the littlest curler

Tonight was an open house for the San Diego Curling club. Since Elliot is the president of the curling club he had to be there and Ada and I tagged along. Since Ada attends many of our ice hockey games she already has an outfit designed to keep her warm while in the rink but tonight was the first time she got close to the ice.

At first Ada and I just hung out in one of the player boxes and watched the action. Ada sitting on top of the wall, banging her boots on the boards as if to root on the motley crew of new curlers. Next, gaining some confidence and comfort, Ada decided that she wanted to wander to the back area where the Zamboni is stored. I thought she was interested in the machinery but really she had seen the barrel of curling brooms earlier in that section and was bringing me back so that she could get a broom and get on the ice like everyone else. So we grabbed a broom and I extremely cautiously let her down on the ice. The grip on her boots was fairly good and Ada was extremely comfortable as she insisted on NOT holding my hand. She grabbed her curling broom, pushed it out in front of her, and started to walk and sweep just as she had seen others doing earlier. I spent the rest of the night worrying that she was going to whip around and fall and crack her head on the ice but she was out to prove one thing to me. She has Canadian blood in her. This Candianness comes with a natural instinct for negotiating ice travel. She proved this point by being as agile on ice after about 5 seconds of experimentation as her Mommy who has several years of ice hockey and a few seasons of curling under her belt.