The boys got to attend their first Roughrider game at the beginning of the month. Dan got the best end-of-year gift ever from a student who has season's tickets: 4 seats. And lest it go completely undocumented, I decided to throw up the pictures for the sake of posterity.
It was altogether very memorable. The Riders won. The boys had the time of their lives (obviously). Joseph tried (and failed) to get on TV by flossing as fast as he could. Joseph also made a name for himself in their section by being the most enthusiastic fan; people were lending him their horns to blow. The boys made sure Grandpa yelled as loudly as he could. They had huge hotdogs and beer (for the men). They even walked back from the game to our hotel, all the while replaying the entire game with their new football. We stayed at a great hotel, with a great water slide. Emilie swam for hours while the boys were at the game. When they weren't at the game, the boys spent all their time in the pool too. Epic all around.
Points to Ponder on a cold a windy Sunday afternoon.
1) Choc it up to...
Mommy thought it would be fun to give the kids chocolate zucchini muffins with Nutella and strawberries for breakfast, because "it's Sunday."
The little angels. What could go wrong?
Ten minutes later...
Around and around and around they went.
Can we just stick to oatmeal tomorrow?
2) Hockey
The hockey season began a few weeks ago. I am in my first year as a coach. I was talked into being a head coach, and now I also somehow ended up being the one who plans all the practices for both teams. Yesterday we had a hockey jamboree. It was way too long (3 plus hours) but Joseph loved it! It was neat seeing him as a second year player. All the best players from last year have moved on to senior novice. This leaves Joseph and a couple of others as the far and away best players out there. That's the thing with hockey. Every second year is your year to shine.
Here's Joseph going in for a breakaway.
Here he is returning after scoring.
Scoring was a little too easy for him against some of the younger kids. We'll be playing some harder teams later in the year.
3) Snow, snow, snow, snoooow
Yes we had winter arrive earlier last week. It's since somewhat melted, though today is quite cool with it blowing snow. I can never get tired of the reaction of little kids when they see snow for the first time in the fall. They are so pumped. It was like Christmas over at the school, and same with our backyard.
4, 5, and 6) Riders: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Things are never boring in Riderville. There has been lots going on lately. We have a great team this year.
The Good:
A week ago our top receiver, Duron Carter, became a defensive back. The opposing team's quarterback, Bo Levi Mitchell, mocked in on twitter, saying he'd throw 25 balls his way. Well, Carter got the last laugh. He picked Mitchell off and ran it back for a touchdown. I just love the call by our radio guy Rod Pedersen!
The Bad:
Well, bad and good. On Friday old Mosaic Stadium was torn down. I had the live video link playing at school for my students to keep an eye on. And then...
The new stadium is simply awesome. I love it. Still though, so many memories were with the old one. I thought Rod Pedersen (already mentioned) had some great thoughts on the demolition. From his blog:
"It's fitting the Riders won Friday night on the same day the Grand Ol' Lady came down. No stadium in Canada has hosted more pro football games than Taylor Field but now she's just a memory. I was there Friday to pay my respects but thought the image of the grandstand toppling over was undignified. (Like an old man falling over on his face). I know it had to be done, but wish I hadn't looked."
The Ugly:
Yes, the Riders won handily on Friday night, beating Montreal in what was the return of Darian Durant. This is how we closed out the first half though. A collective groan was heard around the province. Sigh. Watch at 3:50 of the video.
Again... Sigh.
7) Books
We've really cut down on our TV watching. So I figured I could splurge on some books. A few arrived recently (more on the way).
I started The Man in the Iron Mask. So far (300 pages in) it's excellent. I'm really looking forward to reading Anthony Esolen's book. I enjoy his work at crisis magazine. I'm sure many of you have read his incredible take down of Jesuit heretic (repetitive) Fr. James Martin. As for Chip Gaines' book, hey, he's a very entertaining guy.
That's all I have for now. We still have to brave the elements here and get outside. Yucky. Have a great week.
We made the pilgrimage to the "new Mosaic". That is, of course, the new Roughrider stadium in Regina. Instead of my just driving there alone, we all went and turned the trip into a mini vacation.
The family outside of the building.
The crowd starts to gather for the game.
I went to the game with my dad and two brothers.
The Riders, of course, dominated. 41-8. Ed Gainey with FOUR interceptions!
The new stadium is amazing. Probably the nicest I've ever been to.
The next morning, breakfast at the hotel.
Three bums waiting to go for another swim.
There's a fun splash pad there too!
Emilie waiting to go on her first waterslide ride!
The result:
Well, it was a bit much for her. Maybe when she's a little older.
Joseph loved the slides!
Meanwhile, John Paul is just like me... hot tub and water slides. That's all we need. Forget the pool.
The boys loved running down the corridor.
On the way home we stopped at the abandoned No. 5 Bombing and Gunnery School site near Dafoe, SK. In WWII the Canadian government initiated a 2.25 billion dollar project (36 billion in today's money) to train people for the air force. The British government paid roughly 25% of this, and sent potential pilots over for training. Saskatchewan, being so flat and spread out, was the site of 21 different training areas. The one near Dafoe was possibly the biggest. In total 131,000 people were trained for flying combat in the program. Becca's grandpa's military role was to train pilots in SK. We figure there's a very good chance he would've worked here. If stones could talk, I'll bet there'd be some amazing stories from this abandoned site.
Bullet holes. Close up.
Farther.
Farther.
Farther
Farthest.
The last standing hangar. Now used to store farm equipment.
Thus ended our quick mini-Regina vacation. Now the rest of the week is for hosting company. I'll leave that for Becca to post about.
Last week featured Dallas Green. This week is a different type of green. I know most of our readership here is not from Saskatchewan, but nevertheless here we go. Just click on the song and keep reading:
Training camp began yesterday! I speak of the Saskatchewan Roughriders training camp, which is taking place in Saskatoon again this year. Joseph and I really wanted to check it out, so of course we did the whole get up just after 5am and drive to the Traditional Latin Mass bit too. Here we are after a beautiful Mass. The kids are hanging out with St. John Paul II (it's a Polish parish where the Latin Mass takes place).
Afterwards we headed over to the University of Saskatchewan campus to check in on the Riders.
It was somewhat surreal seeing the 34 year old Vince Young out there. Young was a former college star, who later became an NFL star. He was even featured on Madden 08, which is as big as it gets in the world of football.
But alas, he's trying to make a comeback after being out of football for 5 years. Needless to say, Young was showing a lot of rust. Wily veteran Kevin Glenn was by far the best QB on day 1 of training camp. Young better pick up his game.
Here we are, Mass clothes and all:
Our view again:
We sure love watching the Riders practice. The boys want to head down to Regina again this summer to check them out. Becca was too tired for any visiting (she never sleeps well before trips), so we decided against visiting and went home after. Still though, it was a fun Sunday.
As for the song, it's by Jason Plumb and the Willing. It became popular in 2007 (the year SK won the Grey Cup). It's true, anywhere you go you'll see Rider green...
