• Saturday-What'sUP January 16 - 08:42 am

Build it and they will come - - Flood it and they will skate. Backyard skating has been around for ages, long before there was ever a thought about indoor rinks. As kids, there were many a winter day spent cutting a hole in the ice on the pond so we could get at the water to flood it for a good smooth hockey surface. But Frank Anderson has taken the rink to a whole new level. He's raised it up to the back deck, making it safe for the littlest of skaters to learn how to maneuver on those runners! That second shot looks like Joni and Sam are performing a doubles skating routine - - Perhaps the next Michelle Kwan and Brian Boitano? This judge gives them a resounding 10!

Oh my gosh, what a neat idea, Frank. Talk about making memories for the kiddies, eh. I love it :)

MAGNIFICENT MATTER!!! HAPPY CHILDRENs!

Priceless pics of those darling little ones. We do have Olympians in training.

Great idea! priceless picture of beautiful children.

Good morning from Mishawaka, IN. What a great idea. When my brothers and I were young we had the cement slab from an old building in our yard. It had a lip on it so Dad would flood it for us to skate. What fun we had.

lucky kids, cute pics, great idea

I love it! The kids look so HAPPY! best idea i have seen for 2006......its one way to keep burglars from breaking into the house!

Good morning from Mishawaka IN. Great pictures this morning. The little kids are adorable and they sure are doing much better on skates than I ever did. My Grandpa lived on the St. Joe river and in the winter we went out every Sunday to go skating. I never did get the hang of it, but I sure had a lot of fun and have alot of wonderful memories.

Good Morning. Great idea on the porch rink. Keeps the kids within view. Don't have to worry about the big kids knocking the little ones down.

My folks did this for me every winter when we lived in Detroit. Flooded the back yard, that is. We didn't have it so good as Frank's kids, with the side rails and all! Have to be impressed with Joni's nice straight ankles there! Perhaps she's a natural and we'll see her in Olympics down the road and she can say, "I remember when my Dad...."

We've got ice in the alley, guess I'll get the skates on and join the little ones.

What a great picture and idea. That was our winters in the U.P. I still love to ice skate. But can't do it so good anymore since I got M.S. But made sure the grandkids know how to... I watch with envy the ice skaters on T.V. My dream when I was a kid..

Ok, who remembers...from back in the day, the little two bladed ice skate bottoms that strapped to your boots? And you couldn't wait to graduate to a real pair of ice skates ;)
I remember we couldn't find any when my daughter was young...so her dad taught her to skate in hockey skates...because of the double blade. I think child was about twelve years old and still wearing hockey skates ;)

Great pictures, Frank. I know in the area they have outside rinks but how do they stay without melting in this warm weather? Your new nephew will have to grow up to skate with these kids.

Our grandkids downstate are waiting for colder weather as their dad has boards all set up to make a rink too.

Sur5er, I remember the double bladed skates. My oldest son had a pair when he was little. Haven't seen that type for many years.

Like JoAnne, our Dad would flood the backyard for us in Detroit. And like NKR, I never got the hang of it either, but I was out there every afternoon trying and trying. I remember all my aunts and families coming over for skating parties. I still dream of skating. I think my hand-me-down skates were too bit with no ankle support.

For years now it has been way too warm down here to make backyard rinks.

It just makes me smile to see those happy little faces on the ice. What feelings the lens can capture! Beautimous! Thank you, Frank.

My dad used to flood the yard at our house in
Detroit when I was a kid. Even better, he
made a ski hill(very small, but seemed big to
me) in that very same small back yard. My
friends and I would play outside for hours and
hours and then put our mittens and socks on
the radiators so we would be ready to go back
out as soon as we had eaten.

I can remember rushing home after school to get my skates and rush to the ice rink the parks made along "the crick" in the parkway a few blocks from the corner of Hopkins & Hampton on the north side of Milwaukee back in the early 50's. We practiced our swirls, spins and speed. But also as jr. high girls we teased the boys and screamed when we got hooked up to the end of "the whip". Talk about scary and exciting.

My mom always made a great rink in the backyard in Dearborn Hts....man the memories...priceless!
I did it for my kids in Traverse City...did we have FUN!

My gosh, what a wonderful idea. Here in MN we rarely get enough snow to worry about stuff like this. Our ice rink is barely operational for the kids for very long. And then when it is, the wind is usually howling at about 20 miles an hour. As a kid growing up in Lake Linden, MI. we couldn't wait to get down to the ice rink. We spent just as much time in on the big furnace they had there as we did on the ice, but those were the days. Those are some lucky kids.