Backyard Skating Rink!

In early November we took the kids to Wenatchee, an hour away, to go ice skating in their indoor rink. We all had such a fun time! The next day we learned that the ice rink that often operates near our home won’t be happening again this year. So, we took matters into our own hands and decided to build our own ice skating rink.

Our friend Ross came over with his tractor one day and helped us level out the area and remove rocks and pokey bits from the ground.

The people at the hardware store thought Alex was crazy when he went in to purchase 2 x 12s for an ice rink. But, he did it anyway, and built the frame for the rink.

We had some unseasonably warm weather in late November and early December, followed by a cold snap and a ton of snow. Before we could proceed, we had to clear the snow out of the inside of the frame.

Earlier on in the fall Alex purchased a snow blower. After a whole giant and frustrating mess of rebuilding and fixing the snow blower, it worked like a dream and got the job done.

Next step: add the liner! Alex was able to order essentially a gigantic sheet of white plastic to drape over the frame and use as a base to hold the water.

Now we fill and wait. There was one corner that was a lot higher than the others and of course we didn’t realize this until we started filling. It ended up taking a full 48 hours to fill the rink with water.

Literally within the first minutes after Alex pulled the hoses out, our pup decided to go for a swim. Cute, right? Not so much when he tore the liner and Alex had to get in the icy bath and patch it up.

We spent the better part of the next five days watching it freeze. We got around 30 inches of snow during the week we filled the rink up and were letting it freeze. This made it take a little longer to freeze. But alas! It froze!

Now Alex’s new hobby is walking around the ice rink shoveling or with his cool resurfacing tool that our neighbor happened to have because he, too, had previously built a backyard ice rink {he stopped after 3 years because it is so much work!}.

And now, we skate.

This ice rink has brought us so much joy. I grew up ice skating on my backyard pond in Minnesota and have so, so many fond memories of this pastime. It is such a privilege to be able to recreate this for our kids and our little mountain town.