School Year is Winding Down

It's hard to believe that two weeks from tomorrow will be the final day of school for my students and Noah.  This has been a very challenging year.  Thirty-one students is the most I have ever had.  One third of them came to me as low readers.  I am happy to report that almost all of them have made tremendous progress in that vital subject.  All three of the fourth grade classes had 31 kids this year.  Without my student teacher, Mikaela, to help shoulder the load from January through April we might have all gone crazy.  When she had full charge of my class I was able to assist in other classes and cover classes when substitute teachers were in short supply.

 Despite a rainy forecast our annual field trip to Kayak Point Park came off without a hitch.  It was sunny and warm all day.  Warm enough that some of my silly students thought it was warm enough to go wading in Port Susan Bay.  Of course that was against my instructions, but since their parents were chaperoning the trip I let it go.

Another end of the year event has also passed by.  Noah's Junior/Senior Prom.  He went with a large group of kids.  Luckily for Noah one of his friends has a step-dad who owns a car dealership which includes a large Escalade limousine for the ride to Safeco Field for the dance.

Noah's AAU basketball career is now over.  He played his final North City games on May 19th.  Now it's onto summer ball with the high school. They played in a tournament over Memorial Day Weekend. They beat Stanwood and Burlington, with one loss to Lynden.  He now has tournaments every weekend through June 22.  Then he will go to camp at WSU the week before Hoopfest.  The culminating trip will be to basketball camp at University of California at San Diego.  Forrest is traveling with the team, and Alyssa and I will join them for the final days of camp.  Then we will stay in southern California for a few more days of family time.

After playing in the state tournament Noah has received some interest from a few NCAA Division 3 schools in Washington and Oregon.  Hopefully his summer ball and next year's regular season will  gain some more interest.  He would love to continue playing after high school.

This picture is further proof that the kids are growing up way too fast.  Alyssa's best friend, Kaitlin, is on her way to her first post, Bahrain.  She will be there for two years serving as a Master at Arms while continuing her criminology studies.  Her sister, Rachael, is Noah's age, and is planning on going to vet school at WSU.  Alyssa is almost done with her junior year of college at Eastern.  She will graduate one week after Noah in June of 2014.  She will then complete her student teaching somewhere near home and will then be looking for teaching jobs.

End of the Season

 Noah and Coach Brown pose with the 5th place trophy. This is the highest a boy's team has ever placed for Arlington.  The boys went 22 and 5 for the season.  Noah was chosen as player of the game 3 times by the local radio announcers.  Here is one of his post-game interviews.

 These 5 boys have played together since they were in the 4th grade.  Here they pose with their youth basketball coach, Bud.  What a great group of young men.  Bud did a great job preparing them for high school basketball.

         Coach Brown's 4 year old son, Drew, loves to be part of the huddle during time-outs.

                                              Five juniors celebrate their 5th place finish.

     Noah and his fans.  We sure appreciate visits from Alyssa, Mom and Dad, Michelle and Fuller.

                 Noah and his good buddy, Terry, pose with the state trophy and Terry's big head.

Noah and Terry were elected to the WESCO North first team. Kaleb was chosen for the second team, and Bradey and Gavin received honorable mention honors.  Terry broke the school scoring record which had stood since the 1970s.  He scored more than 1200 points in his high school career.
On Wednesday we will have the end of season banquet.  It will be sad to say good bye to the seniors, Terry, AJ, and Russell.  Next year Noah and his friends will be the top group.  Time has sure flown by. Forrest has been filling out NCAA forms so Noah will hopefully be recruited to play for a small college somewhere.

Alyssa is gearing up for finals week and spring break.  She attended her first bachelorette party this weekend.  She will be one of the bridesmaids at her roommate's wedding in Chelan during her spring break.  I am going with her, and we're going to stay at Campbell's Resort.  The off season is the only time I can afford to go there.  It will be nice to have a girls' getaway.

Basketball Begins

 Last night Noah and his teammates celebrated a tremendous win over neighboring Stanwood.

The Arlington Eagles have won their first four games of the season.  This was a tough game for Noah as Stanwood has boys who are 6'8" and 6'10".  Noah  and his friend, Terry, are Arlington's tallest players at 6'5" each.  Noah played amazing defense.  He scored 9 points and held Stanwood's tall guys to only 7 points combined. Noah even made the front page of today's sports page.  This group of boys have played together for years, and they are really coming together as a unit.  It's going to be an exciting season.  On Friday we travel to Monroe for the first conference game.

Many of  the boys spend a lot of time at our house. They empty the fridge, play video games, watch movies, and leave messes every where.  As much as I grumble about their messes I love having them here. Noah has done a great job choosing his friends.

Homecoming 2012

Noah and his buddies had a busy day. They played and won two basketball games at Shoreline Community College, then they rushed home to shower and change, and then they had to meet the girls for pictures before dinner and the dance. Noah and Marissa make a cute couple.

                               They were part of a large group. Noah's friend Bradey drove his
                                          mother's day care van to get everyone to the dance.

                                                  Silly boys making their mean faces!

Idaho Vacation

 As promised here is a post without any basketball photos.  We spent a glorious four days at a floating house at the southern end of Lake Pend Oreille in Bayview, Idaho.  The lake is huge, the 5th largest in the United States.  Our friends the Brysons joined us on this expedition.  The weather was warm, nearly 90 degrees every day.  The house came with a paddle boat and a canoe, and we rented a ski boat for a day too.  The kids spent a day at Silverwood on the rides and in the water park.  While they were at Silverwood the grown ups enjoyed a day exploring the lake, tasting local beers at the Laughing Dog brewery, and having a great lunch at a local pub.  My favorite part of the vacation was getting up early, brewing a pot of coffee, and sitting on the dock watching the birds and reading.  I usually had it all to myself for at least an hour, and then gradually the rest of the crew would get up and join me. This is the view from the dock in front of the house.

 Tracy and I had to hold on for dear life when Forrest took off on a bumpy ride across the lake.

This house looks like someone's mad project.  It is on an adjacent dock to the one we rented.  It looks like a new room in a new style has been added each year for many years. I would love to have been able to look inside.

More Basketball

I have just noticed that all of the pictures I have posted this summer except for the Relay for Life photos have been basketball related.  Here is one more.  Two weeks ago Noah and his teammates attended team camp at Central Washington University in Ellensburg.  They had a great time and won every game they played including the championship game against Lynden.

I really need to get outside with my camera and take some non-basketball pictures.  So far in addition to basketball and Relay for Life commitments I have spent my summer break reading, cleaning out closets, shampooing upholstery and carpets, and working in the yard.  I have discovered two new mystery series.  Charles Todd is a mother/son mystery writing team.  They write the Bess Crawford series about a WWI nursing sister who solves crimes, and they also write the Ian Rutledge series about a Scotland Yard detective and his return to work after WWI.  I have already read six of their books since school got out.

Walking portions of the Centennial Trail is another activity I have been enjoying since school got out.  It runs from Snohomish to near the Skagit County line.  I have walked various portions of it around Marysville and Arlington.  Usually 5 to 7 miles at a time.  I hope to try out the more southern portions soon.  I promise that the next picture I post will not be basketball related.

Hoopfest 2012

 June 29-July 1, 2012 found the Jones family in Spokane for our 7th Hoopfest Weekend.  Alyssa and her favorite babysitting client, Chloe, love to hang out during this weekend of boys playing ball.  They tried to catch some cooling spray from the Spokane River on the bridge between games. As much as I grumble about the cost of our hotel bill at the Doubletree it was very convenient this year. The hotel is part of the convention center complex and Noah's court was right in front of the convention center.  I've already reserved our rooms for next year.

 Noah's team started out strong winning four games in a row. Then they struggled and lost their final two games to take second place in their 16 team varsity bracket.  They all played hard against some tough competition.  The first two games they just had three players so they all had to play every minute of both of their Saturday games.  Noah, Shawn, and Kaleb all worked very hard and won those first two games easily.  Bradey came over Saturday night and joined the boys for the Sunday games. No trip to Spokane would be complete without a visit with Grandma Axtell.  The kids had a great time visiting with her.

I am always surprised when I see how much taller Noah is than Forrest.  I think he's still growing.  He is 6'5" in his basketball shoes and 6'4" in bare feet.  He hopes to reach 6'6".