This weekend was so much fun!  I had a photo session with an awesome little 5 month old saturday morning and then we hung out with B until we headed over to my dad’s to celebrate mine and my sister’s birthday.  The kids spent the night at my mom’s house and it was absolute bliss to sleep in until 9 am this morning!

Tyson had an exciting weekend as well.  His Grandpa Murray spoils him rotten when it comes to the MN Wild (and MANY other things!)  He got to go watch them practice Saturday morning and while there, he met his absolute, #1, favorite hockey player, #96, Pierre-Marc Bouchard!

Apparently PMB said to Ty “Would you like to have my stick from practice?”

Tyson: “No, thanks, I already have one”

Stunned Grandpa: “Um…where did you get it?”

Tyson: “Dick’s Sporting Goods”

LMAO.  Classic Tyson.  Thanks for thinking of me PMB, but I’m all set…you can keep yours…

Meanwhile, back in reality, B was enjoying having Tony and I all to herself.  It’s so interesting how different she is when Ty isn’t around.  I know she misses him, but she enjoys being left alone and getting to play with whatever she’d like.

Hope you all enjoyed the weekend!

If you know Tyson at all, you’ll know he has a true love for hockey.  He loves anything and everything about it, he plays it for hours on end on his “hockey rink” (aka — our dining room floor) and never gets sick of watching it either.  However, there’s always been one thing standing in his way from actually playing real hockey.  The ice.  Skating on the ice.

Granted, he’s only 5 years old now, but here in MN, they start them young.  Like 3 years old.

I have to be honest, I really am not all that trilled about the prospect of being a “hockey mom”.  I don’t like to be cold, the hockey atmosphere is not something that I enjoy from a parental perspective.  IMO, it’s all just a bit too competitive where we live.  But, my son wants to play it, and therefore I must put my feelings aside for him and let him at least attempt this sport that he adores.

Back to the ice.  The boy can’t skate.  He’s normally very athletically inclined, but his one hang up is on skates.  We put him in skating lessons for the first time last winter and he was a hot mess!  Falling all over the place, in tears.  I was actually beginning to be hopeful that skating might save me from the fate of the Hockey Mom.  :-)  So, we only did one session and packed up the skates.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago, talk of hockey and skating resurfaced in our house (thanks to the the MN Wild games being back) and he tells me he wants to try it again.  So, I looked up our local Learn to Skate program here in our new town and signed him up.  He got pretty good at rollerblading over the summer, so I thought maybe with not only that, but the fact that he’s just bigger and more coordinated now, would help him to not get as frustrated by it.

Last night was the first night.  His excitement was enough to make me forget about my Hockey Mom woes and it was so cute watching him observe over the edge of the boards the class finishing up before us.  He had his skates on about 23 minutes before his class even started, he just could.not.wait!

Finally, the whistle blew and all the little ones lined up in their bike helmets and snow pants took to the ice.  I wasn’t sure how it would all go down.

I should have known better though because he got right out there and headed straight across the ice for his group.  He nearly fell a few times, but recovered nicely and made it to the wall without falling!

I proudly watched from the bleachers as he slowly remembered how to do this whole skating thing and was SO proud at the bit of progress he made last night alone!  By the end of the 30 minute class, he was going backwards and doing Swizzles!

I took a couple of little videos of him because I thought it would be fun to document him now and then again at the end of the session, so here they are.  He’s in the dark gray coat with green and has a bike helmet on.  He has a LONG way to go before he’s the next Pierre Marc Bouchard, but at least we’ve made a bit of progress since our last skating adventure!

Last Thursday, my step-dad took Tyson to the MN Wild Hockey practice and they then got to visit with the team in the locker room after practice.  For those of you that know Ty, and his obsession with hockey, you know what an amazing experience this must’ve been for him.  I thought he would clam up and get all star struck, but that’s the beauty of the age he’s at, he has NO fear!  He talked to the guys and even called them by their first names, just like he’d known them all his life and hung out with them every day!

Here are a few of the highlights from his day!

I think I need to teach Grandpa how to focus his camera

Sporting his new Wild jersey

Heading into the locker room

Hangin with Brent Burns

This is Nik Backstrom, one of the goalies.  He and the other goalie gave Ty a signed goalie stick!  The thing is HUGE!!!

Derrick Boogard

Josh Harding, the other goalie we have

Here’s one with the giant stick.  Good thing it’s staying at Grandma’s house!

Robbie Earl I think?  I think he’s a new guy

Sheppard, mommy doesn’t know his first name, so last name will have to do.

He’s so spoiled, isn’t he?

So, we’re about 4 weeks into our skating lessons at ProEdge Power. Ty’s making S L O W progress, but progress nonetheless. Grandpa Murray took some video of him last night. Excuse my mom’s and mine chuckling and commentary in the background every time he falls! LOL

Here’s a bonus one of Miss B too chillin (literally) at the rink with me. Ignore my horrid hair and roots please!