Ice Skating at Hellasgården

With the warm weather slowly coming back to Stockholm, Alexis and I were pretty convinced that our ice skating days of the season were over. We have had quite a few afternoons reaching temperatures of 5-10° C, so we couldn't imagine that the ice would stick around for too much longer. Therefore, we were a bit surprised when one of our friends invited us to go skating with his son but thought we might just have to try since Swedish know best. It turns out that it was an absolutely beautiful day to hit the natural ice rinks. The sun was shining, temperatures were slightly above freezing and the conditions were fantastic. All of my previous visions of a swimming pool over the ice, or worse big holes poking through, were instantly erased and we all took to the ice with skates, sleds and strollers in tow.

A frozen paradise almost to ourselves

Jack and Alexis take to the ice for a little lake tour

Tim gets a turn as well...

I learned quite a bit while slipping and sliding around the ice with Tim sans skates. Supposedly the ice only needs to be 5 cm thick to safely skate on. In Stockholm, a lot of the lakes are cleaned and scraped to make a smoother surface for everyone to enjoy. Big plows and trucks mean at least 10 cm of ice. Today, even after 2+ weeks of relatively warm weather, the ice was still at least 35 cm thick, and there was barely any water visible even at the shorelines. I guess in the end, we will have at least a couple of weeks if not months of ice skating to enjoy. Who knew?

The frozen shoreline...

The water slowly peeking through...

Although you do see the occasional figure or hockey skates out on the ice, most people have touring (or Nordic) skates. These are long blades that are simply attached to your boots with a binding and made for skating on uneven, natural ice surfaces. I think they are pretty ingenious because you can just walk up to the ice, strap on your skates and you're off...no need to worry about that extra pair of shoes. It took Alexis one trip to the frozen lake before he decided to invest in a pair of blades and was hooked on this fun winter sport. Now all I have to do is strap some skates on my feet as well to try it out. Hopefully soon!

Nordic skates are nice...but optional!

After taking a few tours of the lake, we headed out to a small island frozen in the middle of the lake for a bit more playtime. The ice is definitely fun for everyone, but it's still nice to have some solid ground underneath toddler feet...at least for a little bit!

Our little island playground...

When there are sticks and rocks involved...Jack is a happy boy.

A brief break to enjoy the view...

Jack taking a second to plan his next move...

...and he's off!

After skating, we finally got to enjoy a traditional Swedish lunch grill-out...in other words, hot dogs cooked by yourself over a communal fire pit. Yummy. This was Jack's first successful hog dog experience...and I'm sure we'll be repeating it sometime soon. We love our picnic sandwiches, but there is something about standing over a warm fire pit in the cold that has it's appeal as well.

Fingers crossed for at least a few more weekends out on the ice until the warm weather is officially here.

One last tour before heading home...