Outdoor Ice Skating at The Pit: Bean’s Official First Time Ice Skating

Growing up in Minnesota, learning how to skate comes pretty soon after learning how to walk. After all, it is the STATE OF HOCKEY.

I grew up with an ice rink in my backyard for the winter. My Dad built boards to frame the rink and would painstakingly flood it with a garden hose every. single. night. My brother used it to practice his hockey skills with my Dad, and I would imitate the figure skaters I saw on TV and pretend that I knew what I was doing spinning in circles. I never could teach myself how to jump, darn it.

But before we had the backyard ice rink, we had THE PIT. The historical Handke pit is located on the grounds of my old elementary school (and the former Elk River High School WAY back in the day). For Bean’s first ever ice skating experience, there was no better place.

It was SO FUNNY watching Bean try to pick up her feet and “walk” on the ice vs glide. I’ve never taught anyone how to skate or even had lessons myself, so I never realized how hard it would be to try and teach her the concept of skating.

And then there was the added stress my husband put into my head. “We probably should have brought her bike helmet”. I never wore a helmet when I was learning how to skate, you just fell on your bum and tried harder. There wasn’t even a thought of possible concussion! I turned into helicopter mom instantly.

That is, until Bean started to insist that I gave her more space. “I got it, Mom!”

I reluctantly gave her some room to try it for herself, and she fell on her butt every time lol

By the end, she was telling me “Mom, I know how to hockey skate really good now, don’t I?” She was so proud of what she learned in her very first time ice skating, and so was I 🙂