Aiden learning to skate

We are thankful to report that Finn's tube surgery went well.  He is already showing signs of improvement by responding more to our voices, noticing loud noises (mostly from his brothers!), and sleeping much better at night.  

Finn is watching his brothers skate from the basement

Friends and Relatives (outside Minnesota) often comment that they are not sure how we survive the long winters here.  Sometimes, I am honestly not sure either.  You can only work so many puzzles, build so many legos, play so many games, etc...before you begin to go a little crazy!  Its hard to tell from this picture, but one random evening, Luke, Liam, and Aiden worked 5 different large puzzles because it was too cold to go out and skate.

Aiden learning to skate with Daddy

Luke on the ice

Practicing with Daddy and his brothers

It took a lot of coaxing and work with Daddy, but Aiden did very well!

Liam skating backwards

View from the Deck  

A picture of Aiden taken by his brother Liam


When John first mentioned building an ice rink last winter, I honestly thought he was crazy.  It still seems a little crazy to me, but I will admit that the biggest bonus to the rink is that it burns a lot A LOT of energy during the long MN winters.  It is much easier to walk out in your backyard and skate for an hour or two than it is to pack everyone up with all that gear and drive somewhere to skate.  Last winter, Luke and Liam were barely even standing with skates on the ice and this year they are skating backwards, forewords, turning, skating on one foot, etc...It is crazy how much they have improved in just a year.  The best part is that they enjoy it and are asking to go out and skate all the time.

Aiden has never really shown much interest in skating, but we keep reminding ourselves that Luke and Liam were never really interested at his age either.  This weekend, however, John bribed convinced him to get out and try to skate.  It definitely wasn't easy.  Aiden is fine once he tries something new, but getting him to actually try it is another story.  It takes a lot of coaxing and convincing.   But, by the end of the day, Aiden was scooting all over the ice on his skates.  He made a tremendous amount of progress.  John said he convinced Aiden to try to skate by telling him that he could be better than Luke and Liam because they didn't know how to skate when they were four years old.  Ultimately, its always about competition for the boys.  It is a strong motivator for them right now!