With the excitement around lately with Sidney Crosby and the Stanley Cup in town, I feel guilty admiting that not only do I not like hockey, I actually detest it. (I feel even more guilty knowing what huge hockey fans our neighbours are – the dad is even going to be on official scorer at the Olympics in Vancouver!) My husband also has no love for hockey. (In fact, he even calls it 'ice hockey' and calls field hockey just 'hockey'. I've tried explaining to him how that's just plain wrong, but he's English, you know? His Canadian education continues…)
We both *really* hope that Alex never develops a taste for hockey. So far, we've encountered a slight interest in watching the neighbourhood kids play ball hockey, but thankfully it was very short-lived. I mean, sure, it might *seem* like a nice innocent game of neighbourly ball hockey, but soon enough it'll be endless practices in freezing cold rinks at ridiculous times of the day, expensive gear, winners and losers, bloody noses and broken bones. I'm quite happy to skip all that fun, thank you very much.
So 'ice hockey' is not a family favourite. But man oh man. AIR HOCKEY IS!
Can you see his intense look of concentration? Heh.
Yup, we are now the proud owners of an air hockey table, which I scored at a yard sale on Saturday. I almost didn't buy it. I certainly didn't go yardsaling thinking that I needed to add an air hockey table to my living room furniture collection. So I hemmed and I hawed. I tried calling my husband to see what he thought, but my cell phone was dead. A kind old lady offered me use of her phone, but of course Richard didn't answer my call since he didn't recognise the number. (I'm actually lucky if he answers when he does recognise the number!) So I decided that an air hockey table was too frivolous a purchase, and went home. But it was nagging at me. I told Richard about it and his eyes lit up. Then the grown-up part of his brain activated, and he too decided that we really didn't need an air hockey table. But oh it was nagging at me. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore – I grabbed Alex and off we ran back to the yard sale, praying that it was still there. And it was. Woo hoo!
This is definitely my best yard sale purchase ever. Like, EVER. We have had so much fun playing it the past few days and now I think every family needs an air hockey table! (And I think I'm safe with air hockey, right? It's a pretty huge leap from a game you play in your living room on a table to big sticks and ice in an arena. Uh, right?)
And now another guilty confession: We were having so much fun playing air hockey on Saturday that we never made it to the Potluck & BBQ for Newcomers and Residents on Saturday afternoon like I said I wanted to. We did, however, get to the Lantern Festival on Saturday night, and had a fantastic time. For the first time Alex got his whole face painted – he's always been too scared in the past, but decided he was ready now. He was such a cute little tiger! He also went on a pony ride for the first time – another thing he's been too scared to do in the past. A big night for the little guy! He and his friends made lanterns and enjoyed them when it got dark. It was a fun night and we are already looking forward to next year!
I hope you all had a great weekend, too!