Spring Basketball

Rob has been coaching Alyssa this spring in U-15 club basketball. They have played in two tournaments so far. So far they've won 3 and lost 4. U-15 teams can be grade 8 age and/or grade 9 age. Our team has 7 grade 8 players and 2 grade 9 players. Three of our losses are to grade 9 all-star teams, so we can't feel too bad about that.

It is cute to see Rob coaching. I think he is doing a really good job. He and the other coach promised the girls a milkshake is any of them could get 2 foul shots in a row. Alyssa has done it 3 times now. Only one other player has earned a milkshake. Here is a little video of Alyssa shooting foul shots....milkshake on the line. She is #5 on the darker blue team. She had her hair in a ponytail.

Lethbridge Piano Festival

This afternoon, Alyssa and Austin performed in a piano festival in Lethbridge. Austin performed one piece in a "recital class" and Alyssa performed three pieces in a "concert class." It was a dreadfully long afternoon. We were there about 3 hours by the time both kids performed and were adjudicated.

Crafty Card Tricks played by Austin Doig

Austin pretty much nailed his piece and came in 2nd of 7 performers. He did not get nervous at all. A few minutes before he performed, for example, he asked me if I could move the seat. I thought he was concerned about getting the piano bench in the right spot for his performance, but no. He was worried about 3 pokémon cards that fell between the seats in the van. I guess whatever his strategy, it worked. Good job, Austin!

Sweet Sorrow played by Alyssa Doig

Alyssa had a much harder task than Austin. Rather than play a single grade one piece, she had to play 3 grade five pieces. She also had to sit in a church for two-and-a-half hours before playing, sitting thinking about how nervous she was. Anyway, things didn't go quite right on her first piece, Bach's "Little Prelude in C Major" but she did quite well on her other pieces. I'm not posting the Bach piece, but if she'll play it for me again, perhaps I will post that version. She did really well on her other pieces, although the adjudicator didn't completely agree with her interpretation of "Sweet Sorrow." Personally, I think it sounds beautiful.

Jig played by Alyssa Doig

After the festival we met Rob and Austin in Lethbridge and caught dinner at Swiss Chalet before the kids had to be back for Mutual.

Bike Riding

Winter seems to be dying a slow and painful death. We had just a couple of nice days over spring break...followed by rain and snow. However, we did take advantage when the weather was relatively nice to get the boys out bike riding. Both Austin and Preston got new bikes for their birthdays. The first pictures is of Austin on his new bike which is just a bit big for him, but works actually quite well, and is so much faster than his old bike--the change from wheels that are 12" in diameter to wheels that have a 16" diameter. Preston's case was kind of funny. Our goal was to teach him to ride his two wheeler over spring break. On the first attempt on Friday, we thought it would be an uphill battle. His steering was extremely erratic and it seemed like he had no balance. Rob improvised an imitation strider bike. Strider bikes are pedal-less bikes that kids propel by pushing off the ground. They are supposed to encourage balance. Anyway, Rob took the pedals off Austin s old bike and Preston practiced on it for a while on Friday and again on Saturday.Then I went out to help him try the two wheeler again. After holding on and helping for a while I got tired, and let go....and he kept on going. Next thing you know he is a two-wheel bike rider! After a little while, we called is dad out and surprised him!

Galaxyland

On Wednesday, we got up and checked out of the hotel and got to Galaxyland at West Edmonton Mall just as it was opening at 10am. We had a great time here, too. There are a couple of bonafide amazing roller coasters as well as lots of other rides both for little guys and big people. We took turns being with Mark, and going on the rides with Alyssa and with the little guys. We stayed till after 4 and Mark did just fine. Never in my wildest imagination would I have thought Mark could handle a full day at the waterpark, a full day at Galaxyland as well as 11 hours of driving.

We did have one problem with Mark. On the first night in the hotel, he woke up at 4 am and started slapping his belly....over and over...(of course his pajama shirt was in his mouth and therefore he was banging a bare belly). At 4:30, I got out of bed. I was worried he would wake everyone up as we were all in the same room. Mark was sleeping on a foam on the floor. I thought, maybe if I moved him on his foam into the bathtub, maybe we could close the door on his banging and everyone else could sleep. However, once in the bathtub, he started banging on the walls of the tub, and even with the door closed, this was much, much louder. So, I moved him back and gave him some more melatonin, hoping he'd go back to sleep. He never did, but I did at least and the kids mostly slept though. Rob never went back to sleep. After this incident, we gave Mark the affectionate nickname of "Sir bangs-a-lot."
Austin and Preston enjoyed some of the rides available for shorter people including the airplane ride, ...
the dragon wagon...
The cosmic spinner (actually Austin...and I...hated this ride which has no point except to make you dizzy).
The cosmic bounce....On this one you go up and down quickly. It makes your stomach drop... Austin firmly believes that the result of 2 times on the cosmic spinner and two times on the cosmic bounce will always be throwing up!
The carousel...

In this picture you can see the tracks of two different roller coasters. I believe that is us in the blue and yellow car on the yellow roller coaster called the galaxy orbiter. It circles all around galaxyland and the car spins as it goes. It is pretty exciting, but also great because Preston and Austin were allowed to ride it with a chaperone. Preston really liked this one....Austin, not so much.
In this picture, Alyssa and Rob are strapping in for the Mindbender. This is the marquis ride of Galaxyland. It has you go straight up about 10 stories or more, then dive all the way down at an amazing speed, return back up high and do 3 loop de loops and a couple of corkscrews. It is beyond anything I've ever done, and once was enough for me. Alyssa went once with me and once with Rob. After the day was over (note not before) Rob complained that no one would go on it with him again....we didn't hear him ask while we were actually at Galaxyland!
Bumper cars...
In the background of this picture, you can see the mindbender cars going up and up...
Alyssa and I at the end of the mindbender....Austin says I look like I'm going to puke and Alyssa looks like she's going to cry.
This picture is of the auto sled. It was Austin's favorite roller coaster. We went on it over and over and over and over. Austin and Preston could ride, but only if they each had an adult chaperone. Unfortunately, to secure you in the ride, they push a thick padded bar into your hips. It was so tight I could feel all my body fat displaced above and below. The tightness had a way of taking the fun out of the ride. In the afternoon when we went on one time, the operator didn't push the bar all the way down. I thought he forgot us, and I was terrified, all the way around that Preston would fall out. I held the bar close with one arm, and held onto Preston for dear life with the other arm. Then, on subsequent times down the slide, I realized that it was just fine for the bar to be put down half way, in fact most adults didn't have that bar pushed into their hips. After that the ride was a little less miserable.
The balloon ride is like a little ferris wheel
The galaxy orbiter
The train

The autosled, again...

World Waterpark

For spring break, we decided to go to West Edmonton Mall for three days. We had gift cards for the Best Western Hotel, so we stayed there. We drove up on Monday and hung around in the mall for a while. By amazing coincidence, we ran into Andrew Livingstone and his family. Andrew is the little person close to Austin's age who lives in Edmonton and is also LDS. They had a French exchange student visiting and had brought her to Galaxyland. We tagged along with them for a while, and then met Glen and Lindsay Eklund for dinner at Boston Pizza. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of them. It was pretty neat to see them again though. Austin and their son Parker were best friends in Rocky and they picked up right where they left off. Preston also seemed to hit it off with their youngest son, Cameron. Alyssa and their oldest daughter Brooke seemed to have more in common now than they did when we all lived in Rocky. As for me, it seemed like way to short a time to catch up with Lindsay who was one of my best friends and favorite people.

On Tuesday we went to World Waterpark at West Edmonton Mall. We were there from 11 am to 6:30 p.m., if that gives you any idea of how fun it is there. It is a massive indoor complex, with the sun shining down on you through a glass roof. There are 17 waterslides, apparently, though I couldn't keep track, and a huge wave pool. There are also hot tubs, a splash park, and a kiddie pool. Mark did really well all day. For most of the day, we just sat in his wheel chair, and listened to his shows as we wheeled him around to all the places we went. In the last hour we were there, I put on his swim suit and put him in the water which he also enjoyed.

Alyssa climbing the stairs. There was lots of stair climbing over the course of the day. One slide is nearly 10 stories high.
Mark getting some love from his family in the kiddie pool.
Austin at the spray park. He is filling his bucket of water to dump on some unsuspecting person's head.
Alyssa and Preston in the wave pool practicing back floats.

A view of the wave poolA view of the slides
Alyssa waiting to catch Preston as he comes down the corkscrew slide
Alyssa at the bottom of the howler
Sitting on the beach just before lunch
Contrary to how it may appear, this is a "beginner" slide that Rob has just come down.
Classic Preston.

Austin's ordination

On April 20th, Austin turned 12. We didn't have a friend party this year, instead focusing on his ordination and his ability to do baptisms for the dead. On Easter Sunday, his name was presented in Sacrament Meeting to be ordained a deacon. They also announced that he completed his Faith in God program. He had worked really hard on Faith in God, especially in the past few months. Rob's parents and grandparents as well as Ken and Tracy and their kids came to the ordination, which took place in deacon's quorum meeting. Rob ordained Austin and afterwards, Austin was asked to bear his testimony. He didn't use any of the forms of traditional testimony bearing, but said that he felt like something had been handed to him, like a basket of eggs, and that his job now was to take it and take care of it. He also said he felt older somehow.

After the ordination, everyone came over for dinner. These are some pictures Ken took with his awesome camera of Austin with his grandparents and family.

Last night, we took Austin to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. We needed 4 endowed brethren to perform the ordinances, so we got Rob (baptizer), Ken (recorder), Grandpa Paul (confirmer) and Grandpa Doig (witness). Austin, Alyssa, Kaylene and Paul were all proxies. The mothers and grandmothers watched. It was super special to be in the temple with our family. Also, I was concerned that there wouldn't be a jumpsuit that Austin could wear, and that he'd be too short for the water level, but it all worked out fine. He had the smallest jumpsuit which worked well just being rolled up in the legs. Also, the water in the font came to about his neck. It was perfect, and there was a really nice spirit there.

Wagon Wheels West

Last week Alyssa took part in her school's play, "Wagon Wheels West." It was a comical story about a town along the Santa Fe trail which is tormented by a mysterious outlaw "the snake" who robs wagon trains and local citizens. A civic minded local woman forces her brother to run for mayor to clean up the town (since women can't hold public office). Meanwhile a wagon train loses a wheel and comes to the town of Vinegar Bottle to get their wheel fixed. It turns out that Smiling Slade Clagett, the local Saloon owner is in fact the snake. He has been hiring outlaws to do his dirty work (and paying them in beans & with a tiny shack to live in). However, before things resolve, the wagon master gets accused to stealing a diamond necklace (He is framed by Smiling Slade and the Saloon lady and his side kick, Sue Flay). Wagon master Chuck Wagon is condemned to hang at "low noon." Meanwhile, outlaws kidnap Candy Cane, a girl who is part of the wagon train, and who is Chuck's romantic interest. She escapes with the information to free Chuck from hanging. Chuck then wins a shootout with the Snake, the new mayor is elected and it's happily ever after.

Alyssa played the part of a woman stranded in Vinegar Bottle who wants to join the wagon train. It was not a really big part, but she did have several lines and was on the stage for much of the play.

The play was really fun and very well done, especially when you consider all the limitations they work under...such as giving a part to everyone who tries out, not being able to set up the stage, lighting and technical until a few days before the performance, and being in a room with terrible acoustics which requires the kids to wear microphones which occasionally don't work.