Nice one Nick

Nicholas caught this fish in the pond behind our house. I was in the kitchen and heard him yelling that he "had one" I told him to hang on, that I would be right down there with the camera. Thank goodness I always have that thing handy! When Nick, Hayden or Bob are in the yard fishing, Sally always stand guard of them. The white pole to the right of Nick is where they leave their poles and if they see their bobber go under, they run out and see what's on the line.

Let me see

Sally wanted to get in on the action too. As soon as Nick brought the fish out of the water, Sally jumped on it and wanted to see it was all about. Not sure that she was really too impressed with it though.

smaaaaaash

Hayden and I drove 3 1/2 hours up to Charlotte, North Carolina for him to tryout for a team that will be made up of North and South Carolina players. If you made the team, you would need to travel back to Charlotte for 3 weekends for training, then you would have to travel another weekend to Raleigh to play in the SC/NC State games. After this, there would be another training session (2 days) in Charlotte, and then we would travel 10 1/2 hours to Philadelphia to play in a big tournament up there. We would play a scrimmage game on Tuesday night @ 8pm and then the tourny would start on Wednesday and go through Sunday. Hayden wanted so badly to make this team. He made me proud! He went out there very focused, worked hard and did not mess around at all. I think he may have sent home several players with some severe bruising though!

This is Hayden on the "puddle" with a different player from another team. You will see Hayden against the boards wearing white. Yes, he is literally "smashing" a kid against the boards. He is playing in the Squirt league where there is no checking, but because they will be playing kids older than them and they check, this team must also learn to check. No problem with Hayden doing that - he lives for checking! I figured the coach would either pick him for the team because he was tough, or he would tell me to take my child home because he was a bully. Fortunately, he was picked for the team. So, we will now be spending Memorial day weekend and then each weekend through the end of June traveling to train and play hockey! I hope the tires are good on my car!

The Puddle

This one is Hayden on the "puddle" with his fellow team member from the Charleston Wolverines. They played 2v2 with an additional goaltender each. This is Hayden getting a shot off on goal. The idea of this drill was to be the team to score first.

Look Mom, no hands

Jenn (our trainer) decided to give Sara's legs and balance a really good work out. She lined up 3 jumps in a row - short, a little higher and then even higher. She asked Sara to jump all 3 in a row with no hands. Badger was great, he did as he was asked and took only 2 strides between each jump. Sara's balance was super. As you can see by the picture she was out of her saddle and balanced superbly! She was so proud of herself. Doing stunts like this, gets the adrenalin flowing and she wants to do more! When Mom is there though, there is a limit!

Relay 4x100

One of Sara's events was the 4x100 relay race. Sara ran the 3rd leg of the race around the bend of the back of the track! She loved it, kept up a great pace and helped her team to a first place finish! Sara also ran the 100 meter sprint and finished 2nd in her heat and in the final finished 3rd. Not bad for a "gimp" Sara had pulled the quad muscle in her leg the week of the race, and wasn't quite healed yet. Her next event was the softball throw. She did quite well in that one, finishing 3rd in her age group. Not bad for someone who throws like a "girl."

Thank you...

Sara wanted to see how "gentle" Badger would be if she put a carrot in her mouth and offered it to Badger. Well, I must say that he lived up to our expectations...... he moved over to Sara, sniffed the carrot and took it gently out of her mouth. Now if you ask me, that's trust!

Red Fish

Here's Bob fishing in the pond behind our house. He was so excited to have a big one on the line. When we saw him outside, he had been trying to reel in the fish for 15 minutes. He had walked around the pond twice trying to find a "good spot" to reel it in. Obviously he did not find one very quickly. Anyway, Nick and I saw him and went to help out - Nick with a net and a Kayak we conveniently saw behind someone's house (yes, rather cheeky to say the least - but we did put it back) and me with my camera in hand trying very hard not to laugh at everyone involved.

Let me help

Here's Mr. Greg from across the street. He's a fisherman and came out to help. He was all dressed up ready to take the kids out to a birthday treat, but he hopped into the boat and - like any fisherman would, decided that the birthday celebration had to wait! (I hope Brenda doesn't see the blog!) Well, after about 45 minutes of chasing the very smart red fish around the pond, they could NOT net it or reel it in. It gave us one more good splash - just to tease I think - and then proceeded to snap the line. Until next time, the red fish won and it was time for Greg to go and get changed and take the kids to the birthday celebration! Even Nick had to get changed again since he got his brand new shorts mucked up! And just so you all know, they have been fishing in the pond every day since March 28th trying to catch the elusive red fish. I will let you know if he ever loses focus and gets himself caught.

Let's go Dude

As you can see, one must get around any way one can when one does not have a car, or one is too young to drive a car. Actually, Nick's friend Mac seems to have all the toys a boy would need. They either travel on this go cart, their bicycles or Mac's golf cart. It's amazing how boys seem to be able to just "make do" with what they have. Watch out if you are ever heading into Rivertowne - you don't know what or who you will encounter.

Boring.......

This is Nick with his friend Mac. They had been down at the pond fishing when they decided it was time to come in as they were being eaten alive by the NO SEE UMS (I am sure I spelled that incorrectly). They are horrible. I gave Mac a hat to wear, as the bugs love the head. If your arms and legs are not covered up, when you come in the house you will look like you have the measles.

MOOSE AWARD....

Nicholas was the recipient of the MOOSE AWARD for his hockey team two weekends in a row. For some reason Nick decided to save his best games ever for the end of the season. I guess you could say that he wanted to go out with a bang! He played so well, scored several goals, and got several assists in 2 games in a row. I am so proud of how well he played - unfortunately, one of his best games ever was in Atlanta, and wouldn't you know.... neither Bob nor I could be there. What a shame. I am however happy that the parent and friend that we sent him with has always been very good at giving the praise when needed, and a "reminder of how you need to be playing" when not playing up to par.

WAY TO GO NICK!!!