Family Ice Skating

What do you do when it's two days before Christmas, your husband is off work, and you haven't finished your shopping yet? You leave him home with the kids suffering from yucky stomach issues and finish up the shopping.......yeah, right. No, no, no.....you load up the five kids and head to the Galleria in Dallas and take the whole family ice skating on one of the busiest days of shopping.....yes, now, that's more like it.

I must say, staying up late after the kids went to bed to finish up that shopping and staying at Toys R Us until they closed at midnight two or possibly three nights in a row was totally worth it b/c we had soooo much fun ice skating together! Clayton always saves up a little vacation time right before Christmas and we have family time together when school is out. Family time was spent this day at the mall. We loaded up and got there at lunch, ate McDonalds, played in the play area, made several trips to the bathroom and then headed to the rink. The best part about this rink is they're open all day and you pay a flat rate and can skate as long as they're open. We skated and skated until Clayton and I were wondering if we'd make it back to the car we were so tired. The kids loved it and were skating by themselves before the end of the day!

These pictures don't do it justice but there's a ginormous tree in the middle of the rink. It reaches the the third story of the mall and is just breathtaking. I got some better pics on my phone after my camera died on me and if i can ever figure out how to upload them on my computer I'll add them. I'm not too computer savvy.

Henry wasn't into the skating all that much. He made a few laps around the ice and was done. He opted for some organic yogurt and spectating from the rail the rest of the time.

Charlie man:

William:

Now let me just tell you: OUR GIRLS ARE NO SPECTATORS! They saw their brothers going around the rink and just about jumped over the rail to get down there to them! It was so funny. So when Henry turned in his skates I traded them for the smallest pair they had (which were still way too big) and the girls took turns with them. Turns out they were pretty good at it! Here's Mary Collins:

Charlie by himself:

William by himself:

My camera died shortly after we took the ice so I didn't get any pics of Margaret Ann. I tried to snap some pics with my phone. If I can figure out how to upload them I'll add them. I did make it out there as well. I asked Clayton to snap some pics of me and Margaret Ann but I can't even tell if I'm in the mass of people he took a picture of on my phone. Oh, well. It was a GREAT day! We'll definitely be visiting the rink again this winter! I have pics from Christmas on the way. It's just that I'm home alone, it's 9:00 and I have five sleeping children and two shows waiting on me on the DVR.....come to mama!