he was so excited and determined to get it right so the boys could go play
hockey, their favorite sport in the world!
starting on monday, he began a week long process of going outside and shoveling, packing down snow to make it level, hauling the hose inside and outside the house, only to stand in the freezing, frigid temperatures for hours at a time hosing down the snow, hoping it would freeze.
he would do this two and three, sometimes, four times a night. he selflessly gave up his precious sleep at night to stand outside working on the ice rink.
his body was so exhausted and he was low on sleep, but he kept pushing on.
the boys would grab stools and chairs and stand at the windows, pressing their faces against the glass, so they could just get one glimpse of what their daddy was making for them in the backyard.
cole would ask daily if it was ready to skate on.
chris endured many set backs in the weather and problems with water pressure from the hose. he even hauled about twenty 5 gallon buckets out to the ice rink to flood it with water when the hose froze up on him and he couldn't use it. he ran from the house to the backyard continuously carrying heavy buckets full of water just so he could make the ice ready.
chris finally got the ice to where the boys could go and skate on it.
it still wasn't perfect in his eyes, and he felt bad that it wasn't better for the boys.
he was afraid of the let down he would cause them, but i told him that just the fact alone
that he went outside and HANDMADE them an ice rink was the best gift of all to them!
their daddy made that for them! i told him that was more special than a perfect
ice rink. he's the best dad! i love him!
cole put on his brand new $5 hockey skates we found a couple of years ago at a
garage sale (garage sales rock!).........
mason put on cole's old skates........
and we ventured out onto the ice. it wasn't perfect, but it was good enough for the boys
to try out, and guess what? THEY LOVED IT!!!!! they didn't want to leave!
cole gave it his best. he kept falling down, but he would get back up and try again.
he was bound and determined to stand up and play hockey with his dad.
(side note: yes, that is a roller hockey helmet cole is wearing. don't laugh. we had to protect his
head somehow incase of him falling and hitting it. we weren't about to go spend money on real
hockey helmets for them....mason wore a bicycle helmet. again, don't laugh. i know they make them look a little "special", but when it comes to their little heads, you can never be too
cautious.)
mason didn't fall as much as i thought he would. we would stand him up on the ice,
tell him not to move, hand him his hockey stick, and he would stand in that position
while we put the puck infront of him so he could hit it.
sometimes his legs ended up slowly sliding away from each other to where he was doing a very
impressive split, and then he would end up like this.....
daddy gave him some help.
oops! he fell down again!
mason ended up sitting on the side of the rink on a mound of snow. he was so funny.
he would sit there, holding his hockey stick, and yell across the ice,
"dad! hit me puck! hit me puck!"
chris got some time to go skating on his own, of course.
he was showing off his hockey skills.
cole finally started getting the hang of it. he was hitting the puck back and forth
to chris. he was even skating around a little. he would fall, of course, but he would
get back up and try again.
they had a blast! they stayed outside for two hours playing hockey.
chris made their day!
they kept asking mommy why she wasn't skating, and i would tell them that i was
completely content to stand there in my moon boots and take pictures. :)
(i know my boots are hideously ugly, but they are the most comfortable boots in the
world and i love them!)
thank you, chris, for the ice rink. you made the boys' day!
they didn't even care that the ice wasnt' perfect. just the fact that you
made it for them and it was good enough for them to play hockey on,
was good enough for them! they were in heaven!
you done good!
1 comment:
that is so sweet. the pics are great, but your description of chris's labor of love was the best!!
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