Colin is finally old enough to play on a basketball team. He plays with other first and second graders. His coach is awesome.
I won't be able to attend his first game, but I did make it to their second practice. The coach had them doing lots of drills to improve dribbling, stopping, defending, and passing. Many smile-inducing moments. I predict the first game will be a little chaotic.
And I believe that at the end of practice, a consensus was reached regarding the team's name: The Fire Angels Eagles!
In retrospect, I'm embarrassed that my family and I fell for this Who's Who scam. How did they get my name? Did the school sell it to them? Why on earth did we think it would be a good idea to pay for the book?
It's like a really crummy, black-and-white yearbook of a million classmates you've never met. What is this I don't even.
After packing and lugging it around for the past 27 years, its finally going into the trash!
The kid and I have been bowling quite a bit since we moved here. The only place is Zeppoz, way over in Pullman.
Zeppoz is pretty nice. We can usually just "walk-in" on a Sunday afternoon, but sometimes they won't have any free lanes. I need to remember to call ahead.
I also need to remember his shoe size. Is it 12? 13?
Within the last year he stopped using the ramp and now throws the ball himself.
I swear the lanes aren't flat. His slow-rolling balls almost always fade to one side or the other. Perhaps they are designed that way so the balls will find a gutter rather than get stuck in the middle.
Sometimes he gets frustrated at being unable to get a strike or spare, and this is one of the few games we play where I don't let him win. A month ago, however, something unexpected happened. He beat me fair-and-square! He was "on fire" and had four spares!
This gorgeous clock was made by my Great Uncle, Henry. My mom and her siblings could choose either an Idaho-shaped clock or a more traditional mantle-style clock.
This one formerly belonged to my Aunt Carol and was hanging at Karen's house. I commented how nice I thought it was and she asked if I'd like to have it. I'm thrilled to have it!
We had a great new-years weekend trip to the bustling town of Grangeville and the Snowhaven ski resortmountain hill.
Based on recommendations from our friends, Anne decided to rent "the suite" at Grangeville's finest hotel -- the Super 8. Even with two rooms it was crowded for the seven of us. The hot tub functioned as storage for our snow gear. The room's temperature was extremely difficult to control. Jake built and slept in a fort made from couch cushions.
The first day we all went on the tubing hill. You sit in the tube and get towed up to the top. There are two runs, which seemed equally fast to me. Since riding down by yourself is interesting only a few times, its much more fun to go down in large groups. Seems to go faster that way too. See videos below.
On the second day most of us strapped on skis or snowboards and took to the lifts. The weather was just lovely, although a little cold. No chairlift at Snowhaven, so the choices are either the rope tow or the T-bar. Both are difficult. The T-bar is especially hard for us boarders. It works best to have both boots strapped in and the bar between your legs.
We're especially proud of Grandma who (according to the ticket still on her snowsuit) last skiied in 1999! She enjoyed the wider skis and more comfortable boots available today. She had a few disagreements with the T-bar though. It left her with a particularly nasty elbow bruise.
Snowhaven's tubing hill is pretty awesome. It seemed particularly fast on this day.
Here's Duane on a solo run:
