Halloween is always a special day for our family. Not only is it my Mom’s birthday, but it’s all three of our kids’ favorite holiday. If it wasn’t their favorite holiday before moving to Henderson it certainly was after, as our neighborhood goes big on the decorations and trick-or-treating every year. This is an especially big birthday for my Mom, as she begins a new decade, and I can’t even begin to thank her enough for everything she does. Jessica, the kids, and I all feel very lucky to have her as a regular part of our lives and we wish her the happiest of birthdays!
While we won’t get a chance to see her today, we will get to spend the next few days with her at our house, which everyone is looking forward to. She will be coming over to our house tomorrow afternoon and staying until Sunday. I’ve got a nice birthday meal planned for Friday night, consisting of plant-based tenderloins and ribs from Juicy Marbles, baked potatoes, vegetables, and pumpkin pie (Mom’s favorite) for dessert. We don’t have specific plans during the day on Saturday but that evening Ava has another softball game and she is very excited that Nana will be there to watch her play. I know Mom always talks about what a difference it made in her life when we moved from Washington to Nevada, but it definitely goes both ways. Having her nearby has changed our lives for the better and I’m so thankful for all the memories the kids are making with her.
Tonight we’re looking forward to trick-or-treating in our neighborhood with friends. Tiko and Tina are bringing their girls over, and I’m sure we’ll gang up with a bunch of the neighbors. This is arguably the biggest night of the year for the kids and it’s always a blast watching them live their best lives as they run from door to door, then come home to sort through the night’s treasure. As far as costumes go, Elise was a cheetah today at school, but tonight she is dressing up as Gru from the Minions movies. Ava, who is a huge fan of the Japanese anime series Demon Slayer, dressed up as Mitsuri Kanroji, and Enzo has a hilarious blow up costume of a sumo wrestler. Jessica decided to honor her childhood by dressing up as one of her all-time favorite characters, Mary Poppins. I hate to be a stick in the mud, but I don’t have a costume this year. It’s just me and the cats at home all day so there wasn’t much of a reason for me to put together a costume. However, my Los Angeles Dodgers did win the World Series last night, so maybe I’ll replicate last year’s costume by wearing my Dodgers uniform.
Outside of the Halloween and birthday festivities, things are going well. Jessica is continuing to crush it in her masters program at UNLV. She is getting excellent scores on all of her tests, assignments, and group projects, so she’s feeling good about how the year is shaping up. The first quarter of school recently wrapped up for the kids and each one of them had all A’s and B’s, which we were very proud of. Enzo just finished his rock climbing class and is looking forward to signing up again as soon as possible. Elise continues to enjoy her Saturday morning boxing classes and Ava is doing better than ever in softball. She was asked to play third base in one of our recent games because our normal third baseman was going to be away, and ended up getting our team’s defensive player of the game award! I was so proud of her commitment and preparation for the opportunity. We were showing up early to practice and staying late after practice so we could drill grounders at third and the throw across the diamond to first base.
On my end of things, I’m still in the middle of a job search, as the opportunity I mentioned in last month’s post didn’t work out. That was a tough pill to swallow, mainly because I made it all the way to the final interview before they decided to go with someone else. I was feeling a bit down about it for a couple of days but eventually shook it off and started focusing on new opportunities. I was thinking about something we tell the girls all the time in softball, which is to focus on the two things that are in your control: attitude and effort.
On the attitude side, I had to remind myself that I have a skillset and resume that plenty of companies are looking for. It’s just difficult timing because we’re nearing the end of the year, and we’re in the late stages of a presidential election cycle, both of which have an effect on hiring and spending for many businesses. On the effort side, every day is a “work” day for me. I’m constantly applying for jobs, sending out my resume, talking with recruiters, and scheduling interviews. Based on all of this market research, I have a good idea of exactly what skills employers are looking for, so I purchased three different web development / computer science courses on Udemy and spend hours each day going through them.
In addition to all this job search stuff, I’m also staying busy by working on a freelance project, and doing daily work on the Cappers web application. October is a busy sports month because the NHL and NBA seasons get started, then you have college basketball starting in the first week of November. Devin is doing his best to find investors for Cappers, and if that comes through, it will be a dream come true, but in the meantime, I will continue with this headstrong job hunt approach. I’ve got plenty of irons in the fire at this point and I’m hopeful that it won’t be very long before something comes through. I had an interview yesterday and another one today, both of which went very well, so hopefully I’ll be invited for the next round of interviews in the next few days. I honestly feel like the busiest unemployed person in the world.
Earlier this month we were paid a visit by Grandma and Grandpa Martin, who spent a long weekend with us. They took the kids to a show on the strip, came to one of Ava’s softball games, and the 7 of us attended the NASCAR race that was in town that weekend. They also took us out to an outstanding sushi meal at one of our new favorite restaurants. It was a great visit and we hope to see them again soon.
November will be a big month for us, mostly because Ava will be turning 13 years old on the 25th. Jessica and I can’t believe we’re about to be parents of a teenager, but Ava is a great kid and tends to make things pretty easy on us. Additionally, Auntie Dana and Uncle Brad are coming to stay with us for Thanksgiving, so we’re looking forward to spending that long weekend with them. Another holiday season is upon us, which is crazy, but things are good and we all love this time of year.
That’s about it for now. Happy Halloween and Happy Birthday Nana!!!
Our Oct 2022 update, including school, Halloween, our cats, and some upcoming holiday plans.
It’s hard to believe October is already coming to a close. This month has flown by for us but in a good way. Starting with the kids and school, Enzo was selected as Student of the Month in his second-grade class. This is based on a combination of scholastics, leadership, and effort. Obviously, Jessica and I were very proud of him, but more importantly, he was so proud of himself, especially when his name got called out on the loudspeaker.
Things at school have also been going well for Elise and Ava. Both of them have joined the school choir and are loving it. They meet every Tuesday morning before school, and I can’t wait to see them perform. It’s only open to 4th and 5th graders, so Enzo has time to think about it. Elise has also been involved in an all-girls running club at school, which she is enjoying. Ava recently competed in the school’s annual Four Square tournament. It’s such a popular event that sometimes even adults register to play. She had a blast, as usual.
Here are their most recent school photos:
Preparing for Halloween
Halloween is now just a couple of days away. The kids have already attended several Halloween events over the past couple of weeks, each of which is an opportunity to get back into their costumes and collect candy. Enzo is wearing a scary-looking Morphsuit, Elise is dressing up as an angel, and Ava is literally wearing my Dad’s old dress blues from his time in the U.S. Navy!
I know my Dad was a little guy and all, but it blows me away that my ten-year-old daughter can fit into a uniform that he probably wore in his late teens or early twenties. That’s crazy.
This will be our second Halloween in our new neighborhood, and we’re looking forward to it. Last year was easily the best trick-or-treating I’ve ever experienced. I still can’t believe there was a house spinning fresh cotton candy for each kid. Plus, there was another house that built its own haunted house for people to walk through. The decorations throughout the neighborhood are over the top as well. Luckily, our good friends Tiko and Tina will be bringing their daughters over to walk the hood with us.
Here’s a sneak peek at the kids’ costumes this year.
Birthday Dinner with Nana
We can’t have Halloween without also celebrating my Mom’s birthday. This year we decided to do a family-style meal at Crossroads, our favorite vegan restaurant on the Las Vegas strip. We had previously made a video for the Vegas Showbiz YouTube channel reviewing our first meal there, so we were excited to try it again.
As expected, the food was delicious. Their scallopine parmesan is incredible, as were the other pizza and pasta dishes. Our new favorite, however, was the calamari. It was better than plenty of real calamari dishes I’ve had in the past. My Mom never passes up on calamari at a restaurant and said she would be back just for that.
The kids really enjoyed going out to a fancy with their Nana, and this was long overdue. We were saying we hadn’t done a nice dinner like this with my Mom since my 30th birthday, so hopefully it won’t be nearly as long until the next one.
Surgery for Spencer Kitty
As the owner of long-haired cats, Jessica and I have gotten used to regularly brushing our cats and checking them for mats in their hair. Recently, while checking Spencer, I found what I thought was a hair mat but turned out to be a crusty scab. There was hair dried into it, and I knew it needed to be looked at by a veterinarian. Jessica got her into the vet the following morning, and they couldn’t clean the area up without surgery.
She had a pretty big cut near the armpit of her front left leg, but we still don’t know what caused it. Spencer and Peach are indoor cats, so it’s not like she got into a fight outside. My best guess is that it happened when I saw her jump from the floor all the way to the top of the fridge. It was pretty incredible to witness, but she didn’t make it all the way and ended up having to drag her back legs up. I don’t know for sure if that was the cause, but more importantly, she is healing up nicely. She ended up getting five stitches, which will be coming out Monday morning, but what’s worse for Spencer is having to wear a cone around her neck. These cats don’t even wear collars because they hate them so much, but we had no choice this time.
Another Unexpected Issue with the Pool
I had a crazy close call with our pool equipment a few nights ago. I knew our filters were due for a cleaning, and I had done it a couple of times previously since purchasing the house, so I decided to get it done after work. Pool filter systems operate under heavy water pressure, and anytime you’re working with a pressurized system, there’s a possibility of danger.
In this case, I had no problem letting all the pressure out before opening the big container and pulling out the dirty filters. After (poorly) cleaning the filters, I put them back in the container, put the lid back in place, and tightened the metal belt. Everything seemed to be correctly reassembled, so I turned the water pump back on and got close to the filters so I could watch the pressure gauge rise.
I was probably only two or three feet away, and right around the time when I was thinking the pressure should probably stop rising, the damn thing exploded right in front of me! It was loud, and the fiberglass top of the filtration unit shot straight up in the air like a rocket. There’s an overhand from our house directly over part of this unit, so how it missed the house is a mystery to me.
This piece that shot off was pretty large. It looks like the top half of a fiberglass egg but with a rounder top. It’s probably about three feet tall and is too large for me to wrap my arms around.
When it blew, my immediate reaction was to drop into a turtle position with my arms covering my head. As soon as I hit the deck, I remember thinking I should look up to see if it was going to hit me. I didn’t end up doing it, though, because I didn’t know if something was going to be right there when looking up. It could have been coming down in multiple pieces, and I knew fiberglass was dangerous.
I just stayed there crouched in a ball next to the heater and little wall separating our pool equipment from the flowers, hoping nothing would come down on me. My guess is that from the initial boom until the piece came crashing back down to the ground was a full three seconds. I wish I had perimeter cameras on our property because I would love to see this in a replay. It felt like an eternity while I was crouched up, but eventually, the top landed about 10 feet away on the concrete. The pressure gauge on top of it shattered on impact.
I knew I was lucky not to be injured, but then I realized there was another immediate problem. The whole time I was crouched on the ground, I was getting soaked because the pool pump was still running. If left unattended, it would only be a matter of time before our pool was empty. I immediately ran over to turn off the pump, then just sort of stood there soaking wet, observing everything that just went down and looking around dumbfounded because I knew there were zero witnesses.
I went to my local pool store, which is run by this cool Italian family who is incredibly knowledgeable about swimming pools. I told them what had just happened, and they told me how lucky I was. There have been plenty of cases of injuries and, in some cases, even deaths from this type of accident. Their technician was able to come out to our house that same evening to take a look at everything. Since I was dealing with 22-year-old equipment, I opted to go for a whole new setup rather than trying to piece it back together. The nice thing about this approach is that it comes with a warranty. We knew when purchasing the house that the pool equipment was all original, but I think I’m going to hire a professional next time I need my filters cleaned.
They were out today to install the new filtration system, and the pool is back in normal working order. These types of unexpected expenses are frustrating, although I’ve come to expect them since becoming a pool owner. In this case, however, I’m just feeling fortunate that no one (including myself) got hurt and no other damages were caused. It could have been so much worse. Man, I would love to see a replay though…
Looking forward
As always, we have some exciting things to look forward to. As already mentioned, trick-or-treating on Monday night should be a lot of fun. Once we get into November, it’s all about Thanksgiving and Ava’s birthday. Like the year she was born, Ava’s birthday this year also falls on Black Friday. We figured it would be better to do her party the weekend before Thanksgiving than two days after, so we will be hosting a party here at the house. Her whole class is invited, and we’re expecting quite a few to attend.
After that, Amy and Tom will be coming to Las Vegas in early December to celebrate her birthday. We’re excited that Uncle Joel and Aunt Melanie will also be coming along this year. It’s always fun having family come to visit us in Vegas, so we’re planning out some fun stuff to do. Then, just a couple weeks after that, we will be driving up to the Colorado Rockies to celebrate Christmas at Amy and Tom’s place. The kids were wishing for a white Christmas, and it worked out well for everyone, so we decided to make it happen.
I guess that’s about it for now. Thanks for reading, and happy Halloween! Looking forward to doing the next post about Ava’s 11th birthday. Here are a couple more pics.
Elise and Princess Peach getting some quality time togetherHe’s such a cool little kidSnacking and watching performers at the Italian festival
Getting into the Fall spirit, making friends, meeting neighbors, and getting settled.
October has already been a great month for us, on multiple levels, and we haven’t even gotten to Halloween yet. Halloween is big for us this year; it’s my Mom’s birthday, and the first one since we moved here. Plus our neighborhood goes big for Halloween with tons of decorations. Apparently we can expect hundreds of kids roaming our streets, meaning we need to make sure someone is always at our door to hand out candy, even if the rest of us are out trick or treating.
We’re turning this into a family event by having my Mom, Bob, Sandy and Terry out to the house to hang out that afternoon for dinner before we hit the streets. Then afterwards we can have birthday cake with Nana. Luckily all of our local friends are able to come over and join us for trick or treating as well. We’re going to have a big group and I’m expecting a fun night. My Mom will be staying a night with us for the first time as well, so we get to host her for her birthday. Looking forward to sharing more about it next month.
In the meantime the kids have been staying busy, mostly with Nana, doing all kinds of Halloween activities. There’s been a variety of Halloween-themed attractions they’ve been going to on the weekends. Last Sunday we picked them up early from Nana’s and met our friends at Gilcrease Orchard. We got a box of donuts, picked out our perfect pumpkins in the patch, made our way through a corn maze, and got to check out some live animals.
We’ve also got a couple neighborhood Halloween events coming up this week. There’s going to be an outdoor movie night with drinks and snacks, which is for the whole family. Then on Friday night Jessica and I were invited to the adults only neighborhood Halloween party. We thought that would be a fun way to get to know our neighbors a bit more so the kids will be with Nana that night.
Now that the weather has cooled down we’re seeing people out so much more in the neighborhood, and suddenly the kids find themselves with way more kids to play with than we ever had at our last house. There’s definitely no replacing our good friend Avery from Washington, but there’s about a dozen kids near us that are frequently outside now. I always expected it would be in Fall that we would start meeting a lot more neighbors because people aren’t out and about here in the Summer. Fall here is like Summer in Seattle – sunny everyday with temperatures in the 70’s and 80’s.
Once Halloween is behind us we’ve got a lot to look forward to in November. For the first time in her life, Ava’s birthday falls on Thanksgiving Day, and it just so happens to be her 10th birthday, so it’s a big one. Luckily we’ve got Kristy, Beto, and Madi coming out to spend the long holiday weekend with us! We’re really looking forward to having them out and still finalizing plans on how to coordinate birthday and holiday celebrations.
Speaking of family visitors, we just had our first visitors staying at our house. Dana and Brad did a road trip from their place in Fallbrook, CA to come and see us. It was only a 24 hour visit because they had plans for their anniversary, but we packed a lot in while they were here and it was a blast. It was so nice seeing them and we look forward to paying the visit back on the CA side via a road trip of our own sometime soon.
One thing that’s really cool about living in the Las Vegas / Henderson area is that you never know who it’s going to be, but there’s pretty much always someone in town. It was never like that in Seattle but Vegas is so much more of a travel destination. Last weekend, for example, we were out Friday night for dinner with my good friend Shawn, whom I became friends with 20 years ago when we were busboys at El Gaucho, and stayed close with ever since. He and his wife live in Nashville but came to Vegas for his birthday weekend. Then the very next night on Saturday we met up with Jessica’s good friend Summer, whom she met 20 years ago working in a restaurant in Cedar Rapids. She was in town with family celebrating a 21st birthday. Strange coincidence that they were both friends of ours made in restaurants 20 years ago, who both happened to be in Vegas for a birthday on the same weekend, but the point remains, someone is always in Vegas for the weekend. The best part to go along with that is suddenly now we have a full-time babysitter! It’s been really cool catching up with friends from all over the place, and you never know who’s going to be next.
Beyond all the Halloween stuff everything has been great. School is going well for the kids, and they recently started riding bikes to school. It’s not a daily thing, and Jessica or myself needs to be with them, but we’ve started doing that a bit and they love it. We’ve been doing regular family bike rides on various trails near the house, and getting out for some hiking in nearby desert mountains. These are the kinds of activities we were looking forward to doing once it cooled down.
Ava was able to join the 4th grade robotics club and has been attending those sessions before school on Tuesdays. She is also playing hockey twice a week after school, so she is definitely the most busy of the kids at the moment. She also lost a tooth this week, which hasn’t happened in a long time for her, so that was exciting. Elise and Enzo are both doing great. We’re working on getting activities sorted out for them, and not surprisingly, there are so many options here. I’ve been meaning to take Enzo to the BMX track here in Henderson but we haven’t made it happen quite yet. Elise has made a good friend in our new neighborhood so they have been spending a lot of time together.
Now that we’re totally settled into the new house Jessica is focusing on her next step. She’s considering a job but also considering starting her own business, so it will be fun to see how it turns out.
Railing update
I feel like until this project is 100% done I need to give updates on it. It’s been in progress since July, so I can barely imagine what life will be like once the railing project is no longer a part of it. Since my last post I finished installing all the iron bars below the railing, stained the rail, and finished it with a heavy gloss. We’re really happy with how it looks, and it means our project is down to the painting work that needs to be done on the exposed wood parts. Here’s a recent pic:
I was supposed to have a painter out this past week to estimate on it, but he no-showed twice, so it’s back to square one. We’ve thought about doing the painting but considering this is the main entry of our house, we want it to look as good as possible. I’m planning on doing another video tour of the house but I’m not doing it until this paint work is complete. Hopefully we can wrap it up soon.
That’s about it for now. We’ve got a lot of new photos to share. Happy Halloween!
The coolest thing about losing this tooth is the fact that she pulled it herself in the school bathroom!Elise & Spencer getting some quality outdoor timeHis teacher says he’ll do anything for a laugh
As per usual with our family, things have been very busy for us lately, and I mean that in a good way. Since returning from my trip to Japan, we’ve been to a wedding, had multiple visits from family, had a very fun Halloween, and taken a trip to Canada for another hockey tournament! I’ll go in chronological order, starting the very next weekend after returning from Japan.
Not only was it an honor for me to stand up as a groomsman in Kristy and Beto’s wedding, but it was a pleasure for our whole family to attend. The wedding was held at a farm in Buckley, practically in the shadow of Mt. Rainier. We got lucky with beautiful weather, and enjoyed a full day of dancing, eating, and in the kids case, lots of running around playing with friends.
It was a pretty large event, with at least 100 guests, many of whom we had never met before. Since we had already done the wedding party weekend in Lake Chelan at the end of summer, it was great to see everyone from that group again and get caught up. This was my first time standing up as a groomsman in any wedding and I enjoyed it. I really liked the whole group of guys and would definitely call all of them friends at this point. Hopefully we can all get together again sometime soon.
The ceremony itself was beautiful and very memorable. Ava had been saying for months that she was going to cover her eyes when the bride and groom kissed, so I made a point of looking at her right at that moment to see if she followed through. As it turned out, the emotion of the moment had gotten to her and she was weeping just about as much as anyone, and she did not cover her eyes for the kiss, which I was glad to see. It was great seeing our kids all dressed up, enjoying the moment, and making friends.
After the ceremony most of our afternoon and evening was spent on the dance floor. They had a great DJ who was really funny and playing all kinds of good music. Unlike our kids, I’m not normally that into dancing, but that always changes at a wedding. I’m more than happy to make a bit of a fool of myself on the dance floor, and it was fun watching the kids cutting it up all night long. They also had a fun photo station with all kinds of props to hold, so we took advantage of that and got some pretty hilarious shots.
Overall it was such a fun and memorable day. We’re very thankful to Kristy and Beto not only for inviting us, but for making us a part of the event. We couldn’t be happier for them, and are very much looking forward to hearing about their upcoming honeymoon in France and Italy! They leave at the end of this month and will be back in early December.
At the end of October we were paid a visit by my Mom for Halloween, which is also her birthday. We were all very happy to see her, and the kids were especially excited to see what her costume was. She gave them a hint, which was that it had a tail, and Enzo couldn’t get off a water theme with his guesses the whole time. Shark, mermaid, and whale were some of my favorite guesses of his, but it turned out to be a cat. Not just any cat either – she had the most realistic cat mask I’ve ever seen! It was almost a bit creepy because it had the most unrelenting stare ever. I found myself having to look away after a bit because I felt like it was peering into my soul.
In addition to Nana’s cat costume, we dressed up as the following: Enzo was Darth Vader (or Dark Vader as he says it) on Halloween night, and Captain America for his school party earlier that day, Elise was Belle from Toy Story, Ava was a mermaid, Jessica was Princess Leia from Star Wars, and I was Blippy, a popular kids character on YouTube.
Instead of trick-or-treating in our own neighborhood, we decided to switch it up this year by heading over to the Silver Firs neighborhood by the kids school. It wasn’t that different from our own neighborhood, but was still a nice change of pace. I was particularly surprised by how many kids were mesmerized by my Blippy costume. One parent even went so far as to ask me if I would pose for a picture with their son, which of course I was happy to do.
It may have been a bit chilly, but it was our first dry Halloween in a few years, so we were all happy with that. Overall we didn’t get a drop of rain for nearly two weeks straight, including all of Mom’s visit, so that was really nice. Several houses were decorated quite nicely, but there was one in particular that went above and beyond. They had a full graveyard in their front yard, a pumpkin at the very top of the streetlight out front, creepy videos playing in windows, lights in storm drains, and even a weiner dog dressed up as a dinosaur to greet everyone. Kudos to that family for doing such a great job!
In addition to going out Halloween night, Jessica took the kids to a costume party at their school the previous weekend. There was a cupcake contest going on, and since Elise has been saying lately that when she grows up she wants her own pastry shop, we thought it would be fun for her to make her own cupcakes and enter them in the contest. She worked really hard decorating them, and as it turned out, she ended up winning the contest! We were so proud of her, and of course she was ecstatic. I love the idea of her getting into baking so we’re definitely encouraging her to keep it up, and getting this kind of positive affirmation can only help with that.
We kept Nana busy with various activities the whole time she was here. She carved pumpkins with the kids, read lots of books with them, attended Enzo’s class party, went to the ice rink with us 3 days in a row to watch Ava’s practices and games, and got to spend an evening with Kristy, Beto, and Madi, who came over one night for dinner.
Another really special visit took place on her last day in town when we got to visit my Aunt Norma and cousin Ken, whom we hadn’t seen in far too long. Norma is my Dad’s sister, and she has always been so good to me. I have the fondest memories of her throughout my childhood, and lately I’ve been in regular communication with her son Ken, so it was really special to be able to set this up with them while my Mom was in town. Unfortunately Jessica, Elise, and Enzo weren’t able to join us because they already had tickets for Disney On Ice that day, but Ava came along with Mom and I, then we went straight to hockey practice after. I was really proud of Ava because I had given her the option to either go with Mom and her siblings to the Disney show, or come with Nana and I to visit Aunt Norma, then go to hockey. Without hesitation she said “Anytime I can be with Daddy and Nana, then play hockey, I’m in!”
As expected the visit was very special, and they were so impressed with Ava. She conducted herself so well and made me very proud. Since Jessica, Elise, and Enzo couldn’t make it, I promised Aunt Norma that all 5 of us would be out again very soon for a holiday visit. It’s important to me that she gets time with all of our kids, and I know they will love it just as much as she does.
After hockey practice that day we took Nana to the airport and had to say goodbye. It was a really great visit with her, but they always go by too fast. We really appreciate her coming up and look forward to another one sometime soon.
A couple weeks after Nana’s visit we were paid a visit by Grandma Amy and Grandpa Tom, who ended up joining us in Canada for our first travel tournament of the season. There are a total of 4 tournaments this season, and we’re planning on going to 3 of them. For comparison’s sake, we only made it to one last season, but it was so much fun that we really wanted to ramp it up this year.
We were in Burnaby, which is directly connected to the eastern part of Vancouver. You don’t even realize you’ve left Vancouver because it’s such an urban area. It’s in an area called Metrotown, which has a big shopping mall and more Asian restaurants than I’ve ever seen anywhere, other than Asia itself. We drove up Friday evening, checked into our hotel, and ended up at this awesome Chinese restaurant for dinner. It wasn’t your typical American Chinese restaurant, but instead was so much more authentic. Some of my favorite dishes included the pan fried pork dumplings, and salt & pepper fried shrimp, which I followed customs on by eating the whole thing, head first.
Our first game was at 7:00am Saturday, and players had to be there 45 minutes before gametime, so it was an early start. We were caught off guard by the way this referee was doing line changes, so the other team got the first goal while we were switching players and had basically no one on the ice. Even though we took 3 times as many shots as them, they had the best young goalie I’ve ever seen, and we ended up losing the game 2-1. It’s okay though because the loss lit a fire under our girls and they played amazing in the other two games, crushing our next two opponents by about 10 goals in each game.
After the early game on Saturday we had the whole rest of the day to ourselves, and it was raining, so we decided to go to Science World in Vancouver. This was the best science center I have ever seen, with so many activities to enjoy and shows to watch. We ended up spending about 3.5 hours there and everyone really enjoyed it. The rest of that day was spent relaxing at the hotel, and going swimming, although we were caught off guard when we found out our hotel pool was outside! It was heated, so the kids were fine with it, but the adults all had to sit there wrapped up in towels trying not to freeze. It was pretty funny and memorable, but there was no way any of us were getting in that water. That night Tom, Jessica, and I had a really authentic Japanese meal at a Ramen restaurant while Grandma stayed at the hotel with the kids. I had been craving Ramen since leaving Japan and this place really hit the spot.
Our game on Sunday morning wasn’t quite so early, so we all got to have breakfast together at the hotel before heading to the rink. Five seconds into the game Ava got the puck on her stick, passed it to her teammate, who was right in front of the goal, and scored. That was her first of two assists that game, and she ended up playing great. That night at the team dinner everyone kept talking about how well she was passing, and how tough and physical she was. She’s the second biggest player on the team, and spends most of her time these days playing defense, which is a natural fit for her. We’re not really supposed to be checking at this age level, but Ava plays a physical game that way, and gets so much praise for it. She made a couple physical, but totally clean plays, during this tournament that left her opponents in tears, but you never get complaints from any of the Canadian coaches or families because that’s the way they prefer to play as well. We ended up winning that game 12-1.
Later that afternoon we met up several of her teammates and their families at another hotel and went swimming. This time it was an indoor pool, so that worked out nicely, then that evening we went to the team dinner at Boston Pizza. It’s always chaotic when you get that many kids together at a restaurant, but it was a good bonding experience for everyone, parents included.
Since it was Veteran’s Day yesterday, we had one more game to play, and again Ava did great. She stuck back on defense the whole time and did really well stopping shots before they even got to the goalie. She was cutting off opponents and forcing them outside to the boards, and played a very tough and physical game. We were up by 12 or 13 goals at one point, then started to lay off a bit, which allowed the other team to come back a bit later on. We ended up winning by 9 or 10, which doesn’t matter because you don’t keep score at this level, but still feels good, especially to be dominating Canadian teams like that.
Not only did our girls do well, but so did all of the teams representing Washington Wild, and our 14U team actually won the whole tournament for that age bracket! After the final game we said our goodbyes to the rest of the team and got on the road. Luckily crossing the border wasn’t too bad and we made good time getting home. We got to spend one more night at home with Grandma and Grandpa, and enjoyed watching the Seahawks pull off a nail-biter over the undefeated 49ers on Monday Night Football.
Today Grandma and Grandpa head home, and the rest of us are back to our normal schedules. As usual, it was a really fun getaway weekend, and we look forward to the next one. All 5 of us always love going to Canada, and staying in hotels is always a special treat for the kids. Next up we’ve got a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Rudd coming for Thanksgiving, so that should be fun. I love Thanksgiving, and just hope there are no food debacles this year. I’m leaving the turkey to Grandpa Rick and will focus on the sides, which are always my favorite part anyway. Enjoy the recent photos, as well as a montage of video clips from Ava’s tournament.
Thank you Kristy and Beto for such a great day! Our handsome little guy The girls looking beautiful in their purple dresses #FatherSon The kids had a blast dancing all day Photo stations are always fun Elise had so many props on you can’t even tell who it is! Elise making the cupcakes that ended up winning the school competition! Elise doing her best “Belle” from Toy Story We had so much fun spending Nana’s birthday with her! And getting lots of candy… Our Star Wars contingent Ready to hit the streets! Visiting with Aunt Norma and Ken was such a treat Our first night in Canada Everyone had fun at Science World Ava wearing the perfect shirt for posing under a T-Rex skeleton Elise and Grandma getting creative Ava with a sweet move in Sunday’s game Ava’s photo from the Veteran’s Day tournament
