a little less than a year ago, we moved into the new hood and the first thing the husband did was shovel an ice rink off the ice in our back yard.

this year, he has upgraded to TWO rinks. he also bought himself a fancy motor and a giant rubber hose and an auger. he drills down through the ice, puts the hose in the water and pumps it onto the ice to make it super smooth for ice skating. he does this between the hours of 11 pm and 2 am, because apparently that is "good ice making time."

in addition to the rinks, he also built some outdoor wooden thingys where the kids have to shoot the pucks specifically through the holes. he has also added a firepit and some chairs to the crude little system.

last saturday, after big j's team played a tournament game, half the team came out here to play a little pond hockey. we had kids playing hockey on one rink, kids just skating on the other, parents and bystanders enjoying the fire and even a few sledders on the hill.

the funniest part was that we set up a futon and a bench with a rug under it near sliding door in our unfinished basement, so kids can come and go and get their gear on and off inside.

one of the little boys told his mom, "it was so cool mom. they have ice rinks in their backyard and a LOCKER ROOM in their house!"

he he. "locker room" does sound so much better than empty concrete hole :)