"You miss 100% of the shots you never take!"

Since being in the states the boys have gone hockey crazy. I'm not really sure what started it off but quite early into the holiday Seth had made it clear that we wanted to use his holiday money to buy some hockey sticks which I thought was a great idea as it was another thing that we could do together, awesome father/son bonding. There was a brief moment when we picked up the sticks and goal at the club house where we were staying and thought 'how are we going to get those in our case but as the blades were detachable we managed to make everything fit.

Since we got back we've played hockey in the street every day and have also purchased the Nhl channel to watch the games, which has been great. The boys though, were eager to go to a game. We're really lucky where we are as we are close to our local ice rink and a few days after we arrived back from Florida our local team, the Telford Tigers, had their first game of the season so we took the boys to watch.

The game was awesome and we beat Manchester Phoenix 4:1 which was a great result for the boys first game. The atmosphere was great and despite not being a big sports fan myself, I really enjoyed the fast pace of the game. Since then we've been to a game every week and it has been something great to do as a family.

Since going to the games, hockey has pretty much dominated all of our outdoor play while at home. I bought extra blades and picked up some wood to make handles so that the boys can play with their friends and we can all play as a family. It's great that the boys have got into something that we can all play together and living At the end of a quiet cul-de-sac has been perfect for our games.

I don't think this new love of hockey is going anywhere and I'm glad. I've never been in to football so being able to go in to the street for an hour and take shots at each other has been great for me and the boys and having friends on the street that are also interested in joining in makes all the difference to them. I'm just waiting now for that inevitable "Dad! can we ask santa for some roller blades for Christmas?".