I brought my longboard and big-wheel rollerblades with me to ride on the boardwalk with my family. My kids switched to biking and left rollerblading and scootering behind. I am the only one left who still rollerblades.

I tried my longboard on the boardwalk, but it didn’t work too well on the flat surface. I had to skate on one foot a lot and it took forever. I switched to rollerblades. The 125-mm wheels worked better. At first, I hesitated because the big wheels would go too fast. Then again, the big wheels allowed me to keep up with my kids on bikes.

I enjoyed rollerblading on the boardwalk quite a bit. I looked forward to each morning so I could blade on the boardwalk. I woke up early and bladed myself first then came back for breakfast. The kids and my wife were not ready until 11:00 am. I would join them again.

I’ll definitely blade again next year if we go back to Wildwood. Packing a pair of rollerblades was much more convenient than racking up the bikes. Besides, our bike rack could only carry four bikes. We have six family members. Đán was not biking; therefore, he walked with his grandma to make sure she didn’t get lost.

Last summer when I took Đạo (my oldest son) to Big Snow, he didn’t like it. The terrains were too short and he didn’t like doing too many tricks. This week, I took Xuân (10 years old) and Vương (7 years old) to Big Snow and to my surprise, they loved it. Xuân tried out as many tricks as he could on his snowboard. I wanted to teach Vương snowboarding, but he just wanted to stick with skiing. He liked jumping on the hills, but I finally convinced him to ride a box and he did.

For me, I wanted to focus on carving on the slope, but the kids kept wanting me to join them in the trick park. I could skied over some boxes, but not snowboarding. I kept falling when I tried to land on my board. It must be my open position. I needed to remind myself to stay in close position for jumping and landing. I enjoyed skiing much more than snowboarding and I couldn’t figure out why. Until the last day, I realized that skiing was much more convenience in a small space. I just had to get on the chairlift and skied off the chairlift. For snowboarding, I had to unstrap my back foot and restrap my back foot at the top of the slope. Strapping in while standing was quite exhausting with my beer belly in the way. I had been eating way too much in the summer. I need to get me a snowboard bibs instead of pants.

In any rate, I had a blast hanging out with my two young boys for five days straight. Big Snow and DreamWorks waterpark didn’t open until 1:00 pm; therefore, we just relaxed the entire morning at the hotel. We ate free breakfast and went back to our room. I read and fell asleep while the boys on their iPads. At 11:00 am, we headed over to the American Dream mall, walked around, rode motorized plush animals for 10 minutes, and ate lunch, usually Korean food at H-Mart food court. At 1:00 pm, we checked into Big Snow. We skied and snowboarded until 5:00 pm. Around 6:00 or 7:00 PM, we headed out to dinner—whatever the kids were in the mood for. Around 9:30 pm, we headed back to the hotel to recharge, to sleep, and to do it again the next day.

I bought each of us a package of 6 two-hour slope access sessions for $99, which was on sale. I didn’t think we could use all 6 sessions in one trip, but we did in three days. The boys still wanted to do more, but I told them next summer. Here’s a video recap of our trip.

Yesterday, I took Xuân and Vương to Big Snow. We skied for about an hour and the resort went dark. We were stuck on the lift for about 10 minutes. We had to evacuate because the entire American Dream mall had a power shortage. Nevertheless, I had a bit of fun before the black out.

At 48, I would never expect to learn skateboarding if it was not for a longboard. In October last year, a parent at the Vovinam learning center gave away his kids’ old skateboards and scooters. Since no one wanted the Kryptonics cruiser skateboard, I picked up. My intention was to work on my snowboard carvings during off season.

I started off skating on flat, smooth surfaces such as tennis and basketball courts. Even though I had rollerbladed, ice-skated, skied, and snowboarded, skateboarding felt so much different. It was hard to keep my balance and to stay on the board. I kept bailing out, but I didn’t give up.

I didn’t learn how to skateboard properly. I just tried to transfer my snowboarding skills over. It was hard at first, but I knew I would get it through determination, persistence, and repetition. I am the type of person who likes to build up his skills one day at a time.

I didn’t get too far with longboarding last year before I had to switch back to skiing and snowboarding in the winter. This summer, I picked the board back up. I continued on the tennis courts then moved on to an elementary school’s parking lot near my house. Then I went on to several huge parking lots at George Mason University. I have been skating at one parking lot with a gentle incline. At the beginning, there were a few parked cars. In recent days, the whole parking lot had been emptied as though it was reserved for me to skate.

Although my goal was to practice my snowboard skills, I enjoy cruising on the longboard. I am not interested in skateboarding at the skatepark like I am doing on rollerblades. Dropping in and riding the ramps seem to be too terrifying. I am not interested in skateboarding on the streets either. It’s too dangerous. I just stick to parking lots for now until I can find someplace with a bit of a hill, but not too much.

Despite the summer heat, I have been longboarding and rollerblading about 30-45 minutes a day—sometimes twice a day.

I woke up early to take Xuân to swimming practice. I didn’t want to wait around for 45 minutes; therefore, I went to work on my carves. It was a beautiful morning and I just wanted to ride my longboard.

Since I hadn’t gone anywhere this summer, I spent almost everyday progressing my carves. I can’t wait to transfer my skills over to snowboarding in the winter.

Until then, I am just keep riding my longboard in the summer. Mad kudos to the parent who gave away his kids’ skateboards. I wouldn’t have giving skateboarding a try if I didn’t pick up the Kryptonics Cruiser Board.

Since my kids quit skating and scootering, I have no motivation left to hit the skatepark. It has been hot as hell anyway. I despise the summer heat.

Instead of driving 15 minutes to the skatepark in my AC-less minivan, I just drove 2 minutes to George Mason main campus. Since it is summer, the parking lots are mostly empty, which makes it safe to ride my longboard.

I have not learned the proper longboard techniques. I simply apply my snowboard techniques. At first, longboarding was challenging because I got thrown off the board as soon as I was off balanced. I didn’t have the bindings to strap me in. Furthermore, the snowboard was in contact with the snow whereas only the wheels on the longboard were contact to the ground. I also had to constantly look out for sticks and stones, which could send my flying off the board.

Once I got used to the balance; however, I enjoyed carving on the longboard. I hope I can transfer these skills back to snowboarding when the season starts up. Is the summer over yet?

I find that carving on a longboard is similar to carving on a snowboard, but a bit more challenging. On a snowboard, my feet are strapped into the bindings; therefore, my position can be more forgiving. On a longboard, if my center of mass isn’t on the deck, I would get wiped out. It took me a while to keep my feet on the longboard when I initiated my turns. Once I found my balance, however, I felt like riding a snowboard. Summer practice will definitely improve my snowboard carving. Is the summer over yet?

Last Wednesday, while waiting for my kids’ piano lessons, I took out my longboard to carve on the street, which was wide and had a bit of a slope. I didn’t see any cars passing by.

I stepped on my longboard and tried to carve, but the speed was picking up. I got nervous and couldn’t make wide turns as I had hoped. By the time I got to the 3-way intersection, the speed was way faster than I had expected. I didn’t know how to brake.

The only thing left to do was to bail out. I jumped off the board and fell. The board went under a parked car and hit the curb. Two Indian men saw me as I picked up the board. One of them checked his car to see if I had damaged it. He told me, “You were lucky that you didn’t hit my car. I was annoyed.” I was not sure if he meant to use the word “annoyed.” It didn’t seem to make any sense.

Nevertheless, I was lucky that I didn’t damage his car. I was also lucky that there were no cars at the time. In retrospect, I was such an idiot for putting myself in such a dangerous position. I rollerbladed on the streets before, but I could control my speed or brake. I hadn’t been able to do so with skateboarding.

I will never skateboard on the streets again. I found a big parking lot at Mason reserved for motorcycle training, but only on Fridays. The rest of the week, the lot is pretty empty, which is an ideal spot for me to practice carving on my longboard and my big-wheel rollerblades.

I have friends returning to Việt Nam. I have friends vacationing in Florida. I have friends traveling to North Carolina. I am still here in Virginia. I am not going to lie. I am enjoying it. I canceled a camping trip in First Landing. It’s too damn hot. I canceled a trip to Canada. The flight tickets are too expensive and too many hours at the airports. My wife’s family doesn’t have a family reunion this year. We just chill out at home and relax. It’s also cost-saving.

I look forward to Xuân’s swimming competitions. Đán will start his online geometry course soon. All the boys have given up on rollerblading and scootering in the skatepark. I still go for half an hour when I get a chance to continue to drop-in, fakie, and ride the bowl. I just want to keep the skills that I have, especially dropping in from the high ramp.

These days, I spend more time working on my carvings. For ski carving, I skate my big-wheel rollerblades. For snowboard carving, I ride the longboard. I am not much of a skateboarder, but I enjoy carving on the longboard.

In addition to working and hanging out with the kids, I am still reading and writing. That’s pretty much my summer. I can’t wait until we get back into the winter.

Instead of playing pickleball with friends, I am working on my snowboard carving with a Kryptonics cruiser skateboard. I missed the social aspect, but I preferred progressing on my own. I watched some YouTube videos on how to ride a longboard and I was not doing it correctly. I applied my snowboard carving techniques to the longboard instead of learning the skateboard techniques.

Since my goal is to work on my snowboard carving skills, I don’t need to go to the skatepark. As long as I can find an empty parking lot with a bit of a hill, I am all good to go. I am focusing on my balance and stance. Snowboarding is much more forgiving even if you are off balance because you are always strapped in. On a skateboard, it is harder to keep yourself on the board if you are not balanced. When I first started, I kept jumping off the board, but now I can stay on the board and make wide turns from toe to heel.I ride goofy. I tried to ride regular on skateboard, but it was way too scary. I will need to work more on that.

I still rollerblade with my big wheels to work on ski carving and with my aggressive skates in the skatepark. Xuân got bored with the scooter. He’s now riding a bike with his little brother. My older sons stayed indoors on their digital devices. I skateboard and rollerblade on my own. It’s a bit lonely, but I need to do a bit of exercise. I progress much slower, but I am also getting old. Getting injured isn’t worth the risk anymore. I am not sure how I banged up my left wrist, but it takes forever to heal. It has been like 3 or 4 weeks and I am still in pain. I can’t pull my seatbelt. I can’t even wipe my ass with it.