Let the games begin!

When Kayla decided to play hockey last year we thought, ok...this should be fun; and it truly is!  It has been exciting to see her interact with a team, grow as a player and the excitement that illuminates her when her plays are successful.

When this season started we un-knowingly though going from 4 teams down to 3 would be a little more manageable, but little did we know that Justin being on the Peewee team would actually make our scheduled MORE filled than last years...mainly his schedule as we are just the chauffeurs.  Justin generally has practice 4 nights a week at varying times and surprisingly has had practice all 5 days.  He has even had a few practices as late as 10pm and then has needed to be back up the next morning to be at the rink for another practice at 6am. Kayla has practice about 3-4 nights a week but fortunately not such extreme times.  Then there are the games, most Saturdays we have our first game at 7:30AM and then another 2 or 3 games to play later that day and possibly another 2 or 3 more on Sunday.

It amazes me that with as much as they have scheduled with their teams that they still ask to go to open hockey (which is a scheduled free hockey time without coaches), skate outside at friends houses (with those who were lucky enough to get a rink setup in their backyard this year), stick handle in the garage and go to the shooting room at the rink.  This mom thinks both kids are doing exceptionally well on their teams and have been proud at their hard work at every game this year.

As we began to look at our January/February schedules we found that one of us will be out of town the next 5 out of 6 weekends bringing one of the kids to a tournament. This is an exciting time for both the travel teams as well as the parents.  I myself am looking forward to each one of them...not the being away from Blaine and which ever kid is with him that weekend but I guess that is what happens and before we know it the end of the season will be upon us.

You Know You're An Avid Hockey Fan If.......

• Your idea of serving breakfast is giving each of your kids a fork and dropping an Eggo in the middle of the table.
• You reprimand your children with "minors," "majors" and "misconducts."
• When you come to a traffic signal and the light turns green, you stop.
• When you come to a traffic signal and the light turns red, you get really excited and chant, "He shoots! He scores!"
• Instead of duct tape, you use hockey tape to fix everything.
• You call a trip to the Hockey Hall of Fame a "pilgrimage."
• You went into a bank because it advertised "Free Checking"....and walked out disappointed.
• You can pronounce anything in French, yet you have no idea what it means.
• Every time you hear a siren you wonder who scored.
• Everything in your wardrobe is your team's colors.
• Your closet is divided into 2 sections: HOME and AWAY
• You burn the biscuits black.
• You play a game with one of the biscuits.
• You deck the guy who says, "Check, please."
• Your calendar only runs from October to May.
• You wonder how you will get through June, July, August and September.
• When someone says, "two minutes" you respond, "What for!?!"

See you at the rink!