Sure, my butt was frozen, but I didn't leave blood on the ice this time

This past weekend, we took the opportunity to drive down to Warwick Castle, located someplace between Birmingham & Oxford (that's about as exact as I am able to get with most of England's geography, even after living here for more than a year and a half). They throw a whole festival every Christmas time and set up a ice rink inside the castle walls, along with a place to visit Santa, see a guy in a dragon suit, etc. We figured what better way to spend the weekend than see a castle and hurl ourselves onto the ice in a more or less graceful attempt at skating. The Critter was absolutely stoked about the idea, once we were able to sufficiently explain the concept of "ice skating" to her 3 year old mind. She was literally jumping up and down, pushing us out the door to get us down to the ice rink that morning. We explained that while her Mommy was a pretty decent skater, her father had only been one time before, and he fell a lot. That only seemed to get her more excited about going. That enthusiasm lasted about a half a second after her foot touched the ice. Her expression went from "eager-as-only-a-three-old-can-be" to "what the hell?" as soon as she realized that she wasn't getting the same kind of traction any more that she's come to expect. Even though she always had a tight grip on my bride's or my own hand (or both), she managed to fall somewhere between fifteen and two hundred and fifty times in a single trip around the ring. About halfway around, her expression had gone from "I'm not so sure about this" to one of utter, three year old betrayal. She made it exactly one trip around and decided that she really wasn't into this whole sliding around on the ice thing. She and I got off and watched her mom go around a few more times, in much greater comfort (I will say that I managed not to fall this time - thanks in part to using the Critter as a crutch, but that's why we have kids, right?) Even so, once we were home, the Critter was telling us that next year she wanted to wear the same kind of skates that we had worn, vs. those strap-on-your-boots, double bladed kind she got this year. I told her no problem, as long as I get to wear the ones she got this year.