...my favorite quote from Disneyland.

I'm sitting here bemoaning the horrible weather we have been getting in Vancouver (did you know that its officially the worst Spring we've had on record? Yah...that bad). And I was thinking about Disneyland, not that the weather was awesome either...but at least we did see the sun once in awhile.

Anyways, on the third afternoon at Disneyland, Frank and I, and even the kids, to a little extent, were all "Disney-ed" out. Well, Aislinn wanted to go back and ride Space Mountain again. Frank said no because it made him feel sick. I said no because I didn't want to stand in line anymore, and Mackendra said no because she didn't like the ride because it was a little scary. Aislinn pleaded and begged. Finally Mackendra had enough...

"Aislinn...its dark in there...just pretend we're beside you...sheesh!"

Ha ha ha!!! Classic Mackendra!

Aislinn didn't end up going on Space Mountain again, but even she had to laugh at Mackendra's bon mot.

...about Disney LO's.

As you can see...we had a great time together. It was the first time that we were all tall enough to go on every ride.

Its funny though...as soon as the kids are big enough, the parent's stomachs aren't strong enough.

...Disneyland and a Teenager in the House!!!

Hello Friends and Family,

Whew, its been a very hectic few months. Here's an update...

We sold our house. Yah!!! I seriously hated that house. We have moved into a very spacious townhouse, quite close to our old house in fact, and we are very happy.

It was tough finding a place. There wasn't a lot out there. And especially not much that accepted dogs. In fact, we had to give Tuck away to Frank's brother in Victoria for awhile. Our new place doesn't accept dogs. However, we didn't know that when we agreed to take the place. We were taking over a lease from a couple, and they had 2 dogs. They told us that everyone in the townhouse complex had dogs. So, we took the place, but when we went to go sign the papers with the landlords, they told us that they didn't accept dogs. We didn't say anything, because we really wanted the place, it was getting late in the month, and we figured we could sneak Tuck in later on. So, Walter and his family eagerly agreed to take Tuck for the Summer (or longer if needed). He's doing great. In fact, I don't think he will want to come back. He has kids around all day long, he has a big backyard and a lake just down the road, another dog for company, and he gets real meat everyday for dinner. It is actually great because we are planning on travelling a lot this Summer. Aislinn and Mac will be at camps all summer long. We miss him, but we don't miss the fights with Aislinn to take him out everyday, or the hair EVERYWHERE!!!! We'll see what happens in September. We'll see if there is some way to talk our landlords into accepting him. We'll keep our fingers crossed.

We are still working on finding places for all our stuff. You know how it goes: you have boxes full of crap that you don't want or really need but are too afraid to throw out. And you have furniture that doesn't quite work in the new place and spaces for new furniture that you don't have. It will take awhile to get things squared away and for our new place to feel "finished".

I do like having more than one floor. It means we can get away from each other once in awhile. The kids really like it. There are a lot of kids in the complex, so Mackendra has been busy making friends.

We also just got back from Disneyland yesterday. We decided to take a week off of basketball and take a few days just for us. We hit Universal Studio (a first for us...and we loved the Simpson ride!) and then did a day on Santa Monica Pier and then 3 days in Disneyland. It was great. Because we have done Disneyland twice before, it was way more relaxed this time. There was no pressure to see and do everything. The only downside was that it was a little cool.

Actually, the build up to the trip was kinda funny. We were trying to find a quick trip and we debating between Mexico and California. Finally we told the kids that we were going to drive down to San Francisco and visit my Auntie Ceci and Uncle Alex. We told them, that to save money we were going to take our small orange car. The kids whined and complained about how uncomfortable it was going to be. So we relented and said that we would rent a van from SeaTac airport. Not too bad... But, when we got to SeaTac, Frank got all agitated and then sadly came back and told the kids that they had lost our van rental and there was no van available. They were all sad again. Then Frank said, "oh well...I guess we are just going to have to fly to Disneyland." It took Aislinn about 5 seconds to get it. She was all confused then she squealed and punched Frank. Mackendra took a bit longer, she was kinda mad that we weren't getting a van with movie players in the back of the seats. But by the time we boarded the plane, she was getting excited. We got them good. The one thing good about our little trick was that Aislinn was the only one who had packed pants and sweaters. She was prepared for San Francisco. We had packed for LA. and as a consequence, we were a little cold.

Here are a few pics of our California adventures.

According to Dracula...British Columbians are "delicious" and he was looking forward to visiting Aislinn that night...Waa haa haa!!!

The final bit of news I have is that we now have a TEENAGER living within our midst. Somehow we were infiltrated and without our knowledge it invaded our ranks and taken up residence right under our noses. Today, she revealed herself.

Happy Birthday, Aislinn. 13 years ago, we met as mother and baby. Today we meet again as mother and young woman. I love you.

Oh...I almost forgot... I made it into the Medical Radiography program at BCIT. Finally!!! So, it will be 2 years of studying for me. 2 years!!!

That's it for now.

Love Tanya

U13 Club Championship

We took our little team, at least most of them, to the Basketball BC U13 Club Championship Tournament this last weekend. We were unsure with how we would fair. We actually had to pick up two new players as 4 of our regular players were too old to play in this tournament. there were about 20 teams in 3 different divisions vying for the coveted Number 1 club team in the province. We chose to try our luck in the top division. "Go Hard, or Go Home!"

Our first game was against a very strong 3D team from Surrey and we didn't play that well, lost, and Frank and I thought we were in for a very long, disappointing weekend. Then, unbelievable...our team decided to start playing basketball. The next 4 games were amazing! We managed to bump off a team that hasn't lost a game in 2 years in the semi-finals and meet the same 3D team in the final. Yah...the final. It was an exciting, hard fought game. Aislinn went head to head with 3D's top player (number 23). We had an early lead and managed to hold a 3 point lead into the half. We ran out of gas in the end and lost, unfortunately, but Frank and I could not have been happier with our team. Noone expected us to even be near the finals. We certainly put our little program on the map. We had players and parents from other programs asking about us.

Aislinn had the best weekend ever. I've never seen her play so hard. She has such a tough role. We expect her to score, and check the other teams' best players, and be a leader. And she has to do that with her parents as her coaches. She did awesome.

If you are interested, check out the final here. They are streaming the game on the Basketball BC website.

http://www.sportscanada.tv/index.php/bbc-u13-girls-cc-blue

I have a whole slew of new pictures as well, they had a professional photographer there taking and as a thank-you, the parents purchased a copy of the CD and gave us a copy. Here are a couple samples. All of Aislinn of course...well...maybe some of the awesome coaches as well...its my blog!

What do you think? Do I look coach-y enough?

It was a great weekend and the girls had a ton of fun. Aislinn was telling me that the team bonded a lot this weekend and now they were "like family". I know the parents had a blast. They were cheering, and stomping, and yelling at the refs and I think some had tears in their eyes at the end.

We've played 44 games already and it looks like we will be playing around 20 more games before we are done for the season. That's incredible! That's like 3 seasons for most kids! Our kids have all improved so much. I'm really proud of them. Especially, Aislinn.

And guess what...look what coming up next...

Ha ha! Looks like Frank and I will be doing this for a couple more years at least.

...March 2011 Update

Here is a list of things that are happening around our place.

1. Mackendra is sick...again. Man, that kid needs to stop sucking her thumb! She started vomiting around 2am this morning and keep going, every half hour or so straight through to this morning. I finally sent Frank out to get some Gravol this morning. She's sleeping now. But...boy, am I tired!

2. Aislinn has a basketball tournament this weekend up at SFU. She played with a bunch of boys in a play day last weekend and it was so much fun to watch her. She really enjoyed it as well. This was the first time I've seen her play with kids that can catch her passes and make layups. It was kinda funny because she was the only girl in the entire gym (other than Moms) and yet, she was probably about the 3rd tallest kid there. The teams were composed of grade 6-8 boys. She totally rocked and the boys very quickly saw that she was good enough to play with them.

3. I'm doing a basketball camp the first week of Spring Break. It will be for Grades 6-9 girls. I have been concentrating on getting that set up. So far, we have about 22 kids signed up. That's enough to proceed but I would love to get about 40 kids. I'm thinking about doing a bunch of camps this Summer. Also, Frank and I are toying with the idea of expanding our little basketball program. We have been asked to do an older girls team and also start a boys program. We'll see.

4. I finished my final interview for BCIT. I spent the day in the X-ray dept. at a big hospital down here. It was really interesting and I think I did awesome. I would say I'm in, but I won't know for about a month. Waiting sucks!

5. March Madness is almost upon us! I'm excited this year. I haven't been watching the NCAA teams for many years, but I'm getting into it this year. I'm enjoying the regional playoffs at the moment. At the same time, all the local high school provincials are going on and the Nationals for the CIS are in full swing. What a great time of the year!

6. My friend, Gabe is back up staying with us. He's trying to secure a basketball scholarship. In the meantime, he is going to help me coach the Spring Break camp. He has helped out with practices and all the girls love him. He's having fun up here and making some good friends.

7. Did I mention that I'm tired? I think I had a total of 2 hours of sleep last night. Every time I feel asleep, Mackendra would wake up and run to the toilet. I let her sleep with us last night, so that meant no one got much sleep. I think I will grab a nap very soon.

'Til later...

...economics according to Mac.

Mac: "Hey Dad, you know that dollar I lost last week that I was supposed to give back to you?"

Dad: "Yah, did you find it?"

Mac: "Yep, and I gave it to my friend who wanted to put a dollar in the thing for kids that are needy."

Mom: "Did you tell people that you were a kid and that you were needy and that you should get dollars too?"

Mac: "Huh?"

Dad: "You gave it away?" **chuckling**

Mac: "Dad, its just a stupid dollar!"

Dad: "Yah, but its my stupid dollar."

Mac: "Well, you lost it."

...after 14 hours give or take...

Of studying today...

its official...I've lost all feeling in my butt.

But I sure know how to do logarithmic functions!!!!

I just like writing that word..."logarithmic". It should way more fun than it actually is. It sounds like I should be groovin' to music or something. Definitely not drawing on graph paper. That's not fun. Not in any way, shape or form.

Yours in algebra...

Love Tanya