No I'm not talking about some hair brained idea I have on how to make more money. Of course I'm talking about Josh and his hockey skills! ;) I promise to keep all my child bragging on this site only so you are not 'forced' to listen to it but can read it at your leisure - at least as much as you can stomach :) (even though I am being sarcastic for the most part when bragging).
So Josh and I went skating Monday with Uncle Tom and cousin Nick. Tom is the one who'll probably guide Josh into hockey more than me. I want to keep him focused on golf or something other than hockey. Maybe in another blog I'll explain why ;) However, since he already worships Tom and the crew (Tom's kids), especially when watching them play hockey, I think my attempts at keeping him off the rink are slim to none.
Anyway, we meet up with Tom and Nick at the rink and they gave Josh a new hat with a Zamboni on it. Anyone who saw the 'ockey... 'boni?... SKATES! picture gallery and read the commentary know that Josh is infatuated, no obsessed with the Zamboni. He proceeded to admire his new 'Boni Hat' while I laced up his skates.
Now this was only the second time for Gretzky..er I mean Josh on the ice. The first time only lasted 10 minutes if that due to lack of interest. Well there was plenty of interest in the Zamboni sitting in the garage (not even on the rink just sitting there), just no interest in skating. So I was pretty sure this might be a 15 minute trip which again included me holding Josh up while hunched over killing my back the vast majority of the time.
However, I was thoroughly impressed this time. Josh lasted for an hour and after we got him a walker to help balance, he was doing the majority of the balancing without my help! I couldn't believe it. Of course I was still killing my back because I was hunched over 'ready' to stop his head from splattering on the ice if he fell - but I wasn't holding him. I don't have a helmet yet :S I figured I didn't want to spend the money because a) like I said earlier I wasn't going to push hockey at all and b) since Josh only lasted 5-10 minutes at a time, I didn't think it was worth it. But after his performance this night, I gotta get a helmet for him and start talking to agents to see who wants to sign him.
Josh had a great time and can't stop talking about it, especially the part about 'Nick lot-o-snow!' (and he says it in such a serious tone). To Nick's delight (not sure why, I always hated it and as you'll see soon, like father like son), he likes when Tom stops just short of him and sprays him with the snow that comes up from the ice/skates. So Tom skates around to get momentum, then slams on the brakes right at Nick and Nick gets a face/body full of snow. Nick thought this was funny, and of course Josh thought it was hilarious. So Tom sprayed Nick 2-3 times and then asked Josh if he wanted to get sprayed. I saw the 'gears turning' in Josh's head and he wasn't quite sure if this was going to be as fun first hand. So Tom took 'one stride' to spray enough snow on Josh to basically get his legs. Well, game over. Josh was PO'd. Tom had just ruined his night lol. Of course we all did the panicked 'Look we'll spray Nick again' as Tom turned Nick into Frosty the Snowman but Josh was still a bit rattled and took a little time to recover. But eventually he did and started skating again.
So I'm off to buy Josh a hockey helmet. He did well enough that I'd be comfortable being 'in front' of him playing while he was on walker if he had helmet on. Josh and I can't wait to show Mom how good Josh is at skating, I was thoroughly impressed.
Next week...backward crossovers!