Warrior in Port Angeles

This past weekend saw us on the road to Port Angeles for a basketball tournament. The hotel was comfortable, the food was great and so was the company. We have a great time with the other families. But as you can see by the photos Noah got a bit beat up this trip.

The Eagles came in 3rd out of 12 teams. Along the way they won 3 games and lost 1 in overtime. One of the games was an 81 to 4 rout. It was a painful game to watch. If Noah's coach hadn't made the boys slow down they would have scored more than 100 points. Our parent group started cheering for the other team. They were completely out of place with the select AAU teams.

That overtime game gave Noah his shiner. The game was very rough. The refs were horrible and let things get out of hand. Noah caught an elbow on the cheekbone which swelled up immediately. The player who gave it to him hit one of Noah's teammates in a game a couple of weeks ago which almost escalated into a fight. Noah to his credit kept his cool and stayed in the game.

We found out that the team Noah's team beat to take 3rd place played that rough team a week ago, and they forfeited and walked off the court because the game was so rough and they didn't want their kids to get hurt.

We had lots of free time between Noah's games to watch the other Arlington team play and to take long walks around the golf course adjacent to the hotel. The weather was beautiful. Dry and sunny for a change. We even visited the waterfront with hopes of seeing the marine science center, but we got there just as it was closing. I was able to take a quick snapshot of the kids and their friends outside. Noah's final game Sunday night started at 5:45 PM. By the time the game was over and we had a bite to eat we had to take the 9:55 PM ferry home. It was nearly midnight before we got to bed. I'm so glad today was a school holiday.

Running on Fumes

I guess that title isn't quite correct because I am still functioning and performing well at my job, but I did go to bed at 8:30 last night. This past weekend was quite hectic.

Friday night was our school carnival. A great event with a Mardi Gras theme. The decorations were great, the halls were packed with kids playing games like horse shoes and wheel of fortune to win silly little plastice prizes, and the silent auction was tremendous. I got a great bargain! I walked away with a jewelry set (earrings, necklace, and bracelet) made with silver beads and fresh water pearls for $15.00. The four baskets I made sold for between $20 and $30. The PTA hasn't released the final profit numbers, but I bet they made at least $6000.00. Although my kids no longer attend this school they still love the carnival. I am always surprised by the large numbers of middle and high school kids we have in attendance every year.

Noah had two basketball games Saturday, Alyssa had a babysitting job Saturday night, and both of us girls got our hair done on Saturday. Noah's team lost both of their Saturday games. His team has become quite schizophrenic this year. We never know which team is going to show up on any given weekend. Sometimes they play tremendously well, and other times they stink up the court. The first game was close and the boys only lost by 3. In the second game Noah's team only scored 24 points to the other team's 36. Usually if we can hold a team to under 40 we win easily. Our guards couldn't make a shot to save their lives. Noah was the high scorer with 8.

On Sunday we had to drive more than an hour for a make up basketball game that was rescheduled from December. This was a much better game. All of the boys scored, and they won by 44 points. Forrest thinks that's what the boys needed to regain their confidence going into this weekend's tournament in Port Angeles. Last year we won the tournament we attended in PA and are hoping for a repeat.

Right now Forrest is on his way to a bridge inspection class. He'll be gone till Thursday. Thankfully Alyssa is available to take Noah to basketball practice for me since I have two late meeting nights this week.

I'm counting the hours till Friday. It's an inservice day so the kids will be at home all day. Forrest is getting off work early, and they're all going to pick me up at school and we'll be on our way to catch the ferry for our weekend get away. I really enjoy this tournament. We stay at the Olympic Lodge. All of the families from the team stay there, and we have a great time hanging out together between games. Last year we had snow and the kids could sled on the golf course behind the hotel. We're going to take our sleds with us just in case.

Right now I'm stuck in my room during my lunch break with some forgetful children who didn't get caught up on their math over the weekend as they were supposed to. So I made them eat in the room and work while they ate. At least I got a chance to get caught up with my blog.

Weekend Highlights

As I said in my previous post Noah's baseball try outs were supposed to be wet and cold. Boy were we surprised to wake up to bright sunshine yesterday morning. It hasn't rained at all this weekend. Forrest said Noah performed well at try outs and several coaches are interested in drafting him. Noah continued to have a great sports weekend with his basketball team winning both of their games. Noah has become a great rebounder. He leads his team in that stat category. He averages almost 8 per game, but has had more than 10 rebounds in each of his last 4 games.

Alyssa has now had several solo drives since getting her license on Friday. It was great to be able to send her to pick up Noah at his friend's house where he spent the night last night.

I put together four silent auction baskets for our school carnival this coming Friday. The parents of my students were very generous this year with their donations of shower gel, lotions, and other bath and body pampering supplies. Each basket is worth 40-50 dollars. The auction is my favorite part of the carnival. The PTA makes as much money at the auction as they do on the games and food combined.

Forrest slaved around the house today cleaning and decluttering. He said he was commiting sacrilege by working on Super Bowl Sunday, that all men should spend the day eating pork rinds and drinking beer all day. It was his idea to clean up, I didn't suggest it. Forrest has a high tolerance for clutter, but every once in awhile he gets fed up with magazines and mail and other piles of clutter and he goes on a cleaning binge. It's funny that these binges never include the bathroom.

New Driver In The Family

It's official! Alyssa has her license and she took her first drive without an adult this afternoon. She took Noah to town to get some milk. She even treated him to a donut at the grocery store. They were gone longer than I expected them to be, and I was a little worried as it was getting dark. Then Noah called from Alyssa's phone to see if I needed anything else from the store. What considerate children I have. Now we just have to wait for the verdict from the insurance company to see how much our car insurance rates will go up. Thankfully she's a girl with straight A's. That will help a lot. I don't even want to think about what we'll be paying in four years when Noah starts driving.

Tomorrow Noah has baseball tryouts. Opening day for the little league season isn't until April 19 so I'm not sure why they scheduled tryouts for February 2nd. The weather forecast is for rain mixed with snow. Tryouts are from 11:30-1:30, then two basketball games at 3:00 and 6:00. He was already on a a majors team last year so he's assured a spot, but there are so many new coaches this year that all of the boys are going back into the draft rather than staying on the teams they were on last year. I'm glad Forrest is taking him to tryouts. I definitely don't feel like standing outside in the cold and wet for two hours.

Alyssa is on her way to a sleep over, she's taking Chex Mix, our Wii, and her copy of the movie "Hairspray." Hopefully she'll get a little bit of sleep. She's a big grump monster when she's short on sleep.

So far we have no Super Bowl plans. We often get together with the neighbors and it's usually a last minute kind of thing. Maybe we'll just be sit in our PJs all day, eat junk food, and watch the game and the funny commercials.

Snow Day

We spent the weekend listening to conflicting weather forecasts about when the snow would hit and how much we should expect. So I was very surprised to be awakened at 5:00 AM by an automated phone service called Connect Ed telling me that there was no school. I peeked out the window to see our yard blanketed in white. I tried to sneak into Alyssa's room and turn off her alarm, but I couldn't find the right button and ended up waking her up.

We hung out with the neighbors, took a walk to the store for chocolate syrup to make cocoa, and watched the Food Network looking for inspiration for dinner. I made grilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch for everyone. The kids had snowball fights and went sledding down our steep, dead end road.

The neighbors came for dinner and we watched The Learning Channel. Now we're just waiting to see if the forecasters are correct and more snow is on the way. Tonight I'm going to leave the phone on my nightstand so if I get a 5 AM call again I won't have to jump out of bed to grab it.

Celebrating Alyssa's Birthday Again

My folks came up from Portland this weekend to have Alyssa's family birthday celebration. Friday evening included presents and a very yummy Italian dinner at Johnny Carino's. Penne, spaghetti, lasagne, fettuccine, and bowtie were enjoyed by all. Since we didn't have a birthday cake we even had dessert which is something we rarely do at a restaurant. Noah and Alyssa had the best dessert, the chocolate cannolis. My mom and I split a very strange version of bread pudding. It was a very dense cakelike dish with caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream. There were no signs that it had ever been bread. My favorite bread pudding is made from day old cinnamon rolls swimming in a bowl of cream from The Turkey House.

I got a present too. My dad delivered a new stained glass piece of art for our home. Alyssa helped design it. The reeds, cattails, dragonflies, and the frog reflect our watery environment living near an estuary. I am certainly fortunate to have two talented artists in my family. I wasn't expecting this new piece of art till my birthday in March. I walked right past it twice, and my family laughingly pointed it out to me.

Saturday of course brought two basketball games for Noah. Both gyms were in unfamiliar territory, and we were lucky to find them on time. The boys lost the first game. The whole team seemed to be out of sorts. Noah pulled in 14 rebounds and scored five points, but the boys who usually lead our scoring attack were cold. The second game was very exciting. You'd never know that Noah's team had suffered a crushing defeat just 90 minutes before. They played with great energy and excitement and came away with a victory.

On Friday I'm taking the afternoon off to take Alyssa to get her license. Then I'll have to find a nearby errand for her first solo drive. I'm not looking forward to this new chapter of our lives where I'll have less control of her activities. But she's a good girl and I know she'll be responsible.

Long Weekend

Our weekend started with Alyssa's birthday party Friday night. She took 7 girlfriends to the opening night of the movie "27 Dresses". A very cute "chick flick," Noah and Forrest would have been bored to tears. After the movie we went to Coldstone Creamery for ice cream. The employees made Alyssa turn bright red when they sang "Happy Birthday" to her. Her friends know her so well. Alyssa got jewelry, scrapbooking and card making supplies, cash, and gift certificates for manicures and to Target. Her real birthday is still nine days away, but she really wanted to take her friends to the movie on opening night so we celebrated early.
On Feb. 1st she'll have had her learner's permit for 6 months so we can go get her license. She already passed her drive test last month so all she has to do is go in for her photo. I'm taking the afternoon off on the first to make an event of this momentous occasion.

Saturday night Noah and Forrest went to the Monster Truck Jam with some friends. They missed the first half hour of the show because the freeway off-ramp was so backed up. The boys had a great time regardless. Who doesn't love noise, dirt, and huge tires?

The rest of our weekend revolved around Noah's basketball tournament. His team was the only 6th grade team to enter so they had to play in the 7th grade bracket. There is a huge difference between 6th and 7th grade boys. The first team they played had one player who was over 6 feet tall, and the second team had two 6'2" boys. Noah's team has four boys who are all about 5'6" (including Noah). They were giving up 8" to those twin towers. The 7th grade is also when the boys graduate to a full size basketball. Noah and his friends are still using a junior size ball in their regular season games. The boys played with a lot of heart considering they were so outsized. Their coach was very proud of them. They played close in all three of their games for the first half, but eventually they got worn down by the larger boys. The bigger ball was a disadvantage to our shooting, especially to our smaller guards who have small hands. Somehow Noah's team ended up playing the top three seeded teams in the bracket. I watched two of the lower ranked teams play, and I'm sure Noah's team could have beaten both of them.