Chilling Out and Fun in Sofia, Bulgaria, Days 4 and 5

The last two days in Bulgaria were a bit more chilled out. We had an exhausting first few days here, and Rose was a bit under the weather, so we did some more relaxed things around the house. We went grocery shopping, and then cooked together, including these oatmeal cookies.

We took lots of walks around the area, and ended up in Borisova Gradina, the oldest and best known park in Sofia. Though there are more famous sites there, we mainly were at two different playgrounds, but also took walks through the woods, also on paths, and also following the tram tracks that went through the woods, waving at the conductors as they passed.

And of course, we played the best games of hide and seek ever, in the woods, in addition to the sardines version of hide and seek. It was a blast! Sorry, no pictures!

Lastly, we went ice skating. To be honest, I wasn't sure if I wanted to do this, because I knew we'd be going skiing tomorrow, and as this was my children's first time ice skating, and my first time in years, there was a good chance we'd fall and get hurt, and I didn't want to get injured before we even got started skiing!

But the kids really wanted to go, and were looking forward to this, and as we don't really have ice skating options locally, I decided to just bite the bullet and hope for the best.

I'm so glad we went! We had so much fun!

Most importantly, despite having not been on the ice in years, and having been given hockey skates, when nearly all my experience is in figure skates (they didn't have my size in figure skates), I managed not only to not fall or get hurt (very important because my pelvis really could get twisted out of alignment from such falls; I have sacroilliac joint dysfunction: and it would prevent my skiing or walking normally until getting treated if that happened) and I managed to teach my kids how to skate.

I can't say my kids are anywhere near proficient now, but... 

Lee only fell down once...

Ike managed to skate most of the time away from the wall, as did Lee, after a first few tentative rounds holding on...

Anneliese really enjoyed herself and was in good spirits, despite multiple falls...

And just really, overall enjoyed herself.

Rose, after falling many times and needing help getting up, ended up becoming the expert in getting up after a fall, to the extent that when people tried to help her, she'd say "No, I can do it myself" and would be up in a split second.

Oh, and she's really proud that she skated on one foot. (Even if she fell down the next second.)

She's insisting that she was the best skater of the bunch. Lee wants the title "most improved".

But I think everyone got the title "Had the most fun!" This was everything the kids wanted, and more!

Oh, and as for cost? This was 50 lev total for the 5 of us, including skate rental (4 lev each) and entrance (6 lev each).

Are you fans of ice skating? Do you take your kids? Do you go yourself? I used to take lessons as a kid, and then would go with friends a lot on the weekends, and it was really nice to share this with my kids!