The Zamboni Experience

We are a hockey/figure skating family.  We spend all of our time at the ice rink and everyone there knows us.  Although we've seen it a zillion times, we still enjoy watching the Zamboni ride around the rink as it smooths out the ice between hockey games and skating sessions.  Last year Stuart mentioned several times that he would love to drive the Zamboni, just one time.  It was a "Bucket List" item for him.  So for his birthday this year I asked around and found out that our ice rink offers a "Zamboni Experience"!

I told Stuart that he had to take the day off of work for a birthday experience but I didn't tell him what he was doing.  I made him wear a blindfold while I drove him a round about way to the rink. 

When we were almost to the ice rink, we gave Stuart a little hint of what he was going to do.  It was a little toy Zamboni but he had to keep his blindfold on and just feel the toy to try to figure it out.  It took him just a few minutes to guess what it was but he still didn't understand what we were going to do.

He was pretty excited when he learned about his birthday surprise!  But we were going to get a tour of the Zamboni Room and learn all about the machine before he would get to drive it.  I think he was happy about this because I think he had gotten a little queasy from the long blindfolded ride with me driving and needed to let his stomach settle before driving heavy machinery.  I might have made the drive a little too long but I wanted to get him completely turned around so he wouldn't know where we were going!  

We have never been in the Zamboni Room so we were all excited to get a chance to go behind the scenes.  The Zamboni expert was on hand to teach us everything we might ever want to know about Zambonis.

Here it is!  The coveted driver seat of the Zamboni!  
(*Insert angels signing in the background*) 

The Zamboni was patented in 1928 and was name after Frank Zamboni.  This particular Zamboni runs on propane fuel and has a Volkswagon engine.  As it resurfaces the ice, it can remove around 2,500 pounds of compacted snow while it can leave behind about 1,500 pounds of water.  The blade on the machine weighs 57 pounds and is 1/2 inch thick.

Fascinating facts.  But ok.  Enough chit-chat.  Let's do this!

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Here is a video of Stuart's first time driving the Zamboni around the rink.  He was not spraying water and the blade wasn't down.  This lap was just to get the hang of driving the behemoth.  

Look at that smile!  I think he was having a pretty good time!

Now let's spray some water and actually smooth the ice.  Here's another video of Stuart actually resurfacing the ice.  Look at the nice shine on the ice!


That's some professional looking ice right there!

The kids were hoping that they would get a chance to ride along with Daddy.  And they did!!  Rachel went first.

Here's a video snippet of Rachel's Zamboni ride.  She was so excited!

Then we were all surprised when the Zamboni guy told Nicholas that he didn't get to just ride on the Zamboni but instead he was going to DRIVE the Zamboni!  We quickly told him Nicholas' age just to be sure he understood that he doesn't even have a drivers license yet but he was still cool with him driving!  

Of course, here is a video of Nicholas driving a Zamboni.  He was nervous but he did really well.  It's pretty neat that he has driven a Zamboni and flown an airplane before getting his drivers license!

We were all sad when the time was up but Stuart was still grinning from ear to ear.  

Bucket List item: Drive a Zamboni.  Check!

Happy birthday to the "World's Best Zamboni Driver"!

Fall 2018 Family Campout

We go on a family campout with our American Heritage Girls and Trail Life USA friends every fall and spring.  We have usually done tent camping with sleeping bags and all.  However, when they moved the campout location from Bonham State Park to Possum Kingdom State Park and we discovered that there are cabins for rent at this location we had to try it out.

Call it "Glamping" if you must but we like it!  No more worries about wind blowing over our tent in the middle of the night.

There is a kitchen, bedroom, bathroom and an extra bed with trundle in the living area.  There is a lot of space which is great when the kids have friends come over and hang out with them.

Or sometimes they just hang out on the porch!

But usually they are too busy running around playing games or going hiking to hang out at our site.

I love our campouts because it lets me spend the weekend with my family without the need to do laundry, school planning, etc.  I get to hang out in nature which is just good for my spirit and my soul.  This was the view of the lake by our cabin.

Stuart and I went on a short hike along the trails. What beautiful weather we had!

I love going on adventures with this man!  We wandered off the trail a little way and found some huge boulders and some interesting plant life under the canopy of the trees that was very different from what we saw out on the open trails.

Back at the cabin, this beautiful monarch butterfly enjoyed hanging out on our window screen for a while.

Rachel and her Explorer troop found this mama wolf spider with an egg sac.

They also found a fish skeleton!

This interesting guy was found on the outer wall of our cabin.  He was beautiful but we didn't know what it was so we researched it.  He is a plume moth.  They roll up their wings while they are resting during the day.  I would have loved to have seen his wings spread out.

Of course, there are always creepy crawlies to be found at a campout!

Nicholas has been studying fungi in his biology class so we got excited to find this fungus growing on the side of an old tree stump....

And this crazy looking puffball fungi that had already burst open to release its spores into the air.

This weekend was Rachel's birthday so she asked to have shrimp for dinner.  She got a big bowl all for herself.  She loves all kinds of seafood.

The rest of us had a more traditional camping meal of burgers cooked on the outdoor grill.

There is always a dutch oven dessert contest after dinner.  Everyone gets a sample of each dessert and then we get to vote on the best one!  

We always look forward to nightfall at campouts because the moms and dads gather around the campfire to listen to music and visit with each other while they kids run around like banshees in the dark.

Orange Beach, Alabama 2018

Last year while we were visiting family in Baton Rouge, we decided to take a few days and head to a "real" beach on the Gulf Coast.  We had such a good time that we have decided to make it an annual tradition. 

This year we tried to get other family members to come along with us.  My dad was hoping to come but it didn't work out.  But Stuart's brother and his daughter came.  It was fun for the cousins to get to spend time together.  

We got rooms at the Hampton Inn and Suites right on the beach.  This is where we stayed last year.  The rooms are nice plus they have a great breakfast included with the room price.  And, did I mention that it is right on the beach?!  We bring umbrellas, ice chest, snorkeling gear, sand castle gear, etc so it is nice to be right there on the beach and not have to lug that stuff around more than necessary.

We arrived late in the day but we hadn't even gotten our stuff unpacked when the kids were begging to go down to the beach.  Look how beautiful the view from our room was.

The next morning we got up early to play on the beach.  The waters were no longer still.  Instead they were actually quite rough.

We played in the surf some but we spent most of our time just hanging out in the sand.

Nicholas played around with dripping wet sand on to itself.

Eventually it started to look like a sand stalagmite!

Stuart buried Nicholas in the sand.  Look at that big smile on Nicholas' face!  He loved it!

I love that I can always find THE BEST flip flops at the beach.  I bought a pair of Cobian flip flops when we were here last summer and they were my favorite shoe all year long until they eventually broke.  So, of course, I had to come back to get a replacement pair.

Even the waves hitting the shore were strong.  If you weren't paying attention, they could knock you over.

One great thing about the strong waves is that they brought in a lot of shells. Most of them were not very big but we collected quite a few neat ones to bring home.

Plus Rachel had fun "riding" the waves on her boogie board.

We played and played until we were just wiped out.

We headed back to the rooms for showers and to go searching for food.  I was ready to just sit on the balcony and read a book while listening to the waves and watching the seagulls but the kids were longing to go down to the beach again.

So we headed back down and spent the rest of the afternoon in the sand and surf.

Nicholas enjoys playing in the sand.  He buried Rachel in the sand and shaped the sand to make her look like a mermaid.

Pretty impressive!

Then he wanted to bury Mommy.  I wasn't excited about being buried in sand but then I reminded myself to savor the days.  He had so much fun and it was neat seeing him at work.

He used the tip of the shovel to make a neat pattern that could be used for scales or feathers.

In my case they became feathers as I transformed into an eagle!

There had been some rain earlier but it was short-lived and moved through quickly.  But the waves were still quite strong.  I kept getting knocked over when I went out in it.  But they were beautiful to watch and the sound of them crashing was so relaxing to listen to.

This is our second summer to come to Orange Beach and we just love it.  We love the location of this hotel, we love the quality of the beach, and we love that it isn't too far of a drive.  However, the only problem we have with this beach is..... 

….there are a lot of jellyfish in the water!  And they aren't far out where it is deep and most people don't go.  No, they are right at the shore where everyone is playing.

And look how long their tentacles are!  I think we might have to hunt down another beach to visit next summer, even if it means driving a little further.

Sometimes we saw dead jellyfish that has washed up on the beach.

We have each gotten little stings over the two trips we have made here.  Your skins burns some but fortunately we haven't had it bad enough to keep us out of the water.

This summer we found a new fun thing to do here.  Helicopter rides over the beach with Orange Beach Helicopter Tours!  Even though they gave rides all day and each ride was rather short, we still had to make reservations.  There was a constant stream of people coming in for rides.

The helicopter is only big enough for three riders.  Stuart and I took a helicopter tour in Hawaii so it wasn't as big of a deal for us but both kids were super excited to ride in a helicopter for the first time. 

I got a video of the take-off but somehow the video stops just as they leave the ground.



I love the video of them coming back in for the landing.  They come in so quickly yet gracefully.



We only stayed for two nights so it was a short trip but it was a lot of fun.  The brothers got to hang out and relax.

And the cousins got to spend time playing at the beach together.

Hopefully we can make another trip like this again next summer!