from a very young age. It didn’t help that G’ma and G’pa had neighbors with five boys who all played hockey.

We hit the ice on the local rinks and iced-over ponds any chance we got. We had a favorite pond- always groomed that we almost always had to ourselves. It was the perfect escape- calm, peaceful and beautiful even in sub-zero temperatures with numb toes.

It’s been at least ten years since any of us have been anywhere near a sheet of ice.- other than driving on the streets of Anchorage. 

Coleman and Caden have never even laced up skates- until this weekend. We spent part of our Thanksgiving morning at the local skating rink in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, where the 1936 Olympics were held.

The venue was obviously older, but the ice was perfect. Olympic anything is pretty cool. We had a blast- definitely created some memories. Coleman and Caden were captivated as soon as they were able to stay up on their skates.

Caden didn’t want to leave the rink. There’s a reason we call him our little Justin. Since our outing, they’ve both been begging to go back.

Justin and Ty were in heaven. Ty kind of forgot how to stop and racked up the most {and hardest} wipeouts. I stopped counting after about ten big wipe outs. It didn’t slow him down any- he just kept on crashing providing the most entertainment of the day. As we were leaving, a skater was warming up doing laps around the rink. A woman there told me he was the #1 figure skater in Bavaria.

Too bad we didn’t get to see him practicing- it still felt like we were in the midst of a celebrity and didn't even know his name.

Friends told us we have a rink close to our house in Kaiserslautern. We’ll definitely be finding it- they’re hooked. {maybe, we are too...}