Jack’s big break

When Mom saw that the Rivalry at the Rink

MU versus KU hockey game was coming,

She considered getting tickets—

We do love some cheap hockey!

But when Jackson was asked to help 

the marketing team at the game,

We definitely needed to go to support that!

We needed a family selfie to commemorate the night—

Can you see our 6th member?

There he is!

Top right corner of the picture!

He was working hard,

Setting up games, handing out freebies,

Learning the ropes of sports marketing

We had a good time,

Watching him work his way around the arena.

We had a good time watching hockey too!

It was a good game, 

Even if Mizzou lost 3 to 5.

Maybe if Truman had been there, we would have had a win!

Snuggles

Mom is making this count...

It doesn't happen very often these days

 

So many free throws

We played a tough team today.

We fought hard

We took some shots,

Made some fouls, took some fouls

And got to take a lot of free throws

I think I was 50% for the 6 I got.

Not too bad…but I think the driveway basketball goal

Is calling my name…

 

“Don’t suck!”

I had one more regular season archery tournament this weekend—

One more chance to increase my personal best.

I nailed it in bullseye—

A new top score of 239.

3D was close but no cigar—

A 228 (my best is 230)

But hey, as Coach Tiffany says, 

“Don’t suck!”

And I definitely didn’t suck

 

The Friday night Finale

The last swim meet of the winter season has arrived.

We were a bit mixed on this one—

Excited for a meet,

Angry/intimidated/nervous to swim the IM.

None of us signed up for it,

But Coach Nicole put us all in it. 

She clearly has a lot of faith in us.

So here’s how the night went:

Weston had a stellar night, setting a PR in everything he swam

He shaved off a tenth of a second in free, coming in at 35.15.

He cut over 1 second off his breaststroke, 

coming in 5th with a time of 43.93

But the big news was his IM:

He cut 18 seconds from last year for a new time of 1:28.99.

Well done!

Although only 2 of the 3 members of the free relay got to stay together tonight,

He and Cooper made the sweep with 4 1st place ribbons this season.

His freestyle was a bit slow tonight,

No PR, but a 4th place finish all the same.

Despite not wanting to swim it, 

He took 3 seconds off his IM time from the summer, 

setting a new PR of 1:41.16 

And taking 2nd place, just behind Cooper.

I had a heck of a night.

I didn’t set a new PR in breast, but I did smash the event again,

 Coming in 1st by 8 seconds!!!

But my big news with the IM:

I took nearly 43 SECONDS off my previous time from the summer

 Easily taking 1st with a time of 2:06.01

We forgot to get a picture of the big ol’ Margarita crew

But we did get a picture of the Dream Team free relay

Another successful season!

Bring on Waves!

Preparing for Contest

The Bison 8th grade band is heading to our first contest

in a week or two.

To give us a test of pressure,

we put on a concert tonight

so our parents could get a sneak preview

of what all our hard work has produced.

I played auxiliary percussion on the first song--

Tamborine, suspended symbol, that sort of thing--

and played xylophone and snare on the second.

Mom and Dad were impressed

but I have a few things I want to work on before the competition.

Stay tuned...1 rating here we come!

 

Attempting to be Kings of the Court

Today was all about the basketball.

We had a regular season game first thing in the morning.

It was a close one but we lost.

Then we were off to our first tournament.

We won our first game handily,

scoring us a place in the championship game.

We gave it our all

but came up short.

Runners' up isn't too bad:

Maybe we'll win our next one

Friday Night in the Pool

It's our 3rd meet which means 

we're adding fly

and shaving time off our strokes

I was pulled in to a free relay at the last minute

and as the lead-off swimmer, 

I had a fast start and set the pace for a 1st place finish

I swam back, with a "No Time" for my seed.

I finished just barely in 2nd with a time of 26.74, 0.3 seconds out of first.

My last swim was breast...which I am KING at!

I took off 0.8 seconds coming in at 28 seconds flat,

a full 7.5 seconds ahead of 2nd place.

As for Beck

His free relay took first place by just a hair for the 3rd week in a row.

Although he was not thrilled to swim it,

he swam a MEAN fly.

His seed time was 58.35, which he crushed coming in at 50.38s

taking 2nd place

(and just a fraction ahead of his BFF and rival Cooper).

As for his favorite stroke, breaststroke,

he took 1st, setting a new PR by 0.7 seconds at 46.26.

And the finale...Weston...

He took off 1.2 seconds in back with a new PR of 41.27 seconds.

He had a huge PR by nearly 2 seconds in breaststroke 

with a new PR of 45.19.

And he had an even BIGGER PR in freestyle, 

taking off 2.3 seconds for a new best time of 35.25 seconds.

This definitely calls for a Mexican fiesta with our swim friends--

about 20 of us headed across the street for some tacos and drinks.

We had so much fun, we forgot the pictures.

We'll grab one next week--a fiesta is our tradition!

Not bad for 30 minutes

In all the chaos of activities

And the Super Bowl,

We forgot to make Valentine’s boxes.

But have no fear,

A few boxes,

Some foil,

Some pipe cleaners

And markers

And we’re all set.

It’s the last year for 2 of us…

Glad we got it done!

 

Chiefs DYNASTY!

We ate the food,

We drank the drinks,

We chewed the nails,

We yelled at the screen,

We cheered our heart out…

And the Chiefs WON THE SUPER BOWL!

Repeat Complete.

 

24hr of R&R

A Saturday Mom doesn’t work and

We don’t have a million activities?

Cabin, here we come!

It was a highly productive 24 hours.

We dropped off the new fishing boat,

Took a long walk,

Rode 4 wheelers,

Made the world’s best grilled cheese and tomato soup,

Working on the 4 wheeler path,

Went fishing

And did some relaxing.

It was a glorious sunset

And the company was good

Right, Ranger?

That will fill your cup.

It’s funny how just a few hours down here

Feels like days away from the craziness of home

Not that there isn’t craziness here:

There was wrestling,

A few highly competitive games of 

Ribbon Ninja and Farkle,

And some hilariously bad late-night TV.

Just what we needed…

Now back for the craziness of the Super Bowl!

Finishing touch

Because Dad doesn’t do anything halfway,

After the amazing remodel on the rest of the bathroom,

He thought the toilet room needed one more special touch.

Check out the mosaic wall:

Bathroom:

DONE!

 

A Cooper Extravaganza!

Rather than buy Cooper a gift for his birthday,

We decided to take him for an adventure.

We had to fuel up first

With some donuts

Before we hit up Kanga 

For an afternoon of craziness.

We tried out the slides

Which was definitely Thea’s favorite

And after watching us

(And our bad influence),

Head-first became Cooper’s favorite

Another favorite?

The ball room

Because there were lots of airsoft gun

(And we all know that Thea loves “to shoot people”)

The were pretty fun

There were lots of other things to explore:

Log swings

Zip lines

Hiding places

Big enough for a crowd

And horses—

Almost as good as unicorns

According to Thea

We lined up with Cooper to try out the climbing wall

But he changed his mind at the last minute.

We still had to give it a go.

It took Weston may 5 seconds to get up the chimney

I tried a different section

And only used the round pegs instead

For a challenge

And Tuck shimmied up the chimney

Almost as fast as Wes

Whew!

After a few hours,

We were all beat and ready to head home.

There may have been a little dozing by all of us

On the way home

Happy Birthday, Cooper!

Thanks for letting us take you out!