Some things should never go green

Valentine's Day has never been my favorite holiday. When I was single, I hated it because I had no one to share it with. When I was dating, I hated it because I never knew what to get the other person and it was awkward for me because if he was a new boyfriend, you didn't want to do too much, but you wanted to do something. When you were in a serious relationship, you had to choose wisely or it might mean too much or too little. Now that I married I get bugged that flowers and chocolates double in price, and it just seems silly to celebrate love when I should be celebrating it all year, right?

I had a change of heart this year. Boyd was gone the whole week prior to Valentine's day, so I had all week to think about how much I missed him and how much he does to help around the house and with the kids. So, I decided that I wanted to celebrate Valentines Day with the whole family and make Saturday a special day. It isn't such a bad thing to take a day to celebrate the people you love and you don't have to spend tons of money to do it. So, I made valentines with the kids on Friday night. I cut out about 100 hearts and scattered them all around the house. On Saturday morning when he returned I made raspberry stuffed french toast w/ raspberry coulis and a whipped cream heart on top. We also had bacon on the side. We had a red tablecloth with hearts all over and homemade valentines on each of the plates. IT was fun and I am glad I was able to do that for the 3 boys I love.

That night Boyd and I were able to go out because we had a babysitting swap all set up! We went out to a nice restaurant for my birthday earlier this month and we didn't want to spend a lot of money, so we decided to go to the Shake Shack. They just opened a place on the upper west side recently and it is one of the best places to get fresh hamburgers and fries!

The Museum of Natural History is close by to the Shake Shack and I thought we should try out their new ice skating rink since it was so close. It is actually not a real ice on the rink. Here is how it is described on their website..
"It is made of artificial ice, or a synthetic surface that allows ice skating blades to glide smoothly. The use of a synthetic skating surface has environmental benefits; natural ice requires a significant amount of electricity for refrigeration, and the synthetic surface is made of 100% recyclable and non-toxic materials."

We should have noticed all the warning signs. Their was practically no one on the rink when we got there, but their was a huge line waiting for the next session. The lady who sold us our tickets told us that the ice is not real. WE waited in line for our skates (They had us wait in line away from the rink). We put on our skates and made our way out to "ice" We attempted to make our first glide. NO LUCK. You can't glide. There is no grip. It is like trying to walk on plastic with ice skates. IT WAS HORRIBLE. We stayed for 10 minutes and got a pictures. I have to say that we laughed so hard. I expected cameras to come out and say "you're on candid camera." Everyone looked silly. We decided the $10 we paid at least gave us a good laugh.

We'll stick with the real ice next time, even if it isn't so green!