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"!

Rachel Got a Golden Ticket!

Rachel has been participating in Hockey Academy twice a week.  It is a great program for developing skills to use in the game of hockey.  She has been very blessed that one of the coaches in her Hockey Academy just happens to be Brad Lukowich, a former NHL Dallas Star and two-time winner of the NHL Stanley Cup.  It is amazing that she is being coached by a former NHL player and Stanley Cup winner but all of that aside, she couldn't have a better coach.  Coach Brad is so good with kids.  He gives each of them his one-on-one attention.  He really pours his passion for hockey into the kids he coaches.

The Farmers Branch Star Center where we spend all of our free time has been a little crazy lately as they prepare to host hockey players from all over the country who are coming to Dallas for the NHL Draft this coming weekend.  They are also hosting an Xtreme Team hockey camp where Nicholas will be all week.  The rink is also having a special event on Thursday, June 21 called Texas Hockey Day.  There will be lots of free public skating, autograph sessions, a hockey clinic with the top NHL prospects, hockey games, a bounce house, and a lot more.  Coach Brad told Stuart he had nominated Rachel for a special, once-in-a-lifetime kind of event to take place on Texas Hockey Day but he didn't tell us more than that.  Stuart got a call from the Dallas Stars Executive Offices and he was told to bring Rachel to the offices on Monday at 2:15 to receive a package.  That's all she would say.  How exciting!!

We showed up in the autograph tunnel at the Frisco Star Center which is where we had been told to go.  There were six other kids and their families there.  Rachel was dying with anticipation!

Eventually we were escorted into a special access area and taken down a long hallway.

We were taken into the Executive Offices and saw lots of Dallas Stars signs everywhere.

We were told to go into this conference room.  Rachel was the first in line for the whole group and she walked in boldly, even with a camera man staring at her.

The kids all sat around a table wondering what was going to happen next.

And then....Marty Turco, former NHL Dallas Star goalie, appeared in the room!  He has the most wins of any Dallas Star goalie ever!

He talked to the kids about the upcoming Draft picks this weekend and he talked about Texas Hockey Day.  Then he said that someone important must really think they are special to have been invited there today.  Then he passed out an envelope to each child.  Inside the envelope was a Golden Ticket!

The Golden Ticket was a special invitation to participate in the NHL Top Draft Prospects hockey clinic on Texas Hockey Day.  This is an incredible opportunity for anyone that loves to play hockey (Stuart and Nicholas are so jealous!)  Rachel will receive a special jersey then she will participate in a hockey clinic where she will receive instruction from current NHL Dallas Star top players Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, and Ben Bishop!  There will also be the Top NHL Draft Prospects there as well as Dallas Stars Alumni and the Dallas Stars Xtreme Team!!

Everyone posed with Mr. Turco for some media pictures.

Rachel was excited to meet Marty Turco!

Stuart and I had brought along some things for signatures just in case so we got Mr. Turco to autograph two hockey pucks for us!

Back in the car, we were talking to Rachel about the Golden Ticket and she got so excited she fainted!  Just joking!  She is just a ham.

She is incredibly excited about this wonderful opportunity on Thursday.  We will be taking Nicholas to Xtreme Team camp that day for 8:30 and we will just stay there since Rachel is supposed to be there for 9:30.  There will be a lot of hockey fever at the rink that day since it will be Texas Hockey Day.  There will be events and special appearances by Dallas Star players all day long so we will probably just camp out at the rink all day to soak up all of the excitement.

Spring Break 2017

We've had a fun week with our spring break staycation. I had at least one activity planned for each day and we invited friends to come along and share in the fun!  We started off Monday by seeing the LEGO Batman movie.  It was ok but there were parts in it that were oddly sappy for Batman.  I think he may need some therapy.

On Tuesday, we went ice skating at the Dr. Pepper Stars Center.

Nicholas has just recently started getting back into hockey.  He's still fast on the ice and good with a "hockey stop".  Check out this video:


He is especially impressive with his transition from forward skating to backwards skating.  He makes it look so easy!



Rachel tries hard to keep up with Nicholas on the ice. She is working on skating backwards.  I realized after watching this video below that she has her feet turned inward too much.  More practice needed.


On the way home, we stopped in Carrollton to visit our favorite rock shop, Nature's Gallery.  

Donald Slater is the owner and he is very knowledgeable about rocks, fossils, minerals, etc.  I love that he is always open to talking with my kids about things they find and he helps them identify what they have.

We met up with some friends who had never been to the shop and it was fun watching them discover all the cool stuff!

Nicholas wants this giant geode and its matching other half.

The girls were looking at natural copper.  It is really beautiful in its natural state. 

My kids were shopping with a $10 budget each so they had to shop the smaller items.  There were still plenty of choices for them though.

Nicholas got a small piece of Labradorite for Christmas but he found this giant one that he would love to have.  It's $100 though.

 I liked this giant Desert Rose (gypsum) but I have enough in my collection already.

On Wednesday, we went on a nature hike at the Arbor Hills Nature Preserve.  I have enough pictures from the hike that I decided to put them in their own post.  You can check it out HERE.

On Thursday, we went roller skating at Interskate.  They had a special for Spring Break - $4.00 per skater including skate rental.  Rachel tried inline skates for the first time.  She felt sassy in them.  Wait, she always acts sassy!

Nicholas was awesome and helped her get comfortable skating in them.

These two skated around together for quite a while just talking and laughing with each other. 

I just loved the rainbow colored roller skate themed carpet they have! 

On Friday, we went to Frontiers of Flight Museum in Dallas and then wrapped up the week with ice cream floats!  Check out that post HERE.

Ice Skating and Bowling - What a fun day!

Stuart was off work so he spent the morning having some fun time with the kids while I stayed home and worked on school planning.  He's an awesome dad and husband!

They went to the Dr. Pepper Stars Center for public skating.  The kids used to ice skate a lot and Nicholas played hockey for several years but life got busy and ice skating slipped aside.  They got interested again in ice skating after our field trip to the Galleria rink at Christmas time.  They both want to start back with either figure skating lessons or hockey team.  Of course, they have outgrown their ice skates so purchasing new skates will be the first step.  They are expensive kids!  But their cuteness wins me over every time....

There are staff out on the ice to help but they also have fun playing with the kids.  This guy helped pull a train of kids on buckets.  They have the buckets for beginners to use for stability as they are getting used to balancing.  But obviously there are many uses for these buckets!  Nicholas helped pulled the train along some too.

Here's a video of the kids trying to run their own skate train. It got too long and broke in the middle but Nicholas jumped in and helped the second half of the train move along.

Later in the day, Rachel's American Heritage Girls troop was getting together at Main Event to finish up their work on their Bowling sports pin. 

They have been learning about the history of bowling, what bowling balls are made of, proper footing for bowling, and more.  The final requirement was to play a game of bowling.  That was the best part!

Nicholas tagged along and played a game with some of the other siblings that came.

My kids aren't going to the bowling championships anytime soon but we all had a great time bowling with our friends.

After the game, we enjoyed pizza and a drink.  The girls found this cool table that had an interactive video game projected on it.