Alyssa's JV and Varsity Basketball seasons

Alyssa had a great year in basketball. She played on both the JV and Varsity teams, so it was very intense and exhausting. She played in 28 of the 30 league games, 15 Varsity tournament games and 4 play off games, altogether 47 games between December 1 and March 9th. So if you consider she had 2 weeks off for Christmas and about 2 weeks off between first semester exams and the February break, she averaged nearly 5 games/week. Her JV team finished second of 11 teams in the league, but tragically lost their semi-final game to the #3 team. Overall, the JV Pandas were a really strong team. The Varsity team didn't do quite so well. In the league, they finished 8th of 11 teams. However, their league has both 3A and 4A teams, so for Zones, the Pandas played against only 3A teams. They won their quarter final game against Taber, but lost in the semi in a really close game to McCoy, who was the #2 ranked 3A team in the province. 

Alyssa is a really tough player and plays excellent defence. She is in the difficult position of playing post and being only 5'7". In the really tough games, she brings out a whole new level of intensity. Her best games of the season were probably the playoff games where she made a significant contribution both in points scored and in overall play. I was really proud of her for the amount of heart she put into her play.

It was a real highlight to have Granny and Grandpa and Monte and Sherylee, Brett and Mallori and Kayden there to see her 3A Zone quarter final game against Taber. It may have been her best game of the season. 

I really appreciate Alyssa's fantastic coaches for their unselfish service. They did a lot to teach her the game of basketball and to help her develop as a person.

For the last home game (Senior's Day), other students made posters for each player. Alyssa is pointing to her picture.

The varsity team. Back Row, L-R: Jamie Cook, Skyler Riggen, Elizabeth Charlesworth, Tana Stewart, Baylee Hoy, Amber Low, Shelby Broadhead, Alyssa Doig, Shelby Russel. Front Row L-R Jocelyn Maxwell, Megan Anderson, Kassi Bodgan, Kassy Cook and Teesh Olsen. Across the Front: Kim Bogdan

With coaches Brad Olson, Kristyn Barfuss, Janene Ward and Deanna Dypolt.

Preston's first Kub Kar Rally: The Pencil

Preston was invited to participate in the Kub Kar Rally on March 16th, even though it was a few days before his birthday. Preston decided he wanted his Kar to be a pencil. He and Rob went over to the shop at the school to cut it out. Later Preston and I did the painting. He named the Kar "Sharpy." It turned out to be a really fast car and won almost all of its races. It was fun to see Preston so excited!

Preston with "Sharpy" after the races. His leaders gave him the brown stand to store his Kar on. He has great leaders.

Preston with the group--trying to get the hang of the grand howl.

Preston's baptism and birthday

Preston turned 8 on March 22, 2013 and was baptized the following day, Saturday, March 23 at 4:00 pm. Both my parents and Rob's parents were there for both events. My mom and dad flew here on March 20th and stayed until the 26th, so they got to be part of several special moments for our family. Preston patiently waited until mid afternoon on his birthday to open his gifts. He got lots of fun things including a crystal growing kit from Grandma and Grandpa Prete which Granny (Sheron) helped him do after his baptism. At his baptism, both his grandmothers spoke and it was awesome. Granny shared an object lesson. She had an opaque white plastic container and put a rock in it. When the container is empty you can hear the rock moving around very clearly. When the container is full of dirt, you can't hear the rock. Similarly, when our lives are full of sin, we can't hear the spirit as we can when we are clean. While demontrating this, she asked for examples of sins people commit to fill their jars. After a few random suggestions, young Paul said, "You could lie about your age..." All the family who knows that granny insists she is 20 all burst into laughter with everyone else wondering what was going on. It was pretty funny. Anyway, the baptism was great, even though I had to drug Preston so he could get through it--he had a cold and was acting quite draggy before the baptism. Everyone came over to our house after for Tacos--Preston's favorite, and ice cream cake, thanks to Granny and Grandpa. Thank you to Ken and Tracy and their family, Grandma and Grandpa Doig and grandma Berry for coming over, as well as my mom and dad.

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Kilroy Was Here: Austin's school play

On March 19-22, Austin performed in his school play, Kilroy Was Here. He played the part of the Western Union Messenger. It was a small part, but he did a great job. All in all the play was excellent. The music was well done and so catchy. Austin had a great time participating in the play. He loved going to rehearsals, getting to know other dramatic and creative kids from other grades and everything about it. I am so grateful to Magrath Cultural Arts and the high school for providing this opportunity. It was great that my parents were visiting while the play was showing so they could see Austin perform--twice!

Saturday, April 6th: The Last Hurrah

Saturday, April 6th, our last morning in Hawaii had a magical quality about it. It was a beautiful day and the beach was quiet. We were all trying to treasure and soak in the sand and the sun and the time together as a family. We all played in the water. I snorkelled one more time. We made sand creations, and we took Mark in the water. He was so happy in the water and stayed in for at least 45 minutes. 

At 10:30, I was so sad when I had to leave the beach to go get showered so we could be ready to leave. We staggered our return to the room so that everyone could have maximal beach time. We checked out of our room at noon, had one last lunch at the foodcourt and headed back to the airport.

Everything went fine at the airport, except Mark had a huge blowout. I won't go into details, but let's just say, he left his mark on the Honolulu airport! Rob's family friends, the Selks, were on our flight to Vancouver. One of the in-laws in that group is a collegue of Rob's--Marlin Hogg a Principal in Raymond. The flight went fine, but our flight schedule was really rough. We arrived in Vancouver after midnight. As usual (and necessary) we were the last ones off the plane. By the time we went through customs, retrieved our luggage and took a shuttle (taxi for Mark and I) to the hotel, it was nearly 2 am. We then had to get up at 4:40 to quickly put clothes on and leave by 5 to be at the airport in just enough time for our 7 am flight. When we touched down in Calgary I nearly cried as there was snow on the ground.  Unfortunately, our van was broken into at the airport. All they stole, as far as we can tell, was our parking pass. So, when we left, it cost us $130! However, thanks to the generous allocation of spending money, we had enough to cover all our expenses including that and including our purchases at Ross. We went straight to Granny's where she had turkey dinner ready between conference sessions. We listened to half the morning session via 3G internet on the drive and mostly slept through the afternoon session. Gradually we are trying to catch some of the conference that we missed.

All in all, it was a wonderful trip, a treasure to remember for a lifetime! I am so grateful that Mark was happy and slept well and enjoyed the trip. He has had some hip problems lately so I was really worried that he would have a tough time. What a great blessing that he did so well!

Our trusty beach sheet. Alyssa is making that special face on purpose!

The last snorkel!

Giant sea turtle

Preston just loving the sand.

Austin is a "m-ark" a man-shark.

The family in the water.

Mark loving the water with his Dad.

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The family at the beach

Diamond head crater in the background of this shot.

Friday, April 5th--Waikiki Main beach and surfing

On Friday, April 5th, our last full day, we had to decide whether to go to Pearl Harbor or to spend the day at the beach. The beach won. I believe we went to the hotel beach in the morning. After lunch we went over to the main Waikiki beach, got Mark a lounge chair and umbrella and rented surf boards. We took turns watching Mark and Preston at the shore and surfing--or in my case, trying to surf. Rob spent two hours out there helping and towing Austin back out after his runs. He was good and tired after. For supper we went to Chilis again. All through dinner, Mark was perfectly happy with no other entertainment than chewing on my purse--YUM! In the evening, Rob took the boys to the mall to the lego store while Alyssa, Mark and I started packing up most of our stuff so that we could eke out a couple more hours the next morning at the beach.

This was Preston's favorite restaurant in the foodcout by our hotel. He ate there 3 times  (and so did I).

Mark chillaxing at Waikiki. The rental place gave us the umbrella and chair to use without a fee  because of Mark's condition.

Look at that man flesh!

Waikiki beach panarama. It is not actually curved in the middle--that is just a distortion of the photograph. It is a very busy place. The beach at our hotel which is just a little further down  (that's our hotel on the right) is quieter.

Dinner at Chili's!

A bad photo of the front of our hotel at night.

This is the Royal Hawaiian hotel shopping plaza across from our hotel. I love how the shopping is open air.

What a delicious purse

Thursday, April 4th: Sealife Park, laundry, beach and Ross

On Thursday Morning, we went to Sealife Park. This was our second excursion paid for by Make-a-wish. Although it had some neat stuff, it just doesn't stand up to the comparison with Seaworld in San Diego. Part of it was under construction and to do everything cost extra--like to swim with Dolphins, in their pool, $249, each. etc. So we just went to the various habitats and saw sharks, sea turtles, sea lions, penguins (though they were hiding in their enclosure out of the sun so we could barely see them), dolphins, birds etc. There were two main shows--the dolphin show and the sea lion show and we went to both.

Mark had a tough time at the shows and started fussing during each show and had to leave. I think the sudden clapping and stuff bothered him--but I don't know why, he has been so tolerant of that kind of thing lately. 

Anyway, when we were done at Sealife Park, I did laundry at a laundromat while Rob, Austin and Dad rested and Alyssa took Preston to the pool. We spent a little time on the beach before going to Chili's (our favorite place of the trip) for supper. On the walk back to the hotel we came to Ross again and loaded up on bargains. It was the awesomest Ross store ever--2 huge floors and the racks right packed with stuff.

Shark in the tank. For an extra $150 you can go in a cage inside the tank with the sharks.

Austin and Preston enjoying the Sea turtles.

This sideways picture is me holding and comforting Mark after having to leave the sea lion show.

Sea Turtle!

Waiting for the dolphin show to start. 

 Below are some little video clips of the dolphin and Sea lion shows. The one unique thing they have at Sea life Park is a wholphin which is the child of a dolphin and a false killer whale or something. It is like a fatter dolphin with darker skin.

Wednesday, April 3: Hanauma Bay and the hotel beach

On Wednesday, the 3rd, we got up early and drove over to Hanauma Bay where they have snorkelling. We had to wait in line for a while and watch a conservation video before we were free to go to the beach, but we probably still got there by around 10. I immediately set about going snorkelling--which I love. I took various combinations of kids with me and we saw lots of tropical fish in many varieties. We even saw a giant sea turtle when I went out with Alyssa and Austin. Then Alyssa and I took Preston out and saw the turtle again. Hanauma Bay was also nice for playing on the beach. Rob and Preston did lots of building in the sand. Also, it was a nice place to take Mark into the water because there were not many waves.

Austin's face full of sand

We dug Mark a hole in the sand to make a lounge chair and rigged up some shade. He had a great time  listening to his iPad and chewing on whatever he could find.

Alyssa: triumphant snorkeler

Preston and I getting ready to snorkel

Rob didn't choose to snorkel, but had fun digging in the sand with his boys.

Look at all the snorkelers. I think that is Austin, closest

A panarama of Hanauma Bay.

We didn't have an underwater camera so sadly we have no record of what we saw down there. Here is a view  from  above the surface just a few feet from the shore. Can you see the cream colored fish with the black stripes? On one of our ventures, we saw of school of hundreds of this kind of fish.

We took Mark in the ocean at Hanauma Bay. He was quite nervous at first, but  gradually relaxed and really enjoyed it.

Mark getting more comfortable.

Mark playing with the other kids at Hanauma Bay. Even though we were only at Hanauma Bay for about 3 hours, a lot of it in the morning, we got a lot of sun there. I got probably the worst sunburn I have ever had on my back (usually I don't burn).

Back at the hotel beach

Just chillin'. We made 3 chairs in the sand and draped  sheet over them. Super comfy. I read lots of my book, Truman by David McCullough while traveling...not too much while actually in Hawaii.

Preston loved building pits and castles. As the tide would come in, it would gradually be washed away.