winter doldrums

cold, cloudy, hectic week--especially for ben, who had finals. seems like he did okay in most but definitely stressful and tough to balance with basketball (and his team hasn't been doing that well either).

emma doing a lot too but had some nice successes as well--bball team won, as did hockey. also, she won 2nd in the catholic schools essay contest and also got picked to be captain of 6th/7th grade science bowl team.

terri's leg getting better but doug got a big black eye when elbowed at pickup basketball on weds night. the upside was that he claims it gave him some street cred for the athletes in his sport and society class.

guess who?

guess who terri exchanged greetings with at 7:30 on campus this morning? here's her hint: he is a former vice president of the united states. okay, so that made it pretty easy: walter mondale. apparently they were the only ones in the building and he felt sorry for the lady walking with a cane. good stuff, huh?

almost a week since classes started at the U and we are still here. a busy, weather filled week: rain all weekend (which made como hockey day miserable, except that emma's team won their game in the sloshy ice, 6-1), then wind and snow, and now today brutal cold. the usual games--ben's bball team lost on saturday, emma's won on monday. ben's game for today rescheduled for later in the week due to finals. (he is supposed to be studying with hannah right now instead).

we're also hoping to get started car shopping to replace the totaled vibe. oh, and trying to get over the vikings game by just moving on and not talking about it.

weekend report

emma's team didn't do that well at the hockey tournament in owatanna, but we all had a good time hanging out in the hotel and we got back early enough sunday afternoon to catch the end of the Vikings game (!), to let ben get his guys together for band practice, and to take in a little neighborhood holiday weekend skating party.

classes started for doug and terri today--all is well, though terri's leg makes lecturing a bit challenging. ($$ came back from the insurance, so we are now ready to get a new vehicle--just waiting to find time to do so). ben and emma's bball teams both had games over the past two days too--emma's team lost but played their best all around game of the year (according to the coach), and ben's team won in a good game that was closer than it needed to be.

besides getting back into the academic grove, we'll spend the week getting ready for como hockey day over at north dale rec on saturday. if you're in the neighborhood, stop on by!

checking in

off to owattana tomorrow morning for a holiday weekend girls hockey tournament. should be fun--hotel supposed to have a water park, and the hockey crowd is usually entertaining to hang out with.

emma's team had a game here tonite in town (against irondale). they tied 1-1 with emma playing what her coaches called her best game of the year. she had a number of very strong plays on defense, including one or two she could have gotten penalties on.

ben's team had a game and won, too. Ben got to play about 5 minutes and scored four points including a jumper from the free throw line and a little hook shot put-back after an offensive rebound. at the JV game, his friend Wyatt had an unbelievable game scoring 25 points on the strength of 7 of 8 shooting from 3 point range. they went to see Como beat St. Bernards in the annual Rice Street hockey cup after their games and it sounded like they had a good time in the somewhat rowdy crowd.

the week ahead

one more week before classes start for doug and terri...on the sports front, emma has bball and hockey games today (monday), and then a big hockey tournament down in Owattana this weekend. Ben has games tuesday and friday. terri still recovering from crush injury to her leg from the wreck, but got great news last friday that she received her sabbatical supplement for next year. And we need to start looking for a replacement for the Vibe sometime soon--thoughts, suggestions, and advice always appreciated....

addendum--emma's teams won one and lost one. bball was the win, 26-12 (emma had two baskets!) and hockey was a last second loss, 2-1. ben's game tomorrow is at johnson high school--their varsity just beat the #1 team in the state.

today

woke up to -14 degrees this morning. fairly typical of the week, which included a few more inches of snow on thursday. ben's team won their first game last night (versus Harding--he got only a few minutes of time at the end; he hadn't practiced a ton with his eye and back and all) and have another game this afternoon against a catholic school in Minneapolis. emma has a hockey game before that. and doug played a bit more bball than usual this week with the opening of the mmsa gym. took 3 shots (all 3 pointers) and hit all 3 in one game. of course, all downhill from there including lingering achiness and soreness in feet and legs.

accident but all ok...

driving ben to school, terri got rear-ended by a school bus and pushed into another bus. ben got a gash above his left eye but it is already fixed up (they super glued it at urgent care), and everyone else okay...everyone but the Vibe which is smashed on both ends and a lot of broken parts and windows.

addendum: terri went in and had her leg, which crashed against the steering wheel, looked at this afternoon too after some pain. a "crush" injury on an artery just below the knee but a couple of days of rest and elevation and should be no problems.

with things calmed down a bit, also wanted to update on the new MMSA gym. a great opening ceremony on sunday afternoon led by the newly ordained Bishop Serba. emm's team had the first practice sunday evening, then, after we took the team to a gopher's women's game (they won in OT!), and then a game yesterday afternoon. they lost a close one to St. Agnes but played well, and really enjoyed having their own locker room!