E's Winter Party

I had an idea of throwing a Winter Party. This was a big deal to our family, as this is our first real winter where E is partially independently mobile. (I'm not sure if "partially independently mobile" really makes sense, but she's a LOT less work than last year, and she can do so much more now.)

I called up our local ice rink and told her my situation. Big party, lots of kids, and oh yeah--my kid has cp, is this going to be a problem, yada yada yada. The assistant manager instantly came out with a disclaimer that the ice rink is happy to accomodate kids with special needs. I was a little surprised. The day I picked was perfect--there happened to be an hour block of time between two scheduled events, and the park wasn't going to be able to host a public skating session in that short amount of time--so they gave me the private ice time for free. We had dinner catered at the park for our guests, and worked a reduced group rate for the skate rental/admission.

Everything was a go...until we got there. There was a snafu with our private ice time...as someone was already using it due to a schedule mix-up. Like I mentioned before, we were sandwiched between two other events--so we had a limited time to get our ice squatters off before we had to vacate for another group. This was a challenge, b/c person in charge of the group on the ice during OUR time was a real jerk. But kudos to the Charlottesville Ice Park Staff, b/c they were really nice about dealing with this problem, and kept a pretty cool head while I was just about blowing my top. I'd also like to personally thank the lady in charge of the hockey group that was using the ice after us, but I forgot her name....she was very nice and understanding, and had my back the whole time. Due to the snafu, the assistant manager waived all fees for rental/admission.

Everything worked out, though...our friends loved dinner, and had a nice (?) time eating (and waiting) and getting their skates on while I ran around and tried to get our ice time. The kids got on about forty minutes late, but everyone got to skate, and seemed to have a great time. The hockey team got to warm up while we were out there, and even helped the kids skate around too, which was so nice of them! We only ended up having 20-30 minutes of ice time--but that was PLENTY, as most kids were done before I had to usher them off the ice.

A nice bonus to this little party was just about all of E's friends were new to ice skating, so it worked as a great equalizer. Everyone had issues on the ice. FYI: E wore her DAFOs in her skates--they were a little tough to get on, but it wasn't too bad. Overall Elena did a good job of "keeping her feet under her", even if she was holding on to my hands strongly the whole time. E LOVED skating...and boy was she tired!

Mommy and E just before we get on the ice


Here we go!






E and I skate to Grandpa


I tried holding only one hand (and alternating hands). We did it a little, but E wasn't very comfortable that way.


A lot of the kids had barrels to hold onto; E didn't like it. My guess is she had to lean over to hold on, which made the toe pick stick on the ice.


Thank you hockey players! E was so proud of herself for "skating with the big kids"!


What a great time! Big thank yous to Charlottesville Ice Park, Sticks Kebob Shop, to Grandpa for filming/taking pictures, to Grandma for watching Vivian, and to all our friends for making this such a wonderful experience!