Our Crazy Life

TOURNAMENT UPDATE

Hello again from the nation's capital !

The Cougars played their third game of the Bell Capital Cup Tuesday morning against the Iqaluit Blizzard.  They were the team whose presence intimidated us the first day of the tournament.  To say they were big is an understatement.  Some of their players looked like football players.  Their size did not inhibat their skill.  They could skate and handle the puck way better than our team and especially our one and only big kid.  One of their players also won a trophy while playing in the all-star game. 

The Cougars won the game 2-1.  We played a so-so good game.  Our goalie and defense pretty much kept us alive.  We should have scored at least eight goals on open nets.  Some of our players lack the ability to hit the net and receive passes to deflect the puck into the net.  It was heartbreaking at times but also very exciting hockey as the Iqaluit team had players that could weave a trail through most of our players.  We took a few penalties and played short handed four times.  Carter played like his usual self up until he barrelled into the opponents net.  He landed on his front and hit the left post at almost full throttle.  The trainer rushed to his side faster than a speeding bullet.  Carters ribs were a little bruised and he was in a lot of pain.  Like a trooper he was back on his feet returning to the bench in seconds.  We were playing non-stop time so we didn't want to delay the game.  Carter returned to the game his next shift.  In a matter of 30 seconds a Blizzard player hit our goalie into the post and he suffered the same injury.  Again, the trainer returned to the ice to get him back on his skates to finish the game.  We only have one dedicated goalie. 

The third win of the tournament gave us our "L" division title putting us in the semi-finals.  First we had to participate in the Atom B skills competition.  The skills competiton consisted of four events.  Carter participated in the relay race event.  They did alright placing a close second in their event.  Carter was still aching from his injury.  He was the last skater and skated his heart out to help the team place second.  Our team pretty much sucked in all the other events.  This was a major wake-up call at how much we need to practise and/or the ability/ambition of our players.  After the skills competition we had to hustle to a different arena for our semi-final game.  The players were well rested and all had been fed.  We were a little anxious during the skills competition that we would make the game as it took almost three hours to complete. 

We played the West End Warriors in our semi-final game.  Our players for the most part did their best.  Our opponents were a finely turned skating machine.  They were from the "E" division and you could tell they loved the game.  They had plays they performed with skill and precision.  We all commented that in our association they would be the A team.  We did pretty good at holding them to three goals.  The final score was 0-3, our goalie had a very good game to keep it at only three.  Carter was a little chippy thus spent some time in the penalty box.  He saved us from more than one goal as did one of our defensemen.  Carter was also scolded more than once by the referee for unsportsman like behaviour.  Luckily he wasn't penalized.  He was just a little anxious his team was not in the game.  He doesn't understand why his team mates can't play good every game, thus, he doesn't think he should either.   Once he gets on the ice though he forgets all his frustrations and plays the game the way he believes he should.  He was pretty much the only player that was sad they were not advancing.  It was apparent that most of the players had had enough of the tournament.  Oh well.

The mention of a manditory 7:00am practise on Saturday morning created a major negative response from the team.  We also play a game in the afternoon which created a positive responce.  The boys who consistantly attend practise show major improvement over the abstantees.  We can not make them attend nor bench them, too bad. 

That is all to report on the Bell Capital Cup Tournament for 2008.

 

COUGARS WIN SECOND GAME OF TOURNAMENT

Hello again from the worlds biggest hockey tournament !

Good news to report.  The Cougars B2 team won their second game today.  The entire team showed up to play and win.  We won the game 4-2 against the West Carleton Warriors.  Carter got an assist.  He played as good as he did the first game.  Only one trophy per player for the tournament.  It was a little close at times.  We were evenly matched.  Our goalie kept us alive for most of the game and won MVP today.  Carter's friend Cameron won hardest working player.  He also had a good game.

Take care,

GOOD TIDINGS HAD BY ALL

We are glad to hear everyone had a good Christmas.  It sounds like we missed some good times.  Merv won at Wii bowling, Yahoo!  It was nice to hear you all got to do the bowling event after all.  Next time Odin will be champ as he is fortunate to be able to practise every day.  Also glad to hear all had safe travels.  Not surprised that all enjoyed wonderful hospitality as Roberta (& family) and Ruth (& Larry) have done so many times in the past.  They did learn from the best (M&M).

It is already the 29th.  The days seem to go by fast during the holidays.  We enjoyed a nice quiet Christmas Day all to ourselves.  It was nice to talk on the phone with most of you.  Carter spent most of the day reading all his books and comics and playing with his new games.  He was and is most thankful and appreciative for all his gifts.  He is anxious to spend his cash but somehow manages to forget his wallet when we go out.  What is the phrase, burning a hole is his wallet.  He is leaning towards opening a bank account so he can save his money. 

We invited a few families to bowl on Boxing Day.  We bowled three games on four lanes.  The scores were not very good.  Paula was the only person to break 100 on the first game.  We were a tad pathetic at first but had lots of fun cheering on our team mates.  The bowling alley converted to glow in the dark with laser lights and such and played retro 70's and 80's music.  The parents were all up swinging to the tunes.  We returned to our house for dinner and cheer.  It was a nice get together of 30 or so people.  Paula baked lasgna and served lots of houredouvres.  The guests brought dessert and garlic bread.  No one went hungry, even the picky eaters got hot dogs.  Carter picked out ice cream treats which were gobbled down like it was 30C and we went through three boxes of kool-aid jammers.  Everyone was hungry after bowling and were did not have many left overs.  It was a nice family evening.

We had a 7:00am hockey game on Saturday morning.  Carter slept through the blaring radio alarm, how he does that is always perplexing, but got up without incident after a little shake.  We had a great game against the local B1 team.  It was a practise/exhibition game to warm up for the Bell Capital Cup tournament we started yesterday.  Anyhow, we were down 0-2 after the first period.  We came on strong in the second to tie and by the middle of the third period were ahead 6-4.  We ended the game at 6-6.  It was a very exciting game enjoyed by all players, coaches and fans.  The rest of the day was spent doing chores, cleaning up the house and playng with our new toys.  We watched the hockey game, Pittsburgh vs Montreal.  Randy fell asleep right away so went to bed at 8:30 and slept until after 7:30am.  Carter and Paula watched the rest of the game before retiring but had as much sleep.  We all needed to catch up on the Zzzzzzzzz's.

We played our first game of the Bell Capital Cup yesterday.  Upon arrival to the arena, with great help from our new GPS, we were totally intimidatd by two teams in our division.  The Iqaluit and West End teams were on the ice.  Paula and Randy looked at each other and said, they must be pee-wee's!  Nope, we play one of them today and the other tomorrow.  OMG they were huge.  One player, a girl, was 6'-2" with her skates on.  Anyhow, we dressed and were on the ice as per the schedule.  We went two periods with no score.  Each team was evenly matched with equal shots on net and good saves from the goalies.  Carter scored the opening goal of the game.  He played a very good game with good checking, skating, passing, digging and overall a tremendous effort.  He assisted the second goal of the game while on his knees, stretched out reaching for a loose puck from a scrum of players.  He had been knocked down in the scrum but kept never stopped fighting for the puck.  The Cougars won the game 2-0 and Carter was named, most deservedly so, by the organizers as MVP - player of the game.  He received a nice trophy of a hockey player.  He did the jubilant dance when he heard his name called but was most humble in the dressing room and afterward.  Two MVP awards in two weeks, not bad eh!  We are most proud.  Paula took lots of pictures during the game.  She had a small incident in the bleachers, she fell off them, and scraped and bruised herself.  She will be sore this morning. 

To celebrate our victory we went to Moxies for dinner then to the USA vs CZECH game at the Corel Centre (Scotia Bank Place).  It was a good game.  The Americans towered over the Czech's.  We got box seats and sat right behind the goalie on the 100 level.  We couldn't have had better seats.  Dam locals were cheering on the Czech's, what's with that?  We hope to get to a game this afternoon.

Have a good week.

We posted some Paris and Arras photographs - check them out!

CHRISTMAS EVE AND ALL IS WET

Hello again from the nation's capital !

Rain rain go away, come again some other day.

We just returned from 5:00pm mass.  The church was packed.  We scammed seats in the third and fifth rows:  Paula and Carter sat together and Randy behind so he could enjoy a nap!  We had Carter tip the deacon.  Turns out Carter left with the rest of the kids for their own worship.  Paula started hacking half way thru mass, tried suppressing it and ended up hacking a lung on the way home.  It feels good to clean the souI for another year.  The choir was most uplifting, the sermon not so much.  The highlight was when the audio system started broadcasting some prerecorded documentary.  We all awoke with laughter.

It started raining earlier this afternoon.  Naturally we walked to church as it is only two blocks away.  The water was barelling off the roof at the front doors when we exited the church.  It was also raining harder outside when we left than when we arrived.  Tuesday morning we awoke to our coldest morning of the season.  It was a brutal -23C.  It is now above zero, go figure.  We certainly hope the western Canadians get a break from the cold.  Man, what did you do to piss off mother nature?  We hope your travels are safe and everyone arrives at their destination smoothly. 

Paula took a big swig on her puffer and was back to normal in minutes.  In fact we are all enjoying a nice cocktail awating Santa Claus' arrival.  Carter is very excited.  We have treats for the reindeer and cookies for Santa.  We hope they have their rain gear. 

Have a wonderful Christmas Eve !

TOURNAMENT RESULTS

Hello again from the nation's capital !

OMG!  We couldn't be more prouder than we are today.  The team lost its second game and thus were out after two games.  In the first game Carter made two assists and scored the winning goal, 3-2.  He was also named, by the opposition, as MVP.  He was so into the game it was unbelieveable.  He was checking, passing the puck and hustling like a little devil.  Randy knew his name was going to be broadcast as the MVP.  It makes you wish we would have video taped the game.  In fact the entire team played a good game. 

They didn't play as good the second game.  Carter was still on fire but couldn't quite get it into the net.  He still played a very good game and we are most proud of him still the same. 

We left this am at 7:07am arriving at the arena in Carleton fifty nine minutes later.  It was a cold -14C this am.  We were frozen to the bone.  It is still the same temperature.  COLD,  Il fait froid!  Most all from the team returned to Ottawa for a late lunch at Montana's restaurant.  The parents had a couple of drinks with lunch and decided to come here afterward for a cocktail.  We just said goodbye!  It was a good team building exercise.  We haven't been downstairs yet to check out the damage.  The Rock Band Wii game played at top volume for a couple of hours.

We just heard the temperature is suppose to reach 10C on Saturday, imagine!

Will give Carter a kiss for all tonight for sure.

Have a good one! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA AND MEGAN

Hello again from the nation's capital !

We should be saying the cold and snow capital but it is a tad colder in the west.  We got a reprieve from the snow this afternoon.  It stopped for five hours, long enough for shoveling and street cleaning.  It started again a couple of hours ago.  I guess we'll have a white Christmas. 

The weekend was busy with hockey.  Practise on Friday night, a game on Saturday where we won 3-0, and another practise early this morning.  Carter was a trooper and made no fuss about leaving the house at 7:15am.  In fact all but two players were at practise this morning.  We managed to finish our Christmas shopping and Paula spent a few hours baking and preparing for our Xmas feast.  We also managed a trip to I-play video and took in a movie.  Oh yeah, we also shoveled vast quantities of snow. 
We play in a one day hockey tournament tomorrow morning.  We were hoping the snow would subside in hopes of a safe drive to Carleton.  It is a 45 minute drive east and south of Ottawa.  We hope to be on the road by 7am. 

Carter in on Xmas break starting tomorrow morning.  He is excited about no school for two weeks.  He will spen one day with the sitter and Paula will take the other days off.  We are in the Bell Capital Hockey tournament starting December 28th for three days.  We are all excited about playing in this tournament.  It is a big one with teams as far away as Iqualuit, Nunavet.  Hopefully our players show up with some ambition willing to play and win.  It would be nice to make the semi-finals. 

Runny noses and sneezing have been plaguing our household for over a week.  Paula has been struggling with her allergies / breathing.  With luck we will be in perfect health by Christmas.  At least thats what we want. 

Happy Birthday Greetings to all the December babies.  Man, we have our share of them in the month of December.  Here's hoping you all had a good celebration.

If we don't report again until next week please have a wonderful holiday.

Merry Christmas

ALMOST READY FOR CHRISTMAS - ARE YOU?

Hello again from the nation's capital !

What a wild weather weekend we have experienced.  It is currently +1C with light snow/freezing rain.  It was a good day to put up exterior lights.  Yesterday we awoke to -22C and it warmed up to -12C by mid afternoon.  Bitter cold one morning and no gloves required the next.  Yes, this is canadian weather.  I just checked, needed a smoke, and it is snowing ice pellets.  Driving should be fun.

What a day we had.  Carter and Randy were up for a seven am hockey practise.  It was a little hard getting up so early, NOT !  This old guy was awake three times worried we were going to sleep in.  Carter got up like a trooper.  He was well aware of the practise last night so was in bed early enough to get a good nights sleep.  We returned home right afterward.  Randy stayed outside to shovel 18" of snow from the back sidewalk and patio and 4" of snow off the driveway.  Yes, it snowed again.  We had a great practise.  Only five, out of a possible thirteen, boys showed for practise so we basically let them shoot the puck around, ran a couple of drills and scrimaged; coaches against players.  The score was like 12-3 for the coaches.  We had alot of fun.  This coach was wiped.  

After the snow was shoveled it was time to feed the hockey player and get on with some chores.  Carter and Randy enjoyed a hearty breakfast consisting of toast, bacon and scrambled egg, just like grandma pat makes 'em.  Carter ate his eggs with ketchup.  YUK!  He is beginning to be more like one of his uncles every day. 

Carter had a long bath and short shower after two days of hockey.  The shower was because he forgot to wash while he relaxed in the hot bath.  Dah!  Randy cleaned up the living room, hauled up the christmas tree - put it together, put on the lights, put up the outdoor lights, an outdoor christmas tree, decorated it with lights and all the other outdoor lights and decorations while completing six loads of laundry, bathing Carter, loading and unloading the dishwasher, doing the dishes, and sweeping all the floors.  A few 'double' espresso were consumed throughout the day.  It is time to relax, have a cocktail, and write the weekly report.

Paula is attending a scrap booking scrap today.  Imagine a whole day to yourself.  Hopefully some of our holiday pictures are in presentation format.  One of these days we will post some on our blog.  With our main computer still out of commission it is not easy to export them to the blog. 

Saturday was an almost sleep in day.  We were all up before eight am after a nice relaxing sleep.  We were all in bed early Friday evening.  Carter had a hockey practise at eleven am and a hockey game at two pm.  Most of the players showed up for the practise.  All but none showed up for the game.  We lost like 0-5.  We had maybe three shots on net.  Carter played real good, like he usually does, and was sweating bullets after the game.  A couple of other players also played their hearts out.  We can not win when only three players want to play to win.  Oh well, enough said ! 

The rest of Saturday saw Carter hosting his friend Patrick for a couple of hours.  They amused themselves playing Wii and military games in the basement.  We dropped them off at Pat's house for dinner, mussels, and more Wii games.  Randy and Paula made snacks for dinner and veg'd in front of the boob tube watching hockey night in canada; but not Don Cherry.  We picked Carter up at 8:45 pm and returned home to another early night and long restful sleep.

Carter went with his bud Cameron and his family to the '67's hockey game on Friday night.  He enjoyed the game and spent his loot on a TO and Calgary hockey puck.  Imagine he was the only purchaser of each that night, Ha!  He is so proud of each he has them on display in his room.  Randy and Paula went Christmas shopping for you know who.  Zellers was our store of choice.  We owe them big time, in terms of us two el'cheapo's we do anyway.  Paula was sooooooooo excited about all the club Z points.  She had to explain it all to her husband.  Now he wants his own card, JUST KIDDING !   It was nice getting the joint venture items purchased in just under ninety minutes.  Carter and his dad must now spend an hour or so doing their own shopping.  Randy has the afternoon off before Christmas Day so we will probably get it done then.  Just two guys shopping with thousands of other father/son duo's.  What a day it will be.  Hopefully we don't get side tracked at i-play video.  Paula will love a membership.  Oh yeh!  We got one last weekend.  

Our week was much the same as usual except that the school Christmas pagent was on Thursday afternoon and night.  It was so good.  Carter sang with the grade 4/5 choir.  One of his bud's, Liam Lucas, was in the play.  He played a camel.  He was really good.  The entire production was totally unique but its theme was a total Christmas tradition.  The place was packed for the afternoon and evening production.   Wish we'd have video'd it and posted it on our blog. 

Best get Carter fed and watered.  Paula should be home soon.  She and Randy are off to the neighbors for grub and spirits: an annual neighborhood tradition.

Have a good week!

 

BLIZZARD SNOWS IN THE NATIONS CAPITAL !

Hello again from the nation's capital !

After three of the coldest days of the year we are now consumed with snow.  It started snowing very early this morning and snowed until 9:00pm.  But wait, there is more.  The temperature warmed enough that it is now freezing rain.  Oh what a mess we are going to awaken to Wednesday morning. 

Randy left work early this morning to avoid being late.  Luckily the traffic was negligent at 6:45am.  Paula also left early as she had to travel out of town.  She had a hard time getting anywhere but somehow managed to be on time.  Some people were late, like an hour and a half late for work.  Paula was done early so got home on time to take Carter to power skating.  It took Randy twenty minutes to clear the snow from his Carter and another 25 minutes to get home.  Not bad considering. 

We both just got home as Paula had a meeting at the school and got stuck in the parking lot with the Mazda.  Randy hustled out to help her only to meet her half way to the school.  Luckily two teenages walking through the park helped her get unstuck.  Our streets are covered with about 15" of snow making driving very difficult.  Even the Escape had a time of it, thankfully it has traction / stability control.  Our driveway is all cleared off after four shovels.  Paula did the first, what a gal, and Randy three times since 5:00pm.  Our neighbors, whom all pay big bucks for snow removal, have yet to have their driveways cleared.  Ha! 

Carter is fast asleep after a good work out on the ice.  Amazingly most of the players showed up for power skating.  Considering it started at five and all the snow.  We were shocked at the attendance.  He is all caught up on his homework.  We took some on holiday which he spent some time completing.  What with Christmas holidays fast approaching school work is minimal. 

That wraps it up for this evening.  Just thought we'd share our winter weather woes.

WINTER IS HERE TO STAY - BOO HOO HOO

Hello again from the nation's capital !

The family has returned and life is back to normal.  Paula and Carter touched down just before 5:30pm Friday afternoon.  Before leaving the airport they showed me lots of pictures from their last week in France.  We returned to the house and Carter got dressed for hockey practise which started at 7:00pm.  Did I mention back to normal.  How is that for dedication.  He had another practise on Saturday afternoon and played a game this am.  He played defense today.  He was not happy with that and was not shy to all the coaches his disapproval.  Oh well, he still played with fierce competitiveness.  We were down 0-2 going into the second period.  We ended up tieing the game 2-2.  With only four shots on goal our shots on goal average was pretty good. 

Paula and Carter had quite an eventful trip in the country.  The traveled to Arras where they pitched their tent for a couple of nights.  It is a beautiful city.  They toured Vimy and the Canadian monument.  Carter was in his glory.  They also toured the underground Medieval caves.  What a site.  Again, Carter was in his glory.  They also went skating and spent alot of time in the town square.

Paula contacted some old relatives, Albert et Monique, from Dunquirk, France.  They were extactic to hear from her and Carter.  They immediately drove to Arras and picked them up.  How cool!  They were the most perfect hosts.  They drove them wherever they needed to go, fed them (grandly) and toured the country side including a trip to Ypres, Belgium.  The Flemish and the French are not great neighbors but tolerate each other, Ha!  They also toured Flanders.  They couldn't have made a better decision all trip than to make contact with Albert and Monique.   

Carter found German bunkers and pill boxes.  Kind of gruesome when you think about it but important to our history.  Carter had a blast partoling the bunkers and hiding in the pill boxes.  The pictures of the craters are amazing.  No entry due to unblasted mines.  A number of people are killed each year due to unexploded amunition.  He learned more in four days than he will throughout his entire public education.  His most favoirte memory this past week will be finding a little shop where a Canadian sells war relicks.  He had guns of all types, Carter knew most of them, and buttons, helmuts, shell casings, tools and anything relating to the war.  He let Carter wear a helmut and hold a Lee'Enfield rifle.  Paula took a couple of snapshots.  What a smile he had on his face. 

They also received a good history leasson on the local towns from Albert and Monique.  They detailed which buildings were re-built after the first and second wars and how they had to be built as originally built.  It was important to them, not just for the tourist trade but for their culture.  A & M built their home 45 years ago and have lived in ever since.  We sure hope they visit Canada some day.  Paula talked with one of their sons, who speaks perfect english.  He was on his way to Spain for work otherwise he would have rode up to visit. 

We had a very big weekend here in Ottawa.  Carter has bathed, done his homework and was fast asleep by 8:15pm.  One second he was spelling Lee'Einfeld for us and the next ZZZZZZZZZzz'ing.  It is also time for us to get to bed.  Have a great week.