First Time Building a Backyard Ice Rink – Day 6 Skating Time

OVERVIEW

Skating time! Yeeees!

STATUS

After another cold night, my backyard rink is finally ready!

Kids have been dying to get on and it was awesome to see them so excited with their skates on (your truly has bad knees with one knee hanging by a thread so no skating for me).

I was disappointed to discover so many leaves were trapped below the surface but eh, there is nothing I can do about that now (note: leaves are bad because of their dark color, it will melt below the surface and create air pockets which are not good for skating).

I also made a mistake of adding water when the sun was still shining. While adding water, I heard this dull thud sound and saw major cracks under the surface. So from now on, I will be adding water at night.

But all of the negatives does not matter because my kids spent over 2 hours learning how to skate at home. They seemed to be more comfortable without the crowd and it was more enjoyable as a family time (can’t beat hot chocolate with mini marshmallows in between skating times).

NJ weather is expected to go over 35 degrees most of next week so I will report back to tell you how the rink is holding up!