Thursday, February 26, 2009

Classic Skating

Back in my glory days of the early teen years my sister Lauren and our friends used to go roller skating all the time. We loved getting dropped off at the 49th Street Galleria and spending the day cruising. Our prowess at rollerskating began even earlier, when we had awesome strap-on-to-your-shoes metal skates that we'd roam our neighborhood in, while listening to cassette tapes on our boom box (or 8-tracks if our friend Michelle was involved) of Rick Springfield, Michael Jackson, or the Police. We rocked it.

Olivia's school won a party at Classic Skating, so we went as a family, and I have to say, I'm not so good anymore. Coleman and Olivia were so excited and I didn't have the heart to remind them of the last time we tried roller skating (not a pretty sight for their bums or my shins!). But, in an effort to support the school and give the kids a fun experience, we went anyway. We all survived without broken bones and most of our dignity intact. I am proud to say that I stayed upright the entire night (even though upright might need to be defined a little more loosely for my benefit).

Ryan helped both kids around the rink several times--he has a lot more patience for teaching than I do. He first tried taking them with his skates on--that didn't work too well, so he switched to his shoes.

Olivia wanted so badly to learn to skate--and she did pretty well, despite the fact that she flopped around like a noodle most of the night.

Ryan and I even managed to even hold hands a couple of times while going around the rink during the couples skate. It brought me back to the days of a seminary activity in 10th grade when the boy I liked held my hand at the skating rink. How sweet.

Too bad we didn't have a couples skating outfit, right?

Coleman and I hung out on the bench while we waited for Ryan to come around for Coleman's turn.

Coleman's self-portrait. I asked him if skating was fun, and he said, "No! It's just HARD!"

Our last time around the rink Liv and I tried to do it without holding onto each other. When we told her it was time to go she cried... and we don't know if it's because her backside hurt so much or because she didn't want to leave (probably some of both).

**Where did you roller skate in your glory days?
**Have you roller skated lately?

7 comments:

Cheri said...

Back in the day (hehe) I was pretty good and would skate on the strand (beach) almost every summer day. Oh the fun. One of my friends just asked me yesterday if Emma and I would join her and her daughter skating sometime soon. That one I'll have to think about.

Allyson said...

Ah, gotta love Classic! That's where I did all my skating. My 3rd grade had a fieldtrip/party there. My boyfriend and I held hands around the rink, man, those were the days - A boyfriend AND rollerskating :)

Julie Pia said...

Looks like you had a great time. My kids love, love, love classic skate, but we ice-skate more than anything. We have an Ice-skating rink by our house.

Let me know what you think of 3 cups of tea when you finish okay?

Also, I want to tag you as well on the 8 things. It's fun to see what my friends are thinking.

Hey, is Gabby Smith still in your ward? I think about her every once in a while and pray she's doing well. Let me know. Loves...

Sara White said...

My school used to have a skating party almost every month at Classic. Once, in fourth grade, I won my own free Classic Skating party where I was able to invite 20 friends to skate for free. I invited every girl in the fourth grade but one. What a loser thing to do.

Janene said...

classic skating! brings a smile to my face just thinking about it. And the part about hand-holding...I'm almost blushing. :o) Sounds like so much fun!

emilyw said...

Because I am an Air Force brat, when I was in my roller skating glory, we lived in Omaha, NE. I went every Saturday with a girl down the street. She would go to the rink for lessons and then the open skate afterward. I remember skating to lots of songs but Air Supply's "Makin' Love Out of Nothing at All" stands out in my memory and, not really understanding the full meaning of the song, would sing along and have a great time! Those were the days!

We went skating with the kids for Brett's last b-day and it was pretty much a disaster. Braedon was the only one who tried and only went around once. They were more interested in the play set they had set up inside the building. Asi es la vida, right?

Jenny said...

Your post made me laugh. I totally remember going to Classic and 49th. I used to find the cutest boy there and try to skate by him. I think I wore tight pink pants and tucked them into my socks that I rolled down to my shoes. My hair was crimped and I wore stick on earrings because I wasn't old enough to have them pierced yet. I bet I looked SOOOOO cool! LOL!