March Madness

March means basketball in our house (for one last year - yeah - no more bleacher butt!!) 

Bryson's team had a great year. They had some wake up calls early in the year, but that served as a motivator to work harder. 

 In the end, they placed second in their league, then it was on to the island championships.

But first, the Spartan's gave back to the community by playing a fundraiser game against the police team. 

They raised $1200.00 for a local Charity.

At the Vancouver Island Tournament, they came together as a team and dominated the schools that had given them fits earlier in the season.

 In the end, very disciplined defence brought the Vancouver Island Championship trophy back to Claremont for the first time since 2002

Every basketball players dream - the chance to cut down the net after a big game.

Then it was off to the big dance floor at the provincial tournament.

They played very well as a team.

Had some big individual moments

New Basket ball shoes - $90.00

New Basket ball - $60.00

(Yeah.....blocked that one!)

Ferry ride to and hotel stay on the Mainland $200.00

Having your fast break replay on the Jumbotron - Priceless (Video to follow)

Catch Up Time

Alicia came back to stay with us for a few months and save $ to go back to school.Stacey and Scott 2.0 came home to Victoria for Christmas too, so we almost had a full house again. 

Mrs. Clause thought up a doozie to make everyone earn their presents this year. When they woke up, they found a set of car keys......on a string(aka unrolled 1/4 mile spool of binder twine!) The rules were to slide the keys along the string to the end where the keys would be released for them to open the car and get their presents.

The string went all through the house....

Out windows and around the trees and railings in the yard and driveway.....

 Then back to the gauntlet -

Mom had two airsoft guns and used her quick draw skills to shoot the present seekers trying to get to the end of the string tied to her dresser.

 She really had them hopping

Once they had the keys, they had to find the car ......that was not in the driveway. With a little neighbourhood search, they were able to finally open the trunk.... and found it empty except for a note. Just another riddle to solve that brought them back to face the airsoft guns again and the moniacle laugh Mrs. Clause took on as she truly enjoyed a second round of pelting.

 Success at last!

 They worked up a great appetite and we all enjoyed a wonderful Christmas dinner.

A day of napping, recovery from food coma's and we were off to see the Christmas sights in Victoria.

Then came the bug zoo.

A ferry ride over to Vancouver to visit the aquarium on our way up to ski for a few days at Whistler.

You'll have to check out everyone's Facebook pages for ski pictures. We (I) drove off leaving the camera in the closet.

Local Traditions

Every town has some interesting and fun traditions. 

Here in Victoria, in the days following Halloween many people bring their jack-o-lanterns to a particular road that winds through a park.

It's fun to take a stroll and see everyone's creativity. 

With the humidity and temperatures, the natural art stays around several weeks for all to enjoy. Then the district picks them up for composting. 

Fun.

Oh Yeah......

When we went to visit Stacey and Scott, I left my camera at home. Here are a few shots of our trip from the camera phone.


Always beautiful in Hawaii.....

Stacey and Scott showed us some places they had discovered on the island, 

like turtle beach....

Honolulu night life....

Giovani's shrimp shack.....(delicious!)

places to golf....

and stuff....(Yeah it's fun to embarrass the newcomer to the family!)

(Bryson wanted to be sure Scott 1.0 (aka Cindy's Scott) knew we ate at one of his favorite eatery's.)

Cool painted trees

 and of course the  Hawaiian rainbows - this was a double.

It was great to see Stacey and Scott 2.0 and spend some time with them exploring. We also had fun finding ways to create space in their VERY cozy apartment. University life....those were the days.

For the first few days we were on the island, we couldn't understand why people near us were whispering to one another and pointing at Bryson. Then we passed a magazine rack.

You be the judge...... is there a resemblance? 

In something other than the naughty department,.... of course

 OK now it's time for Halloween...

Pumkin pie anyone?