Saturday, January 26, 2008

Brush with an Old World tradition


Gabe and I head out to go ice skating.


Gabe stands in the warming cabin .... nice and toasty!


Gabriel on ice!



Gabe and I did something tonight that I think they've been doing in Sheboygan for possibly 100 years.
We went ice skating!
Apparently, every winter, they flood two parks in our town -- one on the north side and one on the south, and turn them into huge ice skating rinks. They just opened them up yesterday.
Today, Nathan found used ice skates for us at Play It Again Sports, only $15 for mine and $20 for Gabe's! So at dusk, Gabe and I trekked out to Cleveland Park.
How delightful! After a day of being stuck inside, it was so good to be out! And of course the "rink" comes complete with a little warming cabin with a wood-burning stove ... a huge tree stump with an axe stuck in it sits in one corner, along with a gigantic pile of firewood. An older gentleman, probably a member of the parks department, sat there reading and supervising things.
What a charming way to spend an evening! We're going back again tomorrow!

4 comments:

C Staude said...

Ohhhhh... this brings back SOoooo many memories for both dad and I! The little warming house could be an exact replica of the one I used to sit in at Rouge Park in Detroit where they would do the same thing! HOW cool that you got to do it! Dad and I both went "awwwwww..." when we saw it! Wow... sweet memories! (secret tip.... put your snow shovel in the trunk.... and you can make your own special extra slick spot on the ice next time!)

C Staude said...

By the way, tell Gabe to watch out... this is JUST the sort of place that Great Grampa Garchow was "ensnared" by Great Gramma Garchow way back in 1948... she kept falling down right in front of him until he noticed her! The rest is HISTORY!
How many times did mama fall down? Hmmm?

marzi said...

that's so awesome! we were just talking to finley last night about going after he saw some figure skating on tv! he was dancing around the house pretending to skate! i had no idea that we had places to go in town besides the blue line. thanks for posting! you may see us out there sometime.....well, after we find some skates! :)

DawnK said...

Sounds like fun. I can't remember the last time I was ice skating!