our turn, i guess

What a summer we have been having here on the prairies. seriously could not get much more precipitation.

Up until tonight, our small section has been very very lucky. Until tonight.

Last reports I heard was that we had 2.5 inches of rain in less than an hour....but it wasnt the rain that was shocking. It was the hail. It literally hailed for 1/2 hour to 45 minutes. There were snow drifts that were very reminiscent of winter time.

People were boating down the streets, basements flooded, businesses closed. It was craziness.

Our little town, south of here was also hit. But not near as bad...and our house on the hill was spared any of the damage. Unfortunately others did not.

Good luck to border city tonight...bunker down....i hear its headed your way!!

new and interesting...

This week my motto was to go out and try a few new things. Or at least get out of my "box". So, on my lunch time walks I ventured into a business in town. This business is geared toward young, hip, surfer/skateboarder dudes/dudettes. I have always been intimidated by these types of businesses, but I thought....what the heck.

BAR NONE the service was the best I have ever received in ANY retail environment EVER. They made me feel right at home (didnt stare down at me and question why I was entering their domain). They answered a lot of my questions and made my 15 minutes there very pleasurable. Although I didnt buy anything this time, I have made sure to let everyone know about my experience and I am sure I will be back.

Then.....off on the second part of my walk, I finally ventured into the library (which I have been meaning to do for about 5 years). After a few of the usual questions, she popped my name in the computer.....only to find out that I had late charges from 1999. 99!!! I have never missed a payment in my life...nor did I even remember. Only then did she tell me it was a "baby names" book. Then it all came back to me....I had taken it out when Retzky was due....then he was two weeks late, then intensive care for another two weeks....needless to say the book didnt get back in time. So, long story short, I paid my $8.40 fine (a dime a day until they get sick of waiting for you to pay apparently).....and left.....disgruntled.

But....I will take any advice on new books to read as I plan on using that quite a bit to get my freakin $8 back!!!

MOSQUITO AA PROVINCIAL BALL

So, our hard ball season is officially over now. DH and I are volunteered out. pooped. exhausted.

Retzky did awesome. He pitched and played field and had tons of catches and lots of good at bats.

Their team ended up 2-2. They beat Yorkton and Weyburn. Unfortunately they lost to Swift Current and Lloydminster. They were winning against SC until the final at bat where they lost and they previously had beat lloyd.

Lloyd went on to win the tourney....so we know we could be there. Really it was 2 very bad innings out of 24....they should be proud of themselves.....we are!

Unfortunately I dont have any pictures....hopefully I can steal some from Auntie Velvis.

ps....thank you thank you thank you to all our family that came out to cheer R-dog on. He thought that was pretty cool.

day camp rocked!!!

Just in case I forget next year,,,remind me to put the boys in the day camp offered by our highschool....it was awesome!

The boys played volleyball, basketball, archery, tennis, soccer, badminton. They also went swimming and hiking. Oh yes....and lots of floor hockey. Cant forget that.

They asked to go the second week, and were allowed to. They were sweaty and smiley everyday we picked them up. (oh yes, with a freezie to end the day, how could you not be smiling?

This week....

This week, the boys have been enrolled in a day camp. Mon-thurs 9-3 at the local highschool.

Put on by the two physed teachers (husband and wife) and they learn about a different sport every day...or more than one a day.

I went and picked them up today and they were extremely sweaty with huge grins on their faces. THEY LOVED IT! I was amazed...they didnt whine about it, tell me I was the worst mom ever or anything like that.

In fact, they cant wait to go tomorrow and they want me to phone to see if I can get them in next week. I am sure they are booked up...but I will sure try.

Spring hockey finale

I'm sure I have pictures...I will try to dig those out.

This year we did 4 tourneys. Edmonton, Regina, our own in Saskatoon and Winnipeg.

Ended the year 14-6-1 and had a really strong, competitive team. C-man had a lot of fun and so did we....great bunch of parents and awesome group of kids that seemed to get along really well.

We got 2nd on the A side in Edmonton, Won the B side in Regina, 2nd on the A side in our own and won the consolation in Winnipeg.

The kids also got to go go-carting, touring the dressing room of the Manitoba Moose, got to meet Steve Staios and talk to him at length (wonderful ambassador for the NHL, btw), limo rides, tour of the mint and I'm sure I'm missing more.

The hair got dyed blue again this year....along with a sporty mohawk.

Good times....now just to get the darn bookwork done!

Ball

We ended ball this year with a fun year end tourney. Not much of a tourney...more like try to play a couple of games before we got rained on.

Although the rain held off, the sun was shining like crazy and the two coaches (me and a good friend) really really wanted to head off to the lake. So, we didnt exactly try our hardest to make it to the final game at the end of the day.

The boys both played well....and hit well.

With one unfortunate incident. The other coach and I were constantly talking to one of the players about paying attention, when he nudged me to look at C-man in left field.

He was laying on his back, facing away from the batter, feet in the air and tossing his glove up and down. Not sure the attention span thing is quite there yet....might be soccer next year??

R-dog is still playing his provincial ball, although its hard trying to get games in between the downpours. This weekends tourney in Lloyd has been cancelled due to lack of teams....but they are coming here on saturday for a double header, then we are headed there sunday for the same.

The following weekend is provincials here in town and we will be doing a lot of work for that...if you are coming to town to watch...let us know and I will start baking (HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH)...

A few little updates for my pops..

Okay Dad....here goes....

Report Cards and Year end stuff...

Both boys did great on their report cards. R-dogs lowest mark was an 81 (in Religion...sorry G'ma Tractor!) Highest mark was a 91 (in Social) and his overall average was 85. His teacher wrote us a note and mentioned that they had their English reading tested and R-dog was 2 grades higher than he is in currently!! He loves to read. So...just a wink wink and a nudge nudge for xmas and bday gifts!!

C-mans lowest mark was an 84 (in Health Education) and his highest was 97 in physed. His average was 88. And the best news of all, is that he doesnt get the SLOTH teacher that R-dog got!!! My little rant to the principal didnt go unnoticed. His strong point is not reading in English yet...so thats our summer project.

The last few weeks of school were a write-off basically. With movies, field trips and general nothingness.

R-dog had his first ever school dance (grades 4-7) and never danced with any girls. He did win a prize for the best rap group dance with a couple of his buddies (must get his dance moves from his father, and his grades from his mother!!)

C-man had the big trip to his teachers farm where they visited lots of animals, and created havoc. He was a little big chested when he told me that 3 other kids followed his lead and got their hair dyed blue and cut into a mohawk just like him. He thinks he's a bit of a trend setter now.

Now..school is out for summer!!