Canadian Backyard Ice Rink Party: Nikon MOM Captures Memories #NikonMOMents

Over the course of the next 6 months follow hashtag #NikonMOMents for social shares from the Nikon MOMents team. Each of us will be posting five personal events where we will capture our memories at the heart of the image! This is my third NikonMOMents event from my five part series.

1. Read my first Nikon Mom post here: Family Camping
2. Read my second Nikon Mom post: Christmas Piano Recital

Ever since we have been homeowners (over 15 years) which was long before we had any kids, my husband has always built a backyard ice rink. This has been something extremely important to him, not that he had a backyard rink as a child, but to enjoy his love of skating and hockey every chance he can.

Since we have had kids our rink has expanded in size and has become more meaningful. The three older children have all learnt to skate in daddy’s hands on our own backyard ice rink and that is a priceless memory you can never lose. The kids and daddy sneak out after school or after dinner and skate their hearts out passing the pucks between each other it really is something special to watch.

Having a gem like this in your backyard yard is something that needs to be shared. Us Canadian’s have long cold Winters and getting the chance to enjoy fresh air together as a family with friends makes the winter not seem so long. This is the third year we have opened our rink up to all the kids’ friends from school and their families. This year we had eight families come over and enjoy some great Canadian fun in our backyard.

Now I will be honest here, when I choose our annual backyard skating event as my Nikon moment, I didn’t think capturing the moments would be such a challenge. As the hostess of a super cool party it does require lots of socialization. Come on we all have been in hibernation for four months already, right Canadians?

Plus who wants to pose for pictures when their friends are over skating with them? I accepted the challenge to balance all ends and with that challenge I feel pretty great about the outcome.

Every party needs great snacks and our guest insisted on pitching in and making something special to share. We kept the snacks close to the rink so parents didn’t need to unlace and re-lace skates the whole party. Friends of ours brought a s’mores mix he found on Pinterest which was simple but so cool; pretzels, mini marshmallows & chocolate chips.

The snacks were a huge hit with the girls at the party who were all picking the chocolate chips out of the mixture above. I don’t blame them I would of been doing the same if there was room for me at the kids table.

Well the girls were eating the chocolate the boys were grilling up hot dogs over the warm fire pit. Having hot dogs may not be my first pick to serve at a party but it was the kids suggestion. Plus this year I plan on keeping it simple and hot dogs ended up being a hit with all the girls and boys.

This is my favorite picture from the day. The fact that I tilted my camera a wee bit and shot it on an angle just makes the picture pop much more than it would of looking straight on. Little K was so happy about the ketchup and mustard filled goodness he was about to bite into.

Even the non-skaters enjoyed sometime being mindful in all the day had to offer.

For the next two pictures I snuck away into the house to get a higher angle of the party. These are a little grainy because I was shooting through the window and screen but I felt it gave you a great view of the ice.

By this time many of the kids were playing off in the snowbanks and tree forts but a few hard core skaters were still enjoying the open freedom of the ice.

Of course us parents weren’t far from the warmth of the roaring fire and great conversation. 

No matter if you stayed up or fell down the day was a huge success, filled with memories for all the little people whose families came out to enjoy an old fashion Canadian backyard skate.

You know the party was a success when almost four hours later the sun was down and the last family to leave was heading home for bed. As people were leaving they where saying “thanks we cannot wait for next years skating party!” Remarks like that just make me smile.

We went through over 100 cups of warm apple cider and Little K was determined to get one last cup before calling it a night.

The last two pictures are of our backyard ice rink once the party was over and the clean-up was done. The night sky was dark and the view was so peaceful. On my NIKON D3300 I used the effects button and switched it to night vision.

In this picture I took a comparison picture using my Samsung Note 3, the difference is incredible. You cannot even see my husband in his red snow pants over by the table. 

I was thankful to have my Nikon along for the evening to capture memories to look back on over the years to come. Plus after seeing the comparison picture I am grateful I didn’t have to trust my smartphone to do a good job because it is obvious I would of been disappointed if that was the case.

Learn and explore with me through Nikon’s Learn & Explore series and tag with #NikonMOMents 

When was the last time you were enjoying the cold Canadian winter outside? 

Thank you for reading In R Dream! 

“Disclosure: I am part of the Mom Central Canada Nikon MOMents team
and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.”