200th Post

Yes, faithful readers, I have made it to my 200th post. And if you're still reading my blog that says a whole lot of nothing, wow!

Anyway, tonight we took the kids to a skating rink. Rollerskates, rollerblades, scooters, etc. These are the things we learned about ourselves (mostly what I learned about everyone else because we haven't discussed it together):

Chris: Loves to skate! His brother, Nate, and he used to ice skate like crazy. When Chris first moved to Utah he took ice skating as a class at BYU. But he hasn't been skating at all since he met me. So, he was enjoying himself and the feeling of freedom as his skated around and around.

Megan: I never rollerskated as a child. That's right. I grew up as a little girl in the late 70's and early 80's and never ever rollerskated. I have ice skated, but mostly on dates and then some guy (my "date") would hold my hand and drag me around. To truly understand how I feel about skating, please read my friend Rob's feelings about sledding. But I'm not a complete loser. I totally rocked it on Ms. Pacman.

Ammon: Soooo excited to go. But he was pretty wobbly on those skates. He was not very willing to give himself time to learn how to move. So, he traded in his skates for a scooter. That worked out much better. However, he was a natural at Galaga. His talents lie in different areas.

Sarah: Had so much fun! She worked and worked to learn how to make those skates do what she told them to do. She was figuring some things out, but decided she had fallen too many times. Her little bottomus-hippopotamus was starting to hurt. So, she traded in her skates for a scooter. She was cheerful and thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

Nathan: Tried on the skates, but could not even stand up. So, he was the first to trade in his skates for a scooter. Nathan is both oblivious and a noncomformist. He paid no attention to other skaters' uniform behavior; he simply crisscrossed in front of them to get where he wanted to go. Everyone there skates around counterclockwise. But not Nathan. He goes whatever direction he wants. He's pretty coordinated and didn't cause too many problems. He just weaved in and out of all the others.

Beth: Wow. She was the surprise of the evening. She got what they call "trainer skates," made by Fisher-Price. She was a natural. She wouldn't let me hold her hand or help her at all. She skated and smiled and was having the time of her life. She's so little out there, but she was perfectly at ease. She saw some bigger kids doing tricks, and so she tried jumping up--and landing on her feet--with her skates on. But after a while, she got bored of that and decided she needed Chris to drag her around. Then she decided she wanted a scooter like the other kids. That was not as much fun for her. She doesn't quite have the balance down (even though it was one of those toddler-scooters), and so she fell over a lot.

Casual observation: At one point, Beth's scooter tipped over and she fell off. She was right in the middle of the rink where I couldn't get to her quickly. She couldn't get the scooter tipped upright. Adults and teenagers were careful to avoid her so she wouldn't get hurt. But there was one kid--couldn't have been more than 8--who stopped to help her. He's my new favorite stranger.