G O A L

Here is a video that we just barely got of Isaac scoring a goal in the semi-finals game of this weekends tournament. He got a pass from Drake and sent it in. It was great. We will have to work on what to do after the goal. He needs to thank the teammate that passed him the puck. We will take it though.

I pulled these stills from the video... The first one is just after he took the shot. If you look close you can see the puck hitting the crossbar on the right side.The next one is the puck falling into the net..... And then the celebration. There he is stick in the air, so stoked... and Drake (#5) giving him the 'way to go' point from the other side of the net.

Memories forever...!!!

End of Season Hockey Tournament

Well the end of year tournament for the league that Isaac's hockey team has played in was this weekend. It was in Oxford, OH at the home of the University of Miami, Ohio Redhawks facility. Wow, what a place. The games were soooo intense. The West Virginia Wild Squirts went into the tournament in first place having won 13 and only lost one recorded league game. The only game they lost was last weekend to the Miami Jr Redhawks, but the Wild beat them the next day. Tough games. This tournament had a reseeding round were 1st plays 2nd, 3rd plays 4th, 5th plays 6th, etc. Our boys lost that first round to the Miami boys. So they started the bracket as the second seed. On Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning they made short work on the teams on the way to the Championship game. Isaac even had himself a goal on Sunday morning.

Another BIG plus for the weekend was Amy's Aunt Jean and Uncle John drove down from Detroit, MI to watch the tournament. They are big hockey folks with 6 boys that all played.

The championship game was all you could want it to be. Two teams well matched and both want the game. They went blow for blow with the first period ending with 2-2 tie. The second period was again blow for blow, but it ended with Miami leading 4-3. Shortly into the third Miami scored again putting them ahead 5-3. Halfway through the 3rd the WV Wild scored again to bring it within one. So much energy, so much emotion. The crowd was screaming...!!! As the clock ticked away it didn't look good for the WV Wild, the Miami goalie kept stopping everything our boys sent at him. Then with 9 seconds left Drake Foster put the puck in the net and tied the game for the Wild. Into the shootout we went. Three boys from each team were picked by the coach to drive in a take a shot at the other teams goalie. Nathan was our first, he drove in flipped the puck up and into the net it went. GOAL..!!! The it was Miami's turn, their captain drove the puck in, Will (our goalie) pushed him to the side, he took the shot and, DING, it hit the post and bounced to the side. Drake was next for the WV Wild. He drove in and the Miami goalie denied him. It was intense. The second Miami player drove in, Will was all over him, he got confused and never could take the shot... Wild had one, Miami had none with one more boy for each to go... Michael was last for the Wild. He took the puck, drove into the zone, shot, and SCORED!!! That was the game. WV WILD WINS...!!! What a game. Our boys are on top of the world.

Here they are after getting their plaques. Not that it was planned, but four of our coaches are in the background, we are only missing Chris the goalie coach.Here is Isaac, look at that smile, ear to ear.Great Job Isaac...!!!

Way to go WILD...!!!

Valentine Treats

Here are some quick pictures of the treats that we made the weekend of Valentine's...

Sugar Cookies
And Red Velvet cupcakes...

Cabela's Tridelphia, Wv

When we drove to Wheeling, WV for hockey games a few weeks ago we stopped by Cabela's in Tridelphia, WV (right by Wheeling). We all had fun. I only ended up with a few pictures, but they had an Africa section along with the usual fish, dear, bears, moose, etc. Here are the kids with some of the African animals.

Lexy loves Zebras...

What a weekend of Hockey

The WV Wild (Squirts) had their last home games this weekend... Wow was it exciting. They played the team from Maimi, OH the Jr Red Hawks. Not that same boys that our team played up there earlier in the year. These boys were big, fast, and tough. They could and would chase down our stars and take the puck away. It was rough watching the game on Saturday, by the end of two our boys were down 2-7 and only were able to get two more goals making the final 7-4. Pretty rough. It was the Wild's first league loss. The Jr Red Hawks rubbed it in their faces pretty hard by throwing all of their gloves and sticks in the air. It was strange to watch our boys line up to 'shake hands' and have to wait for the other team during that display. It all starts with coaching and parents. Some of our parents didn't like when their coach pulled their goalie with over 3 minutes left in the game and a 3 point lead. If the game was closer I could understand, but it didn't seem like an upstanding move.

On Sunday, I FAILED... I thought that the game was at 10:30am. We got up, had some breakfast, and I was having Isaac start putting on his gear when I got a text from an unknown number, "R U guys ok...?" Crap! The panic hit me. I was scrambling to get the schedule and see what was up. Sure enough, the game had started at 9am. We got to the ice with 1:50 left in the second period. Isaac was ready to go and headed to the bench.

The Wild were in the lead, 6-4. The whole place was electric, music was playing, parents were on their feet. Isaac had been missed, several parents were worried that something was wrong with us. When Isaac got to the bench his coach told him, "Everyone else is tired, you have fresh legs, you better skate your butt off." And he did, once he got on the ice he was chasing down players with the puck, making defensive plays, and making some nice passes. He played quite well. There were several penalties in the third period resulting in some power plays and points. With about 3 minutes left and the score 7-6 the Jr Red Hawks pulled their goalie to make a push to tie the game with some 5 on 6. The our boys were digging in and working hard. With 45 seconds left one of our kids got called for tripping and headed to the box. That left us with a 4 on 6 situation. Not good. But our boys dug in and finished the game with the final score being 7-6. And once again the Jr Red Hawks were poor sports. Most all of our boys reported that during the "hand shake" their boys were saying "F&$# You!" to our boys. What a shame, 8-10 year old boys with that kind of POOR sportsmanship.

Several of our boys had great games. Parker (#9) played inspired defence both games. Taking on the bigger boys, not letting things go, and making a difference. Will is quite the goalie, he made sooo many stops. I know that on Saturday in the loss he make 25 saves. A Squirts goalie should have to make that many saves. On of the saves on Sunday was the Jr Red Hawks BIG #17 who broke free at the blue line and headed in clean. Will SHUT HIM DOWN....!!! It was great.

So, off to Oxford next weekend to the league tournament. It should be great. We are expecting and excited to see Aunt Jean and Uncle John from Detroit, and they might be able to bring some of the grandkids from Bloomington, In. Big time hockey people. For those of you that don't know them, they have 5 boys, 3 of which played for BYU, one played in Florida, and another one is a scout for a Juniors team. They know hockey.

Mmmmm... Ribs and Wings

This kid loves his ribs and wings. After the games in Wheeling on Sunday we went to Quaker Steak to get some lunch. We let Isaac order the ribs and wings plate. He had the sauce from ear to ear. I said, "Here let me take a picture of you." And this goofy look is what I got.

2 for 1 Post

I am cramming two posts into one here. Isaac got a WV Wild warm up suit and WV Wild vs Wheeling (in Wheeling). So, to start off here is a picture of Isaac in his warm up suit in front of the Wheeling ice rink. If you look close you can see the opening behind him, their ice rink is ope on three sides. It was kinda cold. We heard that they had a game earlier this year that was -2 deg. I sure seemed to make a difference on the ice. The puck would stick, the kids had to skate harder, and there were a ton of swing and miss passes with our boys. I think that it is because the ice is dryer.

Anyway, Isaac's team lost the first game by a score of 2-6. They just never got into the game. The break between game was pretty intense. Coach Brian let them have it for not skating hard and making some lazy, bad passes. He is right, the Wheeling team would get all 5 players on one side of the ice and we would have two players wide open to run the other side. In the second game they started out making a bunch of those passes. But fell behind 1-6 again by the end of second period. Something inspired them for the 3rd period. They started scoring goals, blocking shots, and making all the right passes. The kids were skating longer shifts because they were on the emotional high. With about 5 minutes left a pile to boys in the crease of the Wheeling net resulted in a penalty shot. The coach picked Drake to make the shot. The boys were all banging their sticks on the ice and the boards, that parent were chanting "Let's Go Wild", and Drake grabbed the puck at the red line and headed in. He got close, took his shot and followed up by putting the rebound in the net....!!! That put the Wild within one. Justin (the Wild goalie) made several more great saves closing out the period. With less than a minute left Drake, who was playing defence, saw a lane and took the puck in. Weaving in and out of players he made his way to the net, took a shot and tied the game. The crowd of parents erupted with cheers. It was something else. That ended the game in a 6-6 tie. Way to come back boys.


We only have two weekends of Hockey left this season. We have Troy, OH at home both Saturday and Sunday. Then on the league tournament the weekend of the 26th.

Let's Go Wild..!!!

New Favorite Band

This is my new favorite... Great stuff, check out The Cleverly's.

The Cleverly's from The Cleverlys on Vimeo.

Thanks for introducing me Jobe...!!

Isaac's Mask

I stopped by the school the other day with Isaac. I saw this bulletin board full of masks that the 4th graders made...
This one in Isaac's. I thought it was pretty good. If fits in well with the Dragon Ball Z Kai the he is really into.

Skate for Hope

Lexy got invited to skate at the Skate for Hope (a breast cancer charity) event in Columbus, Oh on June 18, 2011. In order to go she will need to raise $450 by the end of April. We typically don’t do fund raising, however this is a chance for Lexy to rub elbows with Olympians and world class skaters. Last year the Charleston girls got to meet most of the US Olympic skating team.

So, I am trying to get a feel for if people are interested in helping her meet this goal. She has not yet been registered as we have not yet decided, donations can be made on their website or by check. Please comment to let us know what you think so that Amy and I can decide to do this or not.

To inspire you here is a little clip I filmed with her iPod. Look at her spin.

Wild Win Their First

The West Virginia Wild Squirts have one their first out of league games. Yes, they have dominated their league winning all of the in league games. But until this morning they have been win less out of league. The first game was really close. They were up 3-0 in the first, by the end of the the period it was tied 3-3. Through the second it got tough. The Wild were down by 2 in the middle of the second, by the break they came to within one (5-6). The third period was a nail biter. The Wild tied, took the lead and had one point of insurance with 2 minutes left. With 18 seconds left the Wheeling Blue scored to get within one. They pulled their goalie to make a push. Isaac and the rest of the D were able to keep them out even with the extra man. The score ended up being 9-8 WV Wild.

Here is a bit of a shot of Isaac, not great, but he is playing.

The second game was a bit of a blowout. WV took off in the first and never looked back. Isaac finished off this game playing D. As you can see in this picture, the score was 8-2 Wild and there is Isaac in the middle defending.

Way to Go Wild...!!!!

Pictures for Dayton Red Bombers PM Game on Jan 29

The West Virginia Wild did pretty well against the Dayton Red Bombers. They won quite easily. Here are some pictures from the afternoon game.

This is Isaac getting some fresh ice in the warm up.Here he is spring loaded after the puck.This is one of the times where you can hear me in the whole place, "That's yours Isaac, GO GET IT..!!" Playing left wing that is his territory to get the puck and center it up for his team mates. Isaac love to get assists as much as goals.Break Out... Isaac and his teammate Drake are racing through the neutral zone with the puck. Too bad there are three Red Bombers there with them. That is Isaac on the far side handling the puck.This is a cool picture that I took. We were standing right on the glass, so I just held the camera up and over the glass. That is Jack Skinner fighting for control of the puck. The little guy was taking on two Red Bombers, ended up on the ice and was still digging for the puck trying to make a pass to a teammate.

Monster Jam

What would light up a boys eyes like that...??? And put that big of a smile on his face....??? Monster Trucks...

And fire breathing robots.... Fire breathing robots, fighting....

But mostly the monster trucks.
Even wrecked out monster trucks. We got the hookup from David and his dad. They had tickets, but David's dad couldn't go... He asked us if we could take David. Sure we could. I know that this picture is dark, but that is the best we could do with the cell phone camera and not lights on. Yes, that is Gravedigger in the back ground.

Thanks Mike...!!!

Lexy's Snchro Warm Up Suit

We have been waiting for the 'little' synchro team to get warm up suites like the big girls. They came in this week. The suite is quite the status symbol at the ice rink. Black jacket and pants with a white stripe. They also have the girls name and WV Synchro embroidered on the chest. Lexy is quite proud.Here is a quick shot of Lexy and Maddy in their warmups. They are both sitting on their Zuca's. Maddy is a super sweet girl, the kind we like Lexy to be around.

Student of the Week

Lexy was the student of the week for the 2nd grade this week. She filled out this poster and she and I printed out about a dozen 4x6 prints and an 8x10 of her to take to school. I guess that they build a bulliten board with them. She was pretty stoked. She did all the coloring and answered all te quistions by herself. Here is a closer view.

National Muesem of the US Air Force

We had some time to kill between Isaac's games on Saturday so we went to the National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton, OH. What a place. Three huge hangers packed full. We crashed through in about an hour, but you could easily spend a couple of days in that place.

The museum starts out with the historical planes, every thing from the Wright Brother's style to the WWII prop fighters to the first jet powered planes. Here are this kids with one the them.

This is an F22 Raptor the current big mussel fighter. Pretty stinkin' cool. A B-2 Bomber. W O W. This this is soooo wide, it has a Blackbird parked behind it and the B-2 is wider than the Blackbird is long. Plus, it was so smooth, no joints, rivet marks, etc. it almost looks fake.
There is a space and missile section. This is Lexy looking at on of the space modules.
This is such a cool story. I wish that I had more time to type up a big story about this guy. Col Kittinger rode a 200 foot diameter helium balloon (that was only filled to 20% volume at the earth's surface but was full when he jumped) up to and elevation of about 102,000 feet (like 20miles) and jumped. JUMPED. The highest ever skydive. He reached speeds of 714 MPH and temps as low as -94. So, cool. This is just one to the things the amazing guy did.

Lexy and a BIG Bomb.

If you get the chance to visit Dayton, plan an extra day for the National Museum of the US Air Force. Don't crash it in one hour like we did, you'll want much more.