MAHA Districts

Phil and Alex went up to Ludington for MAHA districts this weekend. Alex's Bronco gold team had to play two other Bronco teams and a team from Battle Creek in their bracket. On Friday night, they tied Bronco Black. Then they tied Bronco Brown Saturday morning. They needed to win their game Saturday night in order to advance and they managed to pull off the win against Battle Creek. On Sunday morning, they played the Berrien Freeze in the semi final game. It was an exciting game and they were tied after regulation. Then they went to a five minute suddent death overtime. Unfortunately, their goalie made a lot of saves and they managed to score a goal on us. Phil said Alex played really well - we are proud of him and the entire team! While they were in Ludington, Will and I watched the Olympics and also went to a teammates Backyard Rink.

Learn to Ski: Part 2

On Thursday, we took advantage of our second snowday and went to Bittersweet so both boys could ski.  We had a lesson previously scheduled for Alex and 5pm, but were able to get a 2pm lesson instead.  Will spent the first hour giving Alex a mini lesson before going off to find his friends.  Alex picked it up quickly.  His instructor was impressed that it was his first day skiing.  He had him riding several chair lifts by the end of the lesson and said he was a natural.  I think all that time on ice skates helped both boys.  Phil had to pick Will up for hockey but Alex and I stayed so he could ski under the lights.  He even went up the highspeed lift all by himself.  

 

Snow Day!

We got the phone call last night at 8:45 that we had a snow day today! It rained until about 2am and then turned to snow. When we woke up, there was only about 2" on the ground but it kept snowing all day and we are up to about 12". The boys had so much fun playing outside for most of the day. Winger also loves the snow - he leapt and pulled for our entire walk and kept trying to get me to go faster.

 

More Skiing Fun

Will has now been skiing four times in the last week and a half. He is definitely enjoying it. I lucked out and found a sunny seat by the window to enjoy my coffee and watch the boys.

 

Learn to Ski

Will decided he wanted to learn how to ski because several of his friends go every week.  We usually have hockey but this week the stars aligned.  We took him for a lesson at Bittersweet on Wednesday night.  His instructor was also a hockey player.  After two trips up the "Magic Carpet," Will graduated to the ski lift.  By the end of the lesson he had mastered the snowplow and "pizza turns" and was working on "french fry" turns.  His instructor said his skating skills definitely translated to skis. After his lesson, he stayed to practice for a few hours and ventured up and down several of the large hills.  On Thursday the boys had a half day, so I took him back up to meet up with a group of friends.  Despite only having three hours on skis, he was able to keep up with the pack and even went over a few jumps.  We had to leave to go to hockey practice and then he spent another 2.5 hours playing on his coach's backyard rink.  So much exercise but his legs weren't tired!  Since there was no school on Friday, we went back and he skied for 5.5 hours.  I ran into a lot of parents I knew so the time went by fast.  

 

Mid Winter Shootout Elite Tournament - Runners Up

The KWings played in the Mid Winter Shootout in Kalamazoo this weekend. Their first game was Friday night and the KWings beat Orchard Lake 5-4. On Saturday morning, they got to play at Lawson and were able to watch the WMU Bronco hockey team at their 7am practice. Unfortuantely, they lost their game against Jackson Melling 4-8. In the afternoon, they came back and beat the Southwest Michigan Freeze 7-3. Will had a great goal (video below). That win put them in the championship game on Sunday against Jackson Melling. They were tied 2-2 after regulation, and still tied after a 5 minute overtime period. We ended up losing in a shootout which is a hard way to lose a game. The coach had the kids over for BYR hockey which put a smile back on their faces.

 

BYR Fun

Will's coach has a pretty amazing Backyard Rink and he had the team over today to play.  They started arriving at 8am and we finally had to call it a day at 12:45 when a crack formed in the sunny corner.  We brought over hot chocolate and donuts for the boys to have as a snack.  They had so much fun and made some great memories.