This Is The Best Day I Ever, Ever, Ever, Ever, Ever Had...

..
Those were the words that I heard over and over in the car on the way home from the hockey game, spoken by Kevin.

He leaped out of bed first thing in the morning and his excitement and enthusiasm knew no bounds. It was a nice crisp cold winter morning, perfect for a hockey game. The mood for hockey is just not the same when you change out of your shorts into your hockey equipement. It was fitting that we should come in scarves and mitts!!! I got at school just before 2pm to pick the kids and their bags up and transport them to the arena. When I arrived at school I was just in time to witness the only thing that could make the day EVEN better. Cody, a friend of the boys, had made up a composite stick for Kevin and when I saw him he was smiling so broadly I thought his face would crack!!! The entire team seemed so excited to be playing a game where Kevin and Francis, the other Keystone student, would be playing. This was evident on the bench, as the other guys always chatted with Kevin and patted him on his helmet to show that he did well. In this picture Kevin has the blue helmet on and our friend Josh Verkley is sitting beside him, and they chatter the whole time.... The only thing the pictures don't share is the sound of the crowd. The entire parent fan section, sitting right behind the bench, would cheer LOUDLY when either Kevin or Francis would get the puck. Toward the end of the game they were put on a line with the best players to try and get set up in order to score. KEVIN CAME SOOOOOOO CLOSE!!! He had a clean shot but he missed, and he is disappointed but it wasn't enough to spoil his fun. He skated hard, played hard, and just enjoyed every minute of it. He couldn't believe how fast time went. The periods are 10 minutes long and he said it felt just like 3 minutes.... It was a lot of fun to watch them....I hope to get some more pictures some time since the coach took a lot of pictures....we'll see. Everyone had a lot of fun on this afternoon....and now the season is REALLY over. The next thing we'll throw our energy behind is baseball! (And track and field...it is neat to see how the boys focus on the event of the hour and when it is over, they just move right along!)


I had a great time at the game but I was looking forward to a fun event of my own!!!! I went to London and saw Avalon in concert with my good friend Renata!!!! I have been a Greg Long fan since his very first album and followed his career along to Avalon. It was SUCH a good show, very informal and they sang all my favourite songs!!! That was the best. They rerecorded their best songs as group members come and go. Lots of variety, including an acoustic set. For the second half of their show, Greg Long went into the crowd to take requests from the audience. There were a number of teenage girls behind us (who knew the words to every song!!) so he came right over to where we were.....he's shorter in real life than you might think, but isn't that always the way? Still has an incredible voice and so does his wife Janna. It's always a thrill to attend a good show and hear great "live" music, vocals were live but they sang to tracks...

It Ain't Over Til It's Over

Well...today we got the MOST EXCITING news EVER. Just when we were ready to put hockey behind us for the season (we play our year end tournament tomorrow with all the Woodstock District Christian Schools...) We found out that an additional exhibition game has been scheduled for Friday afternoon. And you'll never believe this....

KEVIN GOT INVITED TO PLAY!!!

Could the excitement level around here get any higher!!!! That called for an immediate post!:)

My Son is My Hero

There is no such thing as too much sports for a body! What a fun week we have had! Tuesday saw us at the arena for our last early morning school hockey practise and Tuesday afternoon....our first exhibition game (which we won). On Thursday we played our second game, which we also won. It has been such fun to sit in the stands and watch these games with the moms and dads who can make it. (I also took Kevin along for those two games, since he only had to miss a half hour of school at the end of each day.) Friday afternoon I got the privilege of driving a carload of basketball playing boys to London for the year end tournament. The boys played two really close games, played their hearts out. Joe was not expecting to play very much especially since the games were so close in score, but you should have seen his face light up when his coach told him to go in. He was just beaming. Beaming is actually an understatement. It was just such a joy to see and made the drive to London totally worth it. He was so pumped.

Since we lost the first game, played at 3:30, we were scheduled to play a second game at 8pm. Between the games we all went to Mr Wolting's house for hotdogs and burgers on the BBQ, chips and pop. Perfect game day food. Much Guitar Hero World Tour was played...some of those guys can really wail! They had a blast and so did the parent drivers! Some of the moms, there were two of us, headed to the nearby Scrapbook Memories store for some paper and other supplies. A good time was had by both and then we headed back to the gym. These are some cards I made today with the papers and alphas I bought, plus some of the ribbon I picked up during the week.


During the second game, the teams were always within one basket of each other and Joe only got a shift or two which was fine by him. We knew that before we came.... He didn't feel the greatest about his playing at that time and came up to sit with me but....I encouraged him to sit out the rest of the game with his friends on the bench. After all, court side seats don't become available everyday :):)

One of my favourite things was the ride home with Joe and two team members Cody and Phil. Cody insisted we hurry home so that he wouldn't have to miss his hockey game. We played loud music all the way home and rocked AND rolled. Cody is on the same hockey team as Craig and they play every Friday night, either at 8pm or at 9:30....this week they had the 9:30 game. SO after ALL that hockey ALL week, ALL that basketball ALL day....these guys were still pumped to go and play hockey. I gave Joe the option of going home for a shower and head off to bed? or go to the game and watch Craig and Cody play? Joe went with door #2, and we ended up at the arena again. We had such fun and Cody's dad came and sat with us....we also saw parents of some of the other boys, which means that they played too after playing all week and all day. They just can't get enough!!! I had a nice talk with Cody's dad since they were kind of in the same boat that we were in with Joe....


I titled this post...My Son Is My Hero. Why? Because he got to play 5 minutes in a game that he wasn't expected to play in at all. It meant more to him to play those five minutes than it meant to some of the other guys to play the whole game....and he was in really great spirits the whole game through. He's not always the most positive thinker about himself so this was a real compliment to hear from his coach. So...he's come such a long way....and worked so hard, and that's what makes him my hero. Love ya, Joe!

His coach is pretty great too, going out on a limb and putting Joe in when he didn't really have to and might take some flack for doing so...and quite brave for having all these hyper lads over to hang out between games. I thought that deserved a card....inside it says "above & beyond".