Tuesday there was an official notice in the newspaper. Turlersee, the lake just behind our house, was officially frozen and would open for ice skating on Wednesday at noon. The kids and I bundled up after Baby woke up from her short nap and headed out for some winter fun. We don't actually own any ice skates, but I knew from the last time the lake had frozen (2006) that it was pretty fun just to walk across the lake on the ice. We also brought a sled, and the kids took turns riding on it.
The parking lot was packed when we got there. Sarah said, "Look at all those cars. And I bet they all have more than one person in them. We have 6 just in our car!" So then the kids were kept busying trying to figure out how many people were at the lake, while I looked for a place to park. I ended up on a slight incline, under a tree. I am pretty sure the car wasn't even in a designated parking spot, but it was next to one, so that counts, right? Besides there were cars on either side of me as well, so I figured I was safe. There was so much snow and ice on the ground Sophie could pull Noah on the sled right through the parking lot. Several people had tied carseats to the tops of their sleds and were pulling their babies on those. It looked pretty cute.
The lake was kind of divided into three unofficial areas. There was a hockey area to the left, a makeshift ice skating path going around the edges, and a spot in the middle to just play on. The ice was very slippery and even without skates, we could slide quite a bit. Sometimes we went sliding when we hadn't planned to! Everyone fell at least once, but no one was really hurt. The girls and I even did some ice twirling, which was way fun. But Noah was embarrassed and wanted us to stop. Nick took off, following a strange shape he found frozen in the ice. It turned out to be some kind of cable and was quite long. He spent 45 minutes brushing the snow off the ice to follow where the cable went. He ended up going pretty far around the lake, and had a great time doing it.
We saw tons of people from town and even a friend from church. We hung out with Sarah's best friend Maheshi, and her mother. While we were talking, we saw our downstairs neighbor and the kids asked where her kids were. She pointed to the snow plow on the far side of the lake that was clearing a path for the ice skaters. He had attached a tow rope to the back of his plow and there were a whole bunch of sleds hooked on to it. Sitting on those sleds were about 30 kids, having the time of their lives. Laura and Luca were two of them. Maya showed us where the "stop" was and we headed over. I was kind of meandering along, pulling Noah and Alexandra on our sled, chatting with Maya, but Nirmala was on a mission. She made a beeline straight for the loading area and didn't stop until she got there. I am glad she did, because there was a huge group of kids waiting to attach their sleds to the tow rope and she managed to get one of the last spots available. Our little plastic sled couldn't be attached, but her wooden sled was just right. (Incidentally, I wanted to get one just like hers, since they seem to be standard issue around here. But apparently, every last one was bought up by all our neighbors, so we will have to wait until next year for our official Swiss sled.) Sarah and Sophie climbed on with Maheshi in front, and away they went for a ride around the lake.
When they made it back to the starting point, the driver stopped and let every one off, and then another group of kids attached themselves to his tow rope. What a nice man to give the kids such a treat. I am sure he is paid by the city to just clean off the ice, but he went that extra step to make sure the kids all had a great time. He even walked the tow line to be sure every one was securely attached before taking off. Sophie told me that when they went around one of the curves, she almost fell off, but then she asked Sarah to scootch forward a bit, and it was better on the next curve. They were all smiles and sparkling eyes when they were through. What a fun adventure! It was a long ride, too. They were gone for at least 20 minutes. Fortunately, we had Rahel's delicious cookies to munch on while we waited. 🙂
By this time, Nick was finished uncovering his cable, Noah was getting cold hands, and Baby had really had enough, so we said goodbye to our friends and headed back to the car. But on the way, we passed a playground, and the kids just couldn't resist its pull. They slid down the hill a few times, climbed the tower, and then declared that we could now REALLY go home.
It was a really fun afternoon and just as we reached the top of the hill on the way home we were greeted by this sight.
What a gorgeous perfect ending to a magical afternoon.
Amy, you live in a fairytale land. Someday I hope we can come over and visit you!
Wow, that is a treat! How fun to have a frozen lake right behind your house! I went ice skating with the young women last month and it was so much fun! I had forgotten how much I liked it! Your kids must be such good sports to put up with the cold and falling down and everything.