John and I needed some time away from the kids.  Just 24 hours and it happened.  It just feels good to reconnect as a couple.  Sometimes we get going a million miles an hour and the only uninterrupted time is just as we are crawling into bed.  If we start talking then, John can't get to sleep so 24 hours was needed.  I found this hotel on Groupon.  I really like this site.  We tried once before to go away but we all got sick that week.  We found places for all the kids to go and took off as soon as possible.  We crossed the border and headed to our hotel.  It always seems as though when we cross into Canada that we fumble around not quite knowing how to get there.  Its not like we don't take a map, we do but somehow the directions are off.  Of course we missed the turn right away to highway 15 but ended up there and onto TransCan 1.  The map told us to get off 1 and drive around North Vancouver when we could have just taken the Lonsdale exit instead.  After backtracking a couple of time we found our little hotel, The Lonsdale Quay.  There is an indoor public market on the first two floors and the hotel is on floor 3 and 4.  We had a little view from our window and there were chocolates and a bottle of wine waiting for us.  After a glass of wine we headed to Burgoo for dinner.  I so want to go back today!  It was delicious.  The atmosphere was perfect and intimate.  We had reservations at 7:30 on Grainville Island at the Improv Center.  Oh my goodness, this is what comedy should be like, funny.  I don't know why comedians think that standing on stage screaming swear words every other word and being crude is funny.  The Improv Center was funny.  There were two groups of three comedians competing against each other for the most points.  The audience decided on the points.  They did skits using suggestions from the audience.  We almost bought tickets for the next show but decided to head back to the hotel instead. The next morning we wandered around the market after having breakfast and bought pastries.  It wasn't like we were hungry but it just looked good.  We packed up, checked out of our room and headed to the ski hill.  It was a 10 minute drive to the base, where we took a gondola up to the top of the mountain.  Each time the gondola passed a tower, it would sway back and forth.  With it being packed like a sardine can it would sway quite a bit.  Once at the top, we just strapped on our skis and headed to the lift.  It took a couple of runs to get warmed up.  When I ski with the kids, we do some easier runs without moguls.  Skiing with John, it really pushes me.  The interesting thing about the ski area is that there are gates to go through to get on the lift.  I felt like a race horse getting ready for a race.  I would stand in the gate and as soon as the chair past me, I would ski into place to wait for the next chair.  Once on the chair, there was a bar that you pulled down in front.  Baker doesn't have a bar, there isn't anything between you and the front of the chair but they have them in Canada.  The mountain was small compared to Baker but it was good.  The view was incredible, I could see all the way to Vancouver and watch the big ships going out to sea.  By the time we were going up on the gondola in the morning people were already coming off the mountain.  They skied for a couple of hours and were done for the day.  There was so much to do up there.  You could ski, snowshoe, ice skate, go to a movie about the area and animals, eat a fancy lunch or dinner, take sleigh rides (pulled by a diesel powered machine) or a personal sled pushed by someone.  After skiing for about 5 hours we were ready to call it a day.  On our way home we stopped at a Tim Hortons.  The waitress at breakfast said it was better than Denny's hmm, not quite.  I had a pannini and it was good.  I wanted a coffee but it was a wait for their decaf they were out.  It was just different than I thought it would be.  It was such a good weekend.  It definitely ranks right up there with my favorite weekend of all time with John.

Last week this wonderful thoughtful little girl planned and executed a Valentine's Day party for all her friends and their moms.  Lona and I were blessed to have been invited.  Some of these girls we haven't seen for years and others we were able to meet and get to know that day.  We arrived to a beautifully decorated table with treats for everyone.  After a cute tea party, the girls dressed up and took photos followed by a game similar to Taboo but for kids.  It was amazing some of the vocabulary and ingenuity that the girls had to describe a word without using a certain list of words.  Our hostess was the most amazing. Swimming with out using water, pool, laps, or swim suit was described as something you do at an aquatics center.  I have a hard time not thinking of the taboo words.  She quickly went through eleven cards with her team mates guessing correctly.  The girls were having a hard time with four taboo words and I thought we need to only do two taboo words but with her, she could have handled 5 or 6 taboo words because of her large vocabulary.  Other girls were amazing at guessing.  We have decided that we need that game especially for car trips.

Anytime I get on his case Isaac reminds that he is a 4.0.   I quickly remind him that he's only a 3.96 student and not a 4.0.  He just smiles.  Anytime he wants to do something, he pulls out the 4.0 card.  I reply, nope your only a 3.96 student so you need to study harder.  It's become a joke around our house.  Although I have to say that I am happy about his grades.  It took us/him a long time to get to this point.  Middle school saw him trying to figure out the friends at school thing, the teacher thing, the being away from home thing, the turning into a teenager thing, the growing thing.  It seems as though between the end of middle school and the beginning of high school he changed.  He's more diligent then he ever has been.  Oh, his teachers still say he needs to work on his organizational skills but he's so much better than he was.  It helps that he can check his grades and they are updated weekly sometimes daily.  It helps that he can go in and talk to the teachers and get his work early when he's gone.  It helps that they are willing to help a young unorganized but willing to work student. At school they have block scheduling so that he doesn't have every class every day and that kind of schedule is his thing.  He also has started to hang out more with kids that have the same attitude towards school.  They compete to who has the best grades.  I like that.  I just hope that it stays a friendly competition.   He's also done some activities that help him stay diligent.  In the fall, he reffed and played soccer and played tennis for school.  In the winter he has joined the chess team and made the varsity B team and played indoor soccer. I really think that being involved with activities helps.

Job and Lona just crack me up. They are asked often enough if they are twins and sometimes I think that they are - just born two years apart.  They are such good friends and sometimes can read each other so well. I recently took them to McDonald's for dinner in between activities.  We were south Bellingham and had an hour between each activity. I pulled out my camera after eating. There was some sun coming in the windows and I just let them play away.  They just perform for the camera and work off each other.  At one point I almost became frustrated with the photo bombing but then realized that is what they want to remember.  There are times when goofy pictures and photo bombing are what's meant to be captured.  Having great light to capture it just makes the photos better.

I've been to Chess Tournaments before but never State and not high school.  I volunteered to chaperon when I realized that it was a mostly free weekend for me.  That was before I knew we were camping but I probably would have done it anyway.  I showed up to the high school with my brand new to me van.  The kids literally threw their gear in the back.  I was thinking please don't scratch the leather but it's a van and they are high schooler so really no worries.  The vans loaded up and we took off to Bellvue.  I was by myself hauling gear.  The directions were great and I got there no problem.  I'm thinking that Bellvue is not a town for me.  I could be easily sucked into coveting.  I passed a Bentley, Rolls Royce and Jaguar dealerships.  This town has money. Oh and there are no shortages of Starbucks.  I walk into the school and easily find the group in the commons area that the chess folks call the skittles area.  We make camp and soon the festivities begin.  We walk over to the gym.  Each division that is in attendance hands out awards for their areas. Then the talk is given about rules.  JV games are posted and the kids find their seats.  The Varsity games are posted and they find their tables.  Since this is team they compete as a team.  Ferndale had two varsity teams represented, Team A and Team B.  There are five kids on each team.  The highest ranked teen on the team plays board 1 then the second plays board 2 and so on.  I think it's kind of like band. The best trumpet is chair 1 then the next is chair 2.  Anyhow back to chess.  The teams are ranked according to the combined rating of each player on the team.  Then the teams are paired for the first match of the tournament.  A win is worth 1 point, a tie is 1/2 point, a loss is 0 points.  So for each team there are five games going on during the first match.  If each team member wins that game then they as a team get 5 points.  There are a total of 5 matches during the weekend.  The first match only lasts 1 1/2 hours the rest are potentially 3 hours long.  It was an eye opener for me.  The kids sit down start their clocks and they have to note their moves and their opponents moves.  That is part of the rules.  However what was surprising to me was that it seemed like a dance.  They move stop their clock, make a notation and then get up and move around the room or go to the bathroom or get a drink.  There was this constant movement yet is was quiet; a silent dance of players.  I didn't think there would be tension in the air or that I would feel nervous but there was.  I could only take photos during the first 10 minutes of each match and really they are just moving pretty much the same piece.  I know that there are lots of different openings (movements that are made in the beginning of the game)  but some of the same pieces are moved first.  It 's the end of the game when there are little pieces left on the board and the kids are thinking and thinking that the best photos would be.  We played two games that Friday night and then camped at the Chess for Life classrooms.  Elliot Neff was very generous but I think he wanted to talk and talk about his school.  By 10:30 at night the kids were tired, they had used their brains all day and still needed their stuff unpacked.  We set up the girls in one room, the boys in another.  The next day after a less restful sleep, we were up and out by 7:30.  The kids went to breakfast and I went to the YMCA for a workout and a much needed shower.  Then to Starbucks for a coffee.  I sat in my van eating my breakfast of cheese, croissant and salami that I had brought talking to John on the phone.  I finally showed up to the tournament around 10:30. Little did I know that I had the team chess clocks that they needed for the tournament.  Ooops.  They were able to borrow others so it was no problem but a little scramble for them.  They were part way through their first match of the day.  I would get the scoop and each time one of the players walked back into the skittles area they'd give thumbs up for a win or thumbs down.  Ferndale A took 7th at state, Ferndale B took 15th (first time the B team qualified) and the champion of the JVs was from our club.  Isaac's friend Ben Witzel bet the 4th, 3rd and 2nd place person to go undefeated winning all five of his games.

Isaac preparing with his coach to play against the current State Champion. He lost but gave him a run for his money.

Checking standings and scores.

Congrats - Ben

I was approached for my photos of the tournament and so realized that I should take more of just our team. The last two matches I took photos of some more of the colorful kids.  It was an eye opener for me in that I take many soccer photos but chess is different. Oh and I started a doge ball game towards the end of the day.  The kids just needed to blow off some steam.  They had used one of those claw machines at breakfast to obtain these small rubbery squishy balls.  However it didn't go over so well with the janitor.  He was a little bit mad.  It was all in good fun, no one was going to get hurt and there was no way anything could have broken, even the lights.  But well sometimes, others don't understand. I'm sure they burned 2000 calories a game just using their brains.

I had seen these beautiful photos on pinterest with girls blowing snow or glitter and getting these gorgeous images.  So not having snow I looked around and decided chalk, I could use chalk!  Lona who being still at home was the model of choice.  Actually my choice not hers.  I made her get into something other than her "Don't blink, Dr. Who" t-shirt and then kicked her outside to draw on the sidewalk.  I had an old mortal and pestal that I used to grind up the chalk and then with my new lens, I made her blow the chalk towards me.  It came out better than I thought but not like the photos yet.  We are still working on it.  I want to try it with the pink petals that fall from the tree in the spring. 

I love the part that says, "Test drive. Sounded very bad." Yes it did.

It quit a mile from home.  This is where we towed it to. Runs good, just doesn't move.

A few years ago we had a van saga.  The driver side window broke and won't roll back up after being rolled down.  We replaced many parts and it never did really work again.  The little plastic part that held the controls never did go back together very well, so I just duct taped it.  This also kept people from rolling down the window and us having to take the door apart to roll the window back up.  The van was not my favorite vehicle.  I mean it says "mommy mobile" all over it.  It is also classified as a station wagon.  I told John I was never going to drive a station wagon.  Think National Lampoon's vacation when thinking of station wagon.  Not the ones now but old ones that are clunky and fake wood paneling.  But I think that "vintage" look is coming back in style.  Back to the saga at hand.  About a month ago I was telling John that something wasn't right in the van.  We had it fixed, it was cheap.  Then about a week ago, I told John something wasn't right with the van.  It clunked when turning and backing up, and it whined and "cycled" when stepping on the gas.  We took it to our mechanic who is wonderful with vehicles. He called right away, said, "I thought it was going to come apart on me."  Yep, that was our van.  The transmission was going.  This van that we brought across the border one night.  The van that still had kilometer odometer.  The van that hauled our buts to Montana multiple times a year, up to the ski hill, back into Canada and to the Oregon Coast.   The one that I spent over 6 hours a week every week hauling kids around.  That van that was so dependable and I had high hopes of lasting through driver's ed with 6 kids, was on it's last legs.  Actually just the transmission.  It had over 293,000 kilometers on it, 15 years old. Would we fix it?  Would we trust it to take us to Montana and back?  Tough call but in the end we decided that we needed a dependable van for at least 10 years.  I had hoped that my next vehicle would be a car but John was right we needed a van.  When looking at it, we could buy a cheaper van with the hope of it lasting 5 to 6 years and being the kid driven vehicle and then a car for me in a couple of years only to trade the car for the van whenever we were hauling groups of kids.  It started sounding complicated as to which person would be driving which vehicle and there was the possibility of hauling groups of kids for years.  So a van it was.  I quickly became accustomed to a van but really tried to find a SUV that might work.  Nope, not even a possibility.  I created a spreadsheet with the Make, Model, MPG, and features I wanted for each mini van on the market.  Then on a Friday we spent the afternoon test driving the different vans.  We found one that we were very interested in but they were asking too much for us.  Then I found one in Seattle and so instead of attending a Super Bowl party we headed down to Seattle to look at vans.  We had seven picked out but one was the best deal for us.  We came home that evening with a new"er" van. It was stressful and I didn't realize that I was clenching my jaw the whole time until today when it felt soar.  I do like the new van.  It has features that are a little more "cool": a sunroof, heated leather seats and automatic doors.  I know the doors are going to break from use and to open those things without the automation you need to be a serious weightlifter.  It's going to be good.  However it's not a BMW, my next vehicle hopefully will be a car.  Until then I'm happy in my mini van.