Boxing Day

What a fun Boxing Day we had! Uncle Clarke and Aunt Gayla rented out a skating rink in Penticton and the entire Rowe clan headed over there for an afternoon of skating and hockey. It didn't start so well for us. Daniel fell asleep in the car on the way there and was not pleased to be woken up. He and I sat in the stands for a while to watch everyone and wake up while Adam got his new snowsuit on and headed out onto the ice with Grandpa. Adam wasn't so sure about the whole ice thing, but he didn't mind it. Finally, after about 15 minutes, Daniel said, "Maybe I want to go tating now." He got his cheese cutters on (double-bladed skates that go overtop of boots) and heading onto the ice. It didn't take him long to be laughing and having a great time. He usually went out with Grandpa, sometimes with Daddy. I asked him if I could take him but his decision was, "Well, maybe no. I want to go with Grandpa. You too slow!"

Grandma and Auntie Lauren got a few turns, too.

Daniel had a great time zipping around the ice with Grandpa.

Our little family on the ice. We're not the best skaters but we had fun!

Half the ice was used for a hockey game but we stayed on the tamer side, where everyone was just skating around. Occasionally, Grandpa and Daniel would zoom by. They fell a few times, but Daniel always came up laughing.

Daniel even got to try out a bit of hockey. He liked it. I hope he didn't like it enough to want to actually play hockey. I don't think James or I could handle 6am practices!

After skating, Aunt Judy brought cookies and hot chocolate for everyone, which was a huge hit.

After skating, everyone headed over to Auntie Kim and Uncle Peter's for a lasagne dinner. It was a big party, with 25 people there. Some were visiting, some playing Lego and Ninja Turtles, and there was a Connect 4 tournement going on. It was a nice way to wind down.

Adam kept showing off his cheese face to all the cousins. What a show-off!

No Boxing Day gathering is complete without an extended family Rock Band. Aunts, uncles and cousins all gathered in the TV room to play or watch. Even Daniel got to play the drums with cousin, Tyler. Somehow, Adam slept through it all.

What a fun day! The boys were exhausted by the end of the day, but they had a great time. In fact, the whole trip was fun. The next day, we had a nice, quieter, visit with Great-Grandma and Grandpa Campbell and headed home on the 28th. Fortunately, our drive was pretty uneventful. It snowed a bit around Manning Park, and the road got a bit icy, but it was good ther rest of the time...until we got to Hope. There we drove through a huge freezing rain storm. Then we were stopped outside of Chilliwack for 45 minutes behind the scene of an accident. But, we still managed to get home in about 8 hours, which is pretty good for us!