Yesterday, we went ice skating at the Pettit National Ice Center. The girls had been asking all Winter to go ice skating. The 400 meter, Olympic oval track has seen such greats as Bonnie Blair and Dan Jansen. Now it has seen Katherine and Maggie Sepersky (with Chris). When we arrived, the Zamboni was preparing the track for us and about 500 of our ice skating friends. While waiting for perfectly groomed ice, we watched the figure skaters practice:

Once the ice was groomed to our high expectations, we took to the track ... And quickly returned to the spectator area. One dad with 2 flailing children was not going to work. Now, Maggie and dad have been ice skating before, but you wouldn't know it. So rather than abandon hope, we opted for "practice" - one daughter would sit on the bench next to the track while dad and the other girl walked about 20 feet up-ice and skated back. Then we switched. Repeat for about 30 minutes. Finally, Maggie was convinced to keep going without help. The problem was ... once you start around the 400 meter oval, there's NO TURNING BACK!!!

Maggie performed many triple-salchow-double-axels, landing graciously every time on her bottom. After about 50 meters (did I mention the oval is 400 meters?), the girls wanted to turn around. Daddy informed them that the rules are that everyone keeps going one way.

Once you get around the first curve, there was a breakspot (Hallelujah). We pulled over and the girls wanted to walk back. Again, daddy told them the rules said you have to keep skating - no walking back. Katherine replied "Where is this rules person? You SAY you know all the rules, but I don't think you know all of them!" Here is a picture at the breakspot.

After returning to the ice, an employee took pity on us and gave the girls a 1-minute lesson. This may have given Katherine too much confidence because for the last 300 meters, she wanted to do most of it on her own. We competed bravely in the 400 meter, completing ONE LAP in about 45 minutes. I'm not sure what kind of medal that gets us, but there sure was a lot of celebrating at the end. The girls did not want to do another lap at that time, but do want to go back again.