Brought me back...

to my glory days.  That's what "roller skating" with the boys yesterday did-- it brought me right back to being 8 years old at the Roller Rink in PG county, skating to Bon Jovi!  Man, was that fun as a kid!  Now I put "roller skating" in quotes because my poor children never actually skated.  Instead, they (for lack of a better word and completely-inappropriate-but-true) ATE SHIT for the entire time their skates were on.

Here the boys are at the beginning of the party, pre-skates and full of optimism...

 Look at that joyful laugh...

And then the skates went on and BAM!  They dropped like flies.  That's James and one of his classmates, Gabby, all tangled up.  She was as bad as the boys were...

 Henry stands...

 …and falls.

I have to admit, the boys were great sports about it.  They laughed the entire time even when they kept falling.

Peter had the skates on for about 5 minutes and then declared that he just wanted to watch.  He's no dummy.

Henry and the birthday girl, Jessica...

Poor James was just a HOT MESS out there.  I was genuinely afraid he was going to crack a knee or elbow the way he kept falling so hard...

Smart Pete…

Henry taking a breather from the pain...

Here are James and Nicolas, trying to make their way around the rink once.  It was a stitch watching them!

Although it was fun (and funny), it left me feeling like I usually do when Chris is gone and I'm on an adventure with the boys-- like I wish I had two more sets of hands.  I think the boys would have had more fun if I could have taken them each out individually to really practice.  Of course my skating skills are very rusty (but I never fell and managed to have fun going around a few times solo!) and James preferred to be with Nico, Henry's bottom was sore, and Peter seemed overwhelmed by the lights and music and speed of some of the skaters (not to mention a sore bottom!).

Here's a video towards the end of the "skating period" (James, Henry, and Nicolas retired their skates right after I filmed this and ran around in their stable tennis shoes for the rest of the party).

James holds on for dear life, Nicolas goes down hard, Cortney tries unsuccessfully to convince Nicolas to go around the rink again...

Doesn't this scene look so classically 1985?  Boys and girls hanging out at the Roller Rink...

I can't imagine why we'd go back again but it sure made for an entertaining Sunday afternoon!