The Storm Rain on Stars Parade

Annee and the Stars fell short in their quest for the tournament championship on Thursday night. The Storm won 11-9. We were never really able to get the offense on track against them in the three games we played. Annee had six points to lead the way. For the season, she scored about 54% of our points. More importantly, Annee improved quite a bit from last year. Below is a picture of the girls with their silver medals. Next years Annee will move up to the 5th and 6th grade league. Volleyball practice starts Monday.

Stars Advance to Championship Game

The Stars survived a rematch against the Sun to advance to Thursday's championship game. The 18-12 margin was much closer than Saturday's game. Annee again led the way with 14 points. The win sets up a game with the Storm in the finals. The Storm won the last match up between the two teams 10-9.

Annee Qualifies for State in Two More Events

Annee competed in the Owensboro Winter Classic swim meet on Sunday. She qualified for the state meet in the 100 Back and the 100 Fly. She had qualified previously in the 50 Fly. She also set new personal bests in the 50 Free and 50 Breast. That state meet is the weekend of March 23-25.

Hayden Three-peat: Hawks Soar to Title; Stars Outshine the Sun

The Hawks avenged a regular season loss to Spurs in the tournament championship game. The Hawks got off to a much better start to lead 17-8 at half and went on to win 28-20. Hayden played pretty well and finished with seven points. This is his third championship in a row after being on the baseball and football championship teams. Annee's team also played very well today. The Stars defeated the Sun 26-6. Annee had 14 points. Annee plays again on Tuesday in the semi-finals of the girls tournament. If the weather doesn't get the best of us, we head to Owensboro for a swim meet tomorrow. Below are some pictures from Hayden's game today.

Hawks Reach Championship

Hayden and the Hawks have reached the championship game with a 33-19 victory over the Heat on Thursday night. The Hawks enjoyed a significant height advantage over the Heat. The picture below should provide a rough idea. Hayden scored in double figures. The championship game will be a rematch with the Spurs who gave the Hawks their only loss. Annee's game was a bit chaotic. The Stars (Annee's team) led 6-4 after the first half which was a pretty normal game. Unfortunately, the roof started leaking during halftime. Instead of packing up and going home, we lowered the side baskets and played across the width of one end. It was pretty crazy with no lines and no room to operate. The Sparks ended up beating us 15-14 on a last second shot. Annee had six points. She would score double that every game if she would relax and concentrate on shooting the basketball. We have a final regular season game on Saturday before playoffs next week.

Hawks Advance to Semi-Finals

The Hawks won their quarterfinal game against the Pistons on Monday. Probably not one of their finest games, but they survived and advanced with about a 9 point win. They face the Heat on Thursday in a battle of one loss teams. Annee and Hayden both partied it up at their Valentine Social after school on Monday. We celebrated Valentine's Day with dinner at Mr. B's Pizza and Wings before hitting Stakz for some frozen yogurt. I am very romantic.

Stars Lose Close One, Hawks Start Tournament Tonight

The Stars lost a close one on Saturday to the Storm to even there record at 3-3-2. The good news was that they did 12 points better than the first game they played against the Storm. The bad news is that we lost by 13 the first time. After losing 18-5 on January 7th, we only lost 10-9 this time. Annee scored all 9 of our points. We need to look for better balance. We play the Sparks on Thursday before wrapping up the regular season on Saturday against the Sun. Annee's first tournament game will be next Tuesday. Hayden and the Hawks open up their post-season tonight against the Pistons. Hayden was also named the February Leader of the Month for Mrs. Zinobile's class. Below are pictures from the award presentation. Hayden was the first one announced so he spent quite a bit of time standing there waiting for everyone else to be called. Briarwood Academic Team split with Dishman McGinniss last Thursday. The first game was pretty sluggish for the Huskies but they did better in the second game. They are off until the district competition on February 25th.

Hawks Wrap Up Regular Season; Stars Battle to a Draw

The Hawks finished up their regular season Thursday night with a 35-4 victory over the Magic. Hayden had 11 points in the victory. The Hawks have a week off before playoffs begin. The Stars tied the Shock 10-10 on Friday. Annee made the game tying basket with less than a minute left and led the team with 6 points. The Stars are now 3-2-2 and play again next Saturday. Academic team did not turn out as well on Thursday. Briarwood lost both games to Potter Gray. Potter Gray is a quick recall powerhouse. This week Briarwood has Dishman before heading to Districts February 25th.

Hoops & Swim

We had a big weekend of hoops and swim to wrap up a busy January. The Hawks crash landed with an overtime loss to the Spurs. Hayden struggled from the free throw line and fouled out. He did a good job getting to the free line however and faced double teams most of the time he was in there. Hopefully, the Hawks will get another shot against the Spurs in the playoffs. The Hawks bounced back with a win on Monday. Hayden scored 11. They wrap up the regular season tonight. The Stars picked up a nice win Saturday morning and are now 3-2-1. Annee scored 8 in the 18-7 victory. She plays again on Friday. Before her basketball game on Saturday, Annee swam the 100 Free at the SKY Winterfest swim meet at Bowling Green High School. She competed in the 50 Breast, 100 Back, and 50 Free on Sunday. She set new personal bests in all four events and knocked off 9 seconds on her 100 Back. Her 50 Fly time was good enough to qualify for the State meet in March. Grandpa Cy and Grandma Peggy were here for the big weekend which means that we got plenty of good pictures. Below are just a few of them.

All done - after the 100 Free.

Foul!

Annee breaking free on an in bounds play.

Breast Stroke

Relay Team

Jury Duty Plus

I am almost finished with performing jury duty for January. I have had to report four times but only had to sit on one jury so far. I am in the jury pool for district court so we don't tackle many big cases. The Chlarsons came to visit last week. They were able to catch Hayden's team run their record to 7-0 on the year. Hayden had a season and team high 14 points. That is his fourth consecutive game in double figures. The Hawks play the Spurs this Saturday in a battle of undefeated teams. Unfortunately, Annee's game was postponed. They had bleacher trouble at Briarwood. She plays again Saturday and also has a swim meet this weekend. Academic team lost a close one to McNeil last Thursday. The second game went to overtime. Briarwood is on the road at Oakland today.

Mid-January Update

We are past the halfway point for January and we seem to be just as busy as we were in December. Grandma Ann and Grandpa Jimmy came down for a visit to start the month. They were able to catch Annee and Hayden playing basketball and one of Annee's swim meets in Newburgh, IN. I also was able to get a round of golf in with them during their visit. We also made it to a couple of WKU games. I had a conference in New Orleans last week. While I was gone, Heather, Annee, and Hayden had their first snow day. Annee's basketball team has split their post Christmas games and is currently 2-2-1 on the season. Annee had 10 points in the last game to lead the Stars to victory. Hayden has scored double figures in his last three games. The Hawks are now 6-0. They play another unbeaten team on the 28th. The swim meet went pretty well for Annee. She set four personal bests and did very well in the 50 fly finishing 21st out of 37. Her next meet is the weekend of January 28-29.

Enjoying a beautiful day on the golf course - can't play much golf in Minnesota in January.

The swimming pool at Newburgh was very impressive.

After the swim meet we stopped at Taco John's with Grandma and Grandpa.

Annee's friend Maggie got to enjoy the Taco John's experience too.

Caught the Hornets-Thunder game while in New Orleans.

Made the obligatory stop at Cafe Du Monde for some beignets.

Tried some turtle soup at Muriel's on Jackson Square.

The first "blizzard" of 2012.

Sporty Snow People.

Happy New Year

The year came to a close with a couple more trips to Nashville and a New Year's Eve party. We made our way to Nashville on Wednesday to catch a Predators game. They defeated the Minnesota Wild 2-1 in a shootout. The game was a birthday present from Heather, Annee, and Hayden. We had great seats - just 8 rows behind the Wild bench. We also made it to the Mellow Mushroom for dinner. On Friday, Hayden and I made our annual trek to the Music City Bowl. It was my eighth consecutive game and Hayden's third. The Gholstons joined us this year. Hayden and his football team got to go on the field before the game because they won their youth football league. Heather and Annee had a girls day out. They were able to get some shopping in, went to a movie, and ate lunch at the Olive Garden. Yesterday, we went to the WKU basketball game and then hosted a New Year's Eve party. It was a good time with plenty of good food and drink. We had 18 adults and 13 kids over. We even got into the birthday cake before calling it a night. School starts back up on Tuesday. Grandma Ann and Grandpa Jimmy come on Wednesday. We have an academic team match on Thursday, basketball games on Saturday, and Annee swims on Sunday in Newburgh, IN.

The hockey game was great and the seats were awesome.

Preds Win!!!

Mississippi State arriving at the stadium for the Music City Bowl.

Hayden on the field with the Colts.

Hayden's seats were in the corner six rows up. That is a bit closer than the seats that we usually sit in.

WKU played FIU on Saturday. FIU is coached by NBA Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas. The game did not go well for the Hilltoppers.