Ice Skating Lessons

Sam and Andy started skating lessons this week. Here's Sam at the before-going-on-the-ice pow-wow (in the green jacket).

Sam and his class have spent much of their time on all fours as they crawl around and attempt every few minutes to stand up.

When the teacher stood him up on his feet this morning, he stood dead still. I've never seen him stand so still for so long. He did shuffle along for a few steps, and then down he went. It's especially amusing when the kids are close together - when one falls they all go down like dominoes.

Andy's first lesson was this evening. Outside of the arena was this pile of snow, presumably scraped off the rink by the Zamboni.

In contrast to Sam's class, I think 99% of the kids this evening had previous skating experience, and Andy's inexperience stood out. He was such a trooper. His first 20 minutes on the ice were spent slipping and getting back on his feet again, non-stop, while everyone else pretty well stayed on their feet. During the final 40 minutes the falling down frequency slowed to maybe once per minute. By the end of the hour-long lesson he did make it from one side of the rink to the other without falling once! Here are a couple shots of him actually staying up (he's the one in the middle below).
But most of the night was spent in this position.

He was so tired when he came off the ice, his hair was COMPLETELY drenched in sweat. That has never happened before - not even in the Texas heat. I was so worried he'd be upset after all the falling down, but this was the face I saw when I pulled off his mask:

We'll see if the sore elbows and keester heal enough by next week that he's actually willing to go back!