tired, but satisfied

[jay]

We had a good time this afternoon... a dozen kids and 14 adults came to Palo Alto to go ice skating outdoors in perfect weather... cool, no rain or drizzle. The rain earlier today kept large numbers of the general public away, so most of the people at the rink were with either of the two parties there. I was happy to see BSYfamily all there, bdot and her sweetie and M., zahl and Eric venturing down from SF, as well as cyan_blue and emmett_the_sane coming from Pacifica. Locally we were joined by frankenboob and crobderg and their two kids, and tenacious_snail came over to our house early to help with setup (thanks, dear!) and brought allegrad . I wore my jester hat and we had patgreene's brownies and Les's cookies and cheeses and crackers... and little bags of strangely-flavored Walker's potato chips from the UK (I'd gotten them in Gibraltar)... and "Dave's Hot Nuts", a Christmas gift from Nancy's husband. Along with spiced cider and cocoa...

I managed to skate past just as Bronwyn arrived, turning my head in the middle of a half-flip and crashing down spectacularly onto the ice ;). Comic relief... it was a lot of fun to mix skating with socializing and seeing my friends. And the kids liked it... even if James found himself the only teenaged boy with four teenaged girls. (smile)

Comments

[dancing-star.livejournal.com]

Thank you for inviting us, was a very enjoyable time.

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

You're welcome, and it was good to see you guys too.

It was spiffy-wiffy!

[vokzal.livejournal.com]

And s/Chris/Eric --- close, but not. enf

Maybe next time I can actually skate!

Re: It was spiffy-wiffy!

[vokzal.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the invite, it was nice to meet all these infamous people.

Re: It was spiffy-wiffy!

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

Hope that your leg heals quickly, and thanks for coming!

[deedeebythebay.livejournal.com]

I admit to a bit of sadness that we didn't make but I'll say that the rest time and being alone with the girls for a bit were a good thing. Abbie found Die Fledermaus on TV and wanted to watch it, then there was UNO and hot dogs and bedtime stories. The ice would have been fun and next year we'll make it but the reconnect time at home was important!

[bdot.livejournal.com]

mva wqas looking forward to seeing abby too!!!. she kept asking when you were going to get there... until we found out you weren't..... glad you had reconnect time tho

[deedeebythebay.livejournal.com]

Well, we'll just have to get them together sometime soon then. However, this week we're trying to reserve to family time It's been a few months of putting out fires and dealing with extended family messes; we're just going to focus on us for a week I think.

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

There's only so much socializing one can do, esp. with kids... reconnection is necessary and a good thing. And we'll probably do it again in early January 2006. (smile)

[bdot.livejournal.com]

lots of fun! d. and i want to go back on wednesday night... because he has surgery next week and then it will be a while before he can do that again! we shall see! thanks for organzing this!

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

If you do, I'll be there Wednesday around 8:30pm - 10pm. I'll look for you :). Wednesdays are adults-only...

[tenacious-snail.livejournal.com]

I had a lot of fun. I hadn't been on the ice in probably 2 years, but I'm not planning to wait that long to go back. It was my first time being an adult skating with kids, and had much fun skating with Allegra, though the me plus Allegra plus Kevin was a bit much-- at least he wasn't on the roof of the skating rink. Or at least not yet. I was also really amused about how awkward it feld to be skating backwards while being pushed in the "follow" position. I am *so* used to dancing lead for ballroom (Contra holds are different) that it required a lot of relaxation and trust.

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

Required... relaxation and trust? We seem to do well at those kinds of slightly-edgy things ;). It wasn't an attempt to cast you in a "female" role, per se... more that I thought I was probably the stronger skater, was familiar with the rink, and therefore was best able to direct our movement in order to avoid collisions with the darting small children underfoot (grin).

[tenacious-snail.livejournal.com]

oh, I didn't have any of my "don't make me be a girl" stuff get triggered-- I utterly agree your assessment of our relative skating skills and what results from that. It was just that going backwards requires trust, and being pushed (or, for that matter, pulled) required me to relax, and to be attentive to the relaxation, while at the same time, maintaining the sort of tension in my arm to allow you to push me.

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

A metaphor for other parts of life... :^)

[vokzal.livejournal.com]

So did you already have to know how to skate backwards?

btw I recognize you now by your icon!

[tenacious-snail.livejournal.com]

no, although I do know how to skate backwards, it wasn't a skill I utilized. I thought it would be too difficult to skate backwards while simultaneously dodging children (and adults with limited skating skills).

(and yes, the icon is pretty recognizable for a non-photo)

[vokzal.livejournal.com]

I didn't actually realize it was representational! Instead I remember the picture better than the handle. This is probably something for me to keep in mind as I start studying...

[cyan-blue.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for organizing a fun outing! It was good to see everyone there.

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

You're very welcome, and I hope that you'll consider joining us next year :).