Fun

Progress and Pride

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / 2 Comments

Yesterday the kids had their first ice-skating lessons.  I was looking forward to it, but was also a bit apprehensive.  We don’t have the best track record with ice skating.  Which is sad because my mom and brother run an ice-skating rink.  Noah has never been able to skate.  The first year we took him (2008) he cried the entire time he was on the skates.  We forced him to be on the ice and his uncle’s held his hands, so that I could get a picture–but really he hated it.

The next year, we tried again and I held him up and he hated it–we made it about 10 yards before he started crying and wanted to be done.

Last year, both of them got on skates without tears, but were both completely unable to stand much and not at all able to skate.  Again we made it about 10 yards before they were both done.  But at least there weren’t tears.

So, it was progress.  But I really want my kids to be able to ice skate.  I never got to take lessons as a kid and I can sort of ice skate–enough to get around the rink and have some fun (and by fun I mean not fall on my ass–because no matter how much “cushion” one has, it still hurts to fall).

I was talking to my mom about signing the kids up for ice skating lessons.  My mom’s rink has lessons, but only for kids 5 and older so Zoë wouldn’t be able to take them and she gets short changed enough with activities that I wanted her to be able to take lessons too.  So, my mom asked one of her skating instructors to give my kiddos private lessons and my mom is going to pay for them–which is awesome.

The lesson was awesome.  Noah was a bit worried before we went and was pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to stand up on skates.  As you can see that was not a problem at all.  He was up right away and did amazing.  Zoë held on to the instructor the entire time.  She had a few moments of solo walking on the ice–but very few.  Noah fell down a lot but he got right back up and never asked to be done.  I was amazed and couldn’t have been happier and more proud.

I have a lot more pics that I took with my camera, but I haven’t transferred them to my computer yet.  But what you see in those pictures is a little boy who is having a blast and so clearly proud of himself and what he was able to do.

Awesome.  I can’t wait until next week.

A First Attempt

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / 2 Comments

So, one of my brothers lives in Chicago and he and his partner love to do things with the kids when they come in town.  They alternate holidays–this year Thanksgiving, next year Christmas, etc.  My brother did some searching and found this awesome class he could do with the kids making gingerbread houses.  There was on catch–it was in Texas and well that isn’t where we live.  My brother isn’t the most attentive to details.  But we thought that would be fun and decided we would do gingerbread houses at our house.

I have never made a gingerbread house–and I now know that my brother hasn’t ever made one either.  Well, I spent an hour yesterday making the dough, then I had to cut it out and bake each of the pieces (sorry no pictures of that–thankfully I am not a food blogger).  My brother and his partner showed up today with way more stuff than we needed for the two small gingerbread houses we were making.  With all they brought, we could have decorated quite a few more.

But we had a lot of fun and the kids thought it was so much fun.

Zoë’s masterpiece in process

Zoë’s finished Masterpiece (can you see the roof coming apart?)

Noah’s finished masterpiece

The finished products and the artists

About 30 minutes after the last picture, Zoë’s house collapsed due to an Earthquake.  But the kids enjoyed eating it.

I’m Going To Just Call It Crazy

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / 2 Comments

I am running (I use that word extremely loosely to describe what I might be doing this weekend) a 5k.  I have never run a 5k.  I haven’t run anything since I was in my mid 20’s.  I am not in my late 30’s.  So, we’ll see what kind of joke this turns out to be.  But, hey sometimes you just have to go for something and see what you have in you.  I have ridden a century without having ridden a bike for over a year.  That takes hours.  I know I can easily walk 3.2 miles.  Anyway…I’ll update via twitter on Saturday.

Wish me luck…

The Good Times Did Roll

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / Leave a comment

Jazzfest was a blast.  It was so nice first off to be “childless” for three days.  New Orleans really is a great place and has an energy about it that is unmatched by any city I have been too.  It was nice to see it so packed and really starting to come back to life.

I will save the stories for later and a less public forum but there was certainly fun had by all.  There is no place like Bourbon street after midnight.