Last night, my classmates and I took our ice skating test for Freestyle 2. Our coach graded our skills using the pass-or-fail system instead of the 1-10 scale. I passed the jump sequence, ballet jump, and half-lutz jump. She didn’t test us on the dance step sequence and the edged spirals. To the coach, as well as mine, surprise, I pulled off the one-foot spin. It was like a miracle because I had been struggling with it throughout our 10-week lesson. I could barely spin for 3 revolutions, let alone meet the requirement of six revolutions. Even earlier today, I couldn’t get my spin together during practice. Somehow I found my groove during the test.

I can now relax a bit for the holidays. Learning ice skating had been quite stressful at this level and I just wanted to learn for fun; therefore, I decided to stop after Freestyle 2. The techniques were becoming more challenging and I would need more time to practice. Unfortunately, my kids are no longer interested in ice skating. Đạo and Đán are learning ice hockey. Xuân is still taking figure lessons, but his heart is not in it. He hadn’t practiced and he couldn’t do the techniques at his level.

I don’t see the point for me to continue if my kids are not doing it. I felt guilty going to practice by myself while the kids stayed home with their mom. She had also been complaining about me going to practice. In addition, I have trouble spinning. I have all the excuses and legitimate reasons to quit. So yes, this is the end of my figure skate learning journey for me. I am glad I have made it this far. It was a wonderful experience.

Back in June, I attempted to drop in from the highest ramp at the Wakefield skatepark. I fell backward and hit my head on the ground. The impact cracked my helmet and had me blacked out for a few minutes. After that incident, I would never go near that ramp again.

Last month, I switched from the Zetrablade (by Rollerblade) to the Flying Eagle Enkidu aggressive skates and I felt more confidence dropping in since the Flying Eagle is much more stable. This afternoon, I revisited the ramp and faced my fear again. From the top looking down, the height and the curve were still intimidating. What would happen if I fell? Since I won’t have ice skating class next Thursday, I would still have two weeks to recover. I didn’t have much to lose.

As soon as I stepped my left foot on the coping, I knew I could not back out. With a bit less hesitation and a bit more confidence, I went for it. Thanks goodness, I made it through without breaking my bones or blacking out again. Having the right skates helped tremendously. I had a much better control with the Flying Eagle Enkidu aggressive skates.

I felt rejuvenated after making this small accomplishment. It proved that I can still keep myself challenged. When I first started out, I never thought I could do this one day. I still believe determination and practice paid off. I am old now and I have to take this aggressive sport much more careful than the youngsters. My second son, Đán, is so natural at aggressive skating. He can drop in with ease, but I am glad that he is also being cautious. He wouldn’t do it unless I would’t go first. If I could do it, he knew he could do it. I knew all along he could do it, but he wanted me to go first. Of course after I did, he dropped in successfully. As a father, I have to pave the way. Why not? I rather put myself at risk first than putting him at risk first. Then again, if he went first and succeeded, I might just chicken out.

Đạo took his Freestyle 1 test tonight. He did well on the pivot, backward edges, half flip, and waltz jump. He didn’t do too well on two-foot spin and arabesque. I was surprised that he pulled it off with not much practice. If he would spend more time practicing, he could be a great figure skater. I am not sure if he would like to continue to Freestyle 2 or he should just focus on ice hockey.

He started learning to play hockey two weeks ago and he really liked it. His figure skating lessons helped him tremendously in making the transition from figure to hockey. I am not sure if hockey is a bit too aggressive for him. He seems a bit reserved when they played the game, but he enjoyed it.

Đán is more of the hockey type. He has the speed and he is not afraid to attack. He still needs to work on his hockey skills, particularly on controlling the puck with his stick. Once he got that down, he would be a top player. I might sign him up for private lessons to work on his shooting and controlling skills.

Đán excels at rollerskating at the skate parks. His fearlessness is taking him far. He can jump and drop into the bowls with ease. He can also ride the sides of the bowl. He has definitely surpassed me. I ordered a pair of USD Transformer for him for his birthday. It’s an aggressive skate for kids. I can’t wait to see what he can do with it.

We had been hitting the skate park almost everyday now because of Xuân. He is stepping up his game with his scooter. He can drop the from the quarter pipe and higher curved ramp as well. He dropped into the bowl too. At school, he drew a picture of me and him at the skate park. I love that drawing even though I have a bald head, fat figure, and two stick arms. The rollerblade looked good though.

The more Xuân is interested in skate park, the less he is interested in the ice rink. He doesn’t want to practice and he doesn’t want to take lessons either. We won’t continue him on the next level.

As for me, I wanted to learn so much. My days have revolved around skating. At work I would eat lunch quickly and hit the skate park for forty five minutes. At home, I try to find time to get to the ice rink when the kids and I aren’t at the skate park. I am learning to pump to get myself out of the bowl or the half pipe. Technically, I should have learned how to pump first before I learned how to drop in, but I did it in reverse. Now I need to learn how to pump and how to ride the pipe.

For ice skating, I have learned all the techniques for Freestyle 2. I am still struggling with the one-foot spin because I get dizzy any more than three revolutions. I will required to do six for the test. Because how terrible my spins are, I don’t think I will advance to Freestyle 3 after this. I’ll learn on my own and focus more on the jumps.

As the winter coming, the kids are already geared up for skiing. We rented seasonal skis for Đạo and Xuân and snowboard for Đán because he wanted to try snowboarding. They ran out of rentals for adults; therefore, I am still trying to buy used ski or snowboard. I am leaning toward snowboarding as well.

Poor little Vương will be spending time with his mom instead. He doesn’t want to do anything yet. I am trying to get him try the scooter like Xuân. He seems to like it. He is still too young. He still has plenty of time to try later. I just feel bad that I don’t get to take him out much with the rest of his brothers.

Xuân didn’t do too well on his ice skating test last week. He struggled with backward crossover and T-stop on his left foot. These two foundation skills are very important for him later on. Unfortunately, he didn’t want to practice. He passed Beta, but doesn’t want to take any more lessons. He wants to learn to play hockey like his brother Đán instead.

Before he could start hockey, I want him to take one more skating class. He will learn the mohawks and 3-turns in Gamma, which will help him with hockey. He agreed to take one more class. Next year, I will enroll him in the Future Caps Learn to Play program so that he can get all the gears and skates for free, which would cost $1,000.

Đán will finish up his Learn to Play Hockey 3 this Saturday. He seems to enjoy it. He will start level 4 next Monday. After that, we will be eligible to join a hockey team. I am not sure if I want to drop $1,600 for him to play on a team. I am sure my wife wouldn’t mind.

Đạo will finish up his Freestyle 1 in two weeks. He doesn’t seem to enjoy figure skates as much as he used to. He is not sure if he wants to take Freestyle 2, but he wants to give hockey a try. I enrolled him into Learn to Play Hockey level 3 and he will start next Monday at the same time as Đán. They just won’t be in the same class.

For me, I am still struggling with one-foot spin. Yesterday, I went to practice, but I could barely do the dance and jump sequences. The rink was a bit crowded. My mind was not in it because I didn’t sleep much the night before. I don’t think I will go to Freestyle 3.

My wife has purchased skiing season passes for Đạo, Đán, Xuân, and me. Đạo and Đán, in particular, are happy and looking forward to skiing. I am grateful, but also feeling guilty. With season passes, we will most likely spend our weekends skiing and less time tidying up the house. As much as I would love to go skiing with the kids, I dread not taking care of things around the house. I asked my wife to see if she could cancel the passes.

Saturday morning, I took Đán to ice hockey as our usual bonding time. Đán is an excellent skater. He has speed and perfected his hockey stop on both feet. His hockey skills, however, need more work. He couldn’t control the puck with his stick. He kept missing the goal. His coach loaned him a new stick for lefty, which seemed to help him. After class, his coach came to me and gave me the stick. He promised Đán that he would give him the stick if he finished level three. That was nice of him and Đán was happy about it.

We came back home and I took Đán, Xuân, and Vương to a Japanese ramen house for lunch. Đạo didn’t want to go. The night before, I promised Đán that I would take him out to one of his favorite restaurants if he read Let’s Read with Xuân. He was more than glad to do it. When I read this book with Đán when he was in kindergarten, he struggled quite a bit, but Xuân seemed to pick up the words quickly. In any rate, Đán and I ordered our favorite spicy miso ramen while Xuân and Vương ordered their favorite pork and chicken buns.

After lunch, we went back home and relaxed until 2 pm. Then I took Đạo, Đán, and Xuân to get their flu shots. Xuân volunteered to go first. This guy had no fear of the needle. He later described getting a flu shot was as painless as marrying his mom. His analogy was hilarious and I wish our marriage was that easy. Đán took the shot without a fuss. Đạo was a bit nervous, but I reassured him again that he wouldn’t even feel it if he would just relax. I told him to work with the needle instead of against it. He took my advice and we were done. He didn’t feel a thing. We were out of the pediatrician office in less than 15 minutes.

I took them to Veterans Memorial Park in Woodbridge to check out the skatepark, which has the tallest halfpipe I had seen yet. We had to take the stairs to go to the top of the pipe. If I were to drop in, I would either break every bone in my body or die. No one was dropping from this pipe; therefore, the kids used it as the slide instead and they loved the thrill. The skatepark also has a humongous bowl. Again, if I were to drop in, I would break my ass even at the shallow end.

Most of the skating activities took place in the area away from the bowl and the halfpipe. Đán rode the ramps with the skateboarders. He is a natural skater with confidence and a bit of fearlessness. Đạo and I hesitated a bit because of the crowd. There were quite a bit of skateboarders. Xuân rode around smaller ramps on his scooter. After spending nearly three hours at the skatepark, we headed to an ice cream parlor close by. The menu items were written in Spanish. All of the employees spoke primarily in Spanish. Although all three of my sons are enrolled in Spanish, only Đạo put his foreign language skills to use. Đán was shied and Xuân could only count from 1 to 29 in Spanish. I let Đạo order for us. After that, we went home and had dinner.

On Sunday, we got to sleep in a bit. Around 10 am, I took Đạo to the library to return some books and to pick up new ones. After reading a novel, I wanted to switch to nonfiction. I picked out two books. We went back home, tidied up the house a bit, and folded our clothes. We had a late lunch. Then I dragged my wife and all of our kids to Woodland Wonderland playground and Walker Mill skatepark in Maryland. I felt guilty for not spending too much time with Vương because he has not picked up skating yet. Since the playground and the skatepark were within walking distance, this place was perfect for us. My wife took Vương to the playground while the rest of us stayed at the skatepark. This skatepark was less scarier than the one in Woodbridge, but some skateboarders were a bit aggressive. Đán didn’t seem to mind. He went in and did his things. Đạo was a bit intimidated. Xuân tried out new ramps on his scooter. We were there for almost two hours and drove back home for dinner. That was pretty much how we spent our weekend. I was glad that the kids got to do outdoor activities rather than stayed home playing on their digital devices.

Learning ice skating is like building LEGO. Each step is a LEGO brick that is designed to let you create a work of art. While practicing yesterday, I combined the jump and dance steps into a long sequence. I am sure the professional skaters already knew, but it was a revelation to me. Here are the steps I did:

1. Begin with a backward crossover with your left foot over right.
2. Repeat another crossover with your left foot over right.
3. Transfer your weight to your right foot and glide with your left foot.
4. Do a waltz jump with your right foot.
5. Tap your left toe pick and do a tap-toe jump with your right foot.
6. Continue with a 3-turn on your left foot.
7. Tap your right toe pick then finish with a one-half flip jump.
8. Instead of checking out, continue on with your left glide.
9. Glide right.
10. Glide left.
11. Glide right one more time.
12. Do a left mohawk then stand on your right foot as you skate backward.
13. Cross your left behind your right foot and transfer your weight to your left foot.
14. Place your right foot back to the parallel position and transfer the weight back to your right foot.
15. Cross your left foot in front of your right foot.
16. Check out with your right foot.

I like jumping more than spinning. I supposed to learn how to do a one-foot spin, but I kept tripped up the left-edge entrance. As a result, I just focused on the jump and dance sequence.

The no-name aggressive inline skates I bought for Đạo and Đán on eBay were no good. My wife broke the strap buckle on one pair and I broke the other as we let the kids try them on. Fortunately, we can return them.

I am searching for better quality skates for them since aggressive skating can be dangerous. I want them to be safe. I am not sure if I can find anything under $150 a pair. I spent way too much time online shopping already. I was looking forward to hit the skate parks with them.

At lunchtime yesterday, I drove to Shaw Skate Park in DC. The weather was beautiful and there were a handful of skateboarders. They seemed to be friendly. A black guy encouraged me to drop in. I asked if he’s from around here (DC) and he asked me where I was originated (I think). I forget the term he used. There were two girls whose skills were impressive on roller skates.

The park seemed to be newly renovated. I would come back if it was not too far from my work. It took me 20 minutes each way; therefore, I could only skate for half an hour. I was skating in my khakis pants and buttoned-up shirt. I just strapped on my guards and wore my helmet. I came back to work a bit sweaty. It was my workout for the day.

I had been skating consistently at lunchtime on the days that I worked in my office since Powhatan Springs Skatepark. I can skate there for about 45 minutes since the park was only eight minutes away from my office. It’s a decent park.

I found a pair of Flying Eagle Enkidu aggressive skates on Amazon Warehouse that fit me perfectly. It was such a great deal that I couldn’t resist. Except for the damaged box, the skates were brand new. I gave the pair a try at the skate park yesterday and I am loving it.

I went down a few curved ramps and a quarter pipe, but I did not try the higher curved ramps yet. The skates are a bit heavy, almost five pounds on each foot, but they felt so comfortable. I predict that the smaller wheels and the heavy boots were designed to keep me balanced. Aggressive skates don’t come with the heel brake; therefore, I need to learn to do the T-stop or other braking methods without relying on the heel brake. I am taking my time because falling at my age takes too long to recover.

I need more time to adjust to the new Flying Eagle since I had gotten used to the Zetrablade, which I still love. It was the first inline skate that didn’t hurt my feet. I didn’t even realize that the Zetrablade was designed for skating on the road instead of at the skate park. I changed the heel brake and still keep the pair for skating with the family when we go biking on the trails.

Đán also wanted a pair of aggressive skates. I wanted to get him a pair of Rollerblade NJR, but I could not find his size. Fortunately, I found a different pair with his size on eBay. Since it was a great deal, I bought one pair for Đạo as well. They look great, but they have no brand. I called the skate shop and the seller told me that there were no boxes and they could not find the brand on the skates. They just found them in their warehouse and listed them on eBay for sale. They already sold six pairs and haven’t heard any complaints from their customers.

I can’t wait for their skates to arrive. We’re now moving from recreational to aggressive. Đạo, Đán, and Xuân who uses a scooter prefer skate park over ice skating. They had been willing to go to the skate parks with me more than ice skating rinks.

Wednesday night, I didn’t go to sleep until two in the morning. Then I had to wake up at seven to take Đạo to school. I drank massive coffee and felt like shit all day. I went to ice skating class and couldn’t even do a proper Mohawk. I stayed back after class to practice, but the public session was crowded. Katie, my former coach, was there skating with Megan, one of my classmates. Megan and I used to take Katie’s class, but now we have a different instructor. I took three classes taught by Katie and she barely spoke to me beyond simple instructions. Somehow Megan managed to befriend her. I watched Katie perform and show Megan how to spin on one foot. Katie was fantastic.

I tried to do the dance sequence our new coach Kim taught us, but I couldn’t do it. My mind was exhausted and I was intimidated by the good skaters and instructors. I left the rink early and went home. I felt incompetent. I told my wife that I will quit after Freestyle 2. I went to bed and had almost eight hours of sleep. I felt much more refreshed. I worked from home on Friday; therefore, I took a lunch break and headed back to the rink. I had the entire rink to myself for the first half an hour. I focused on the dance sequence and was able to pull it off. I felt great again.

What I liked about Kim, my new coach, was that she focused on forms and she broke down the steps clearly. In a group lesson, I had about three minutes one on one with her. So far, I can do the dance sequence, the jump sequence, the spirals on edges, the ballet jump, and the half lutz. I just need to focus on the one-foot spin and the forward edge entrance. When I told my wife that I might go to Freestyle 3, she was not too happy since I said that I would be done with ice skating lessons after Freestyle 2. She showed no encouragement at all.

I understand her feelings. My life has revolved around ice skating. I want to practice every chance I have; therefore, I am not doing much around the house. I have to cut it back. So maybe this should be the end of ice skating lessons for me. I don’t think I can do much anyway. Too bad, our kids are giving up on ice skating. They have the opportunity to continue, but they don’t want to and I don’t want to force them either. For me, I have obligations to fulfill and ice skating isn’t a priority. I want to do it for fun and to challenge myself. I wanted to see how far I can go, but I think this might be it for me. I’ll keep skating for fun, but no more lessons. Without the coach to push me and the classmates to encourage me, I am not sure how far I can go. For instance, I haven’t made much progress with rollerblading. To be honest, rollerblading is a bit too dangerous. I have been injured quite a bit lately; therefore, I have to take more caution. I am too old to take risks. Ice skating is much safer, but it requires lots of techniques. I can’t spin even if my life depends on it.

I started Freestyle 2 ice skating lessons last night. I was the only guy in the class. Our new instructor didn’t show up. We had a sub instead and she turned out to be the Chinese-American instructor I had been observing while she was giving private lessons.

She started us off with the jump sequence: waltz jump, tap-toe jump, 3-turn then one-half flip jump. Lots of jumping. I need to relearn my waltz jump. It’s pretty bad. After class, I stayed for an hour and fifteen minutes to practice. I got the sequence down. I just need to refine my techniques.

One of my classmates asked me how far I would go. It depends on how this one would go, but Freestyle 2 would be my last. I asked her and she said her goal is to do an axel jump. She will go up to Freestyle 5. I don’t think I will go that far. I am just focusing on 2 right now. Like going to school, the stress has started, but it’s a good stress to keep me occupied for a while.

Xuân, Đạo, and I are now taking lessons on the same night, but not at the same time. Xuân has so much potential, but he refuses to learn backwards. He kept saying he wanted to quit and he doesn’t want to practice. I might just take him out after Beta. I wish he would enjoy it.

Đạo is taking Freestyle 1 and he seems to enjoy it. He did wanted to go practice with me at least once a week, which is good. He can keep going as long as he wanted to. I wish he would.