Love of the Ice

It's hot and humid outside. 90 plus degrees here in the Arctic Tundra of the North which means-- we've officially hit summer!

As a southern girl, the idea that it takes until JULY for our area to welcome summer shocks me every year.  Not that it's stopped any of the locals from opening their pools two months ago.  Having spent most of my younger years on the gulf coast of the Sunshine State, I've come to know that only tourists and small children swim in waters whose temperatures dip any lower then 85 degrees.  Weirdos.

Being that Kyra has come home from the Land of the CornHusker with a nasty case of ringworm, thanks to some barn cats she tried to love into submission, she is not allowed to go swimming for the next month, so says her pediatrician today.  I guess it's perfect timing, then, that ice skating has started back again.

Oppressively hot and humid outside...  Refreshingly frozen inside.

Last summer we signed her up for the Learn to Skate program, which teaches the kids an actual technique versus floundering wildly on the ice.

Last summer the instructor was a royal bitch who ignored Kyra because she thought she was too young to be in that particular class.  Halfway through the session, Kyra would cry- begging not to go back to ice skating. It broke my heart because I knew how much she loved this activity before that instructor came into her life.

Going into last fall and winter, I took her down from the Learn to Skate and back into a Tots program.  A program that focuses on the fun in floundering.  Once again, Kyra excelled, impressing her instructors who questioned my motives for taking a step back.  I explained, asking them if they could just bring back her love of skating, there's nothing else that would mean more at that moment.

At the request of her instructors, I signed Kyra up for the Learn to Skate program again this summer with the the hope that one of Kyra's beloved Tot coaches would be running Learn to Skate this year.

Indeed, Kyra's beloved Tot coach will be her instructor.

Today I posed an option for Kyra, would she like to do Tots AND Learn to Skate, or ballet and Learn to Skate.

I was caught off guard when she chose to skate two days a week.  I fully expected her to choose ballet.  I must say, I don't know if I owe Mother Nature's oppressive heat or her Tots coach a giant THANK YOU for bringing that love of skating.

Two days a week, while it's nasty hot outside, instead of swimming in a refreshingly warm pool, we'll be in a giant freezer.  I'm not complaining.  Not one bit.