Texas Open Bonspiel - April 17-19, 2009

My big weekend away - first time ever away from either of the boys for more than 3 or 4 hours.

The weather was crummy, I saw the same nasty thunderstorm 3 times on Friday and it just kept getting worse each time I came across it.

Our first game was Friday night and it was the first time any of us had played in about a month. The game ended in a tie so the skips from each team had to throw a single rock. The rock closest to the button (center of the scoring zone) won. We lost that game by about 6 inches (maybe a foot). It's a loss we could really feel good about though, as the team that beat us ended up playing for the bonspiel championship on Sunday. They ended up losing on the last rock. Anyway, this was our only loss of the weekend. The one benefit to this particular loss was that it meant we didn't have to be back out on the ice until late Saturday afternoon. It just so happens that we were right by NASA and the Johnson Space Center. One of my teammates and I spent the day touring the space center. We got to see the original Saturn V rocket, the real astronaut training facility, and the world's largest collection of moon rocks (which actually was VERY cool). It was fantastic, and Alex and Ben (Mike too) would have just loved it. We will be going back! We left the space center around 2 to get some food and get ready for our afternoon game. The weather, which had been drizzly and gray all day, took a sudden turn for the worse. Right around the time I was leaving the hotel to get some food, the tremendous downpour started. During my 15 minute meal, the deluge continued and the roads started to flood. I had to go back to the hotel to change because I was soaking wet and couldn't play in my dripping clothes (I probably would have stuck to the ice!!) As soon as I set out for the ice rink I realized that I might not make it in time. The ice rink was about 3 miles from the hotel, about a five minute drive. I had about an hour and a half before my game. Somehow or other I made it about 20 minutes before we were supposed to start playing. If I hadn't had the big truck I would not have made it to the rink. I have never seen flooding like that, it was insane. Cars were stranded left and right and I had no business being out in all that crap.

Long story even longer, I made it, we wond our game by forfeit because our opponents were all flooded out. So, my teammate took me onto the ice and gave me some great pointers. After a bit of practice we decided to get off the ice and try for the hotel. That was not to be. The roads were even worse, and the rain wasn't going to let up for several more hours. I was about the last person that actually made it to the rink for a number of hours. To make things even worse, the other games had to be stopped midway through. The compressor working the dehumidifier on the ice rink stopped working and water started pooling on the ice. After an hour or so, they got the compressor working, and they then had to do a bunch of work to get the ice back into a playable condition. They restarted all the games that were stopped earlier. We still won as our opponents still couldn't get to the rink. About 8 or so, the water finally started to recede so I finally left the rink. I stopped at a bookstore and crashed for the rest of the evening. My roommate got back about 1:30 in the morning, there were still some games going on. The weather totally messed up the whole schedule.

So, Sunday we had our first game at 7 am. In my opinion that is way too early to be up on a Sunday, even worse when we were expected to function. Our game started off well enough, we were up 5 points about midway through. Our opponents came back though and then were ahead by 2 going into the final end. We actually scored 5 points in the last end to win the game. That win put us in the "B" event final. (There is an A event, B event, and C event - the A winner is the tournament winner - B winner is technically 3rd place I think).

So, just before the last game, everyone that is playing in the final lines up on the ice. We all walked down to the opposite end together while bagpipes are being played (yep real bag pipes). Then the skips of each team take a shot of scotch and the games begin. Our last game started off not so great. We were down by 3 points after 3 ends. We slowly came back and going into the last end we were up by 2. They would have needed 3 points to win, but they didn't get them!

We played some incredibly challenging and fun games and we are already planning on doing it again next year. And yes, the winners got prizes. There were all sorts of prizes, everything from prints to brooms, to silly little cow statues. By the time our team got called to the table to collect our prizes, about half the stuff was gone. I got really lucky and there was a pair of curling gloves (and a hat and a bottle of champagne) that I REALLY wanted, so I was happy.

Of course there is always so much more to tell, but this has gotten really long as is!

Tune in tomorrow for tales of the bunk beds!

Easter

Although it was only a couple of weeks ago, Easter seems as if it happened in another lifetime.

As with all holidays lately, it seems that we started celebrating weeks in advance. Between the 3 different mom's groups and private parties we were invited to, we must have done at least 4 or 5 egg hunts this year. The upshot of it all is that we could reuse all those plastic eggs! The boys had a blast and loved all of the eggs.

At home we hunted eggs with Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Michael. Oddly, this is how we ended the day instead of starting it. Doesn't matter, it was fun. The boys had so much fun with all of their easter baskets and buckets and presents from everyone. I swear it rivaled Christmas this year!

I dyed some easter eggs and Alex died a couple too. I wanted to try "natural" egg dyes. What I learned was it takes LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of whatever you are going to color your egg with to actually color an egg. I tried red onion skins and instead of a nice red color, I got a very brown egg! I also dumped a bunch of food coloring in some water when I was cooking eggs and got a really nice pretty pale green egg. Again, it takes a lot of food coloring for a little bit of color. Alex did the Snyder family tradition of q-tips and food coloring for his eggs. Anyway, it was fun. Here is a picture after one of our many egg hunts.

Separate posts coming soon...

Look for more on these exciting topics in posts to come:

Easter - lots of fun, eggs, and play

Bunk Beds - yep, 2 levels of trouble now!

Texas Open Bonspiel - horrendous weather complete with flooding, a trip to the Johnson Space Center, and oh yeah, "B" event winners! A truly unforgettable and fabulously fun weekend!


Oh yeah, and after 3 weeks we still don't have our car back. The latest is supposedly this Friday, and the damage was more extensive than they originally thought - about another $1000 actually, out of the insurance company's pocket, not ours!

Chicken Soup

I made a lovely pot of chicken soup for dinner. Alex gulped it down. Ben didn't want anything to do with it. Yet, he would eat the tofu & chicken pad thai from yesterday. Go figure.

And the list goes on...

The insurance adjustor made it out today to view the hail damage to our roof. Since we are making a claim for the roof we figured we might as well add the canopy that got shredded and the roof to the shed to the claim as well. As the adjustor was walking around she noted that the front door was all dented, a couple of window screens are damaged and the cover to the a.c. compressor is all banged up. About the only thing that didn't get added on is a new paint job on the house. It's too bad about that, because the house REALLY needs to be painted and gee, wouldn't it have been nice to have gotten that in with the rest of all this stuff.

Otherwise, this was the first weekend in a very long time that we had absolutely no plans, not even Sunday morning curling. We had a list of things to take care of, managed to get those all done on by lunchtime Saturday and had the rest of the weekend to sit and do as we pleased.

Ben did his first finger painting this weekend and he had a blast. He also managed to get paint ALL over his face, good thing the stuff is non-toxic!

We're getting ready for the Easter Bunny this weekend. I've got to get myself in gear and make some eggs for the boys. I'll start on that tonight.

We had one easter egg hunt last week and we have 2 more (maybe 3) scheduled for this week and that doesn't even include Easter. If last year was any indicator we will spend all day Sunday looking for eggs, hiding them, finding them, hiding them again, finding them again, and so on. I might even try my hand at some natural egg dyes this year. I'll let you know how that turns out.

Well, it sounds as if Alex has just awoken from his nap so it's time to go.

Just some updates

I can't guarantee the quality of anything written here tonight. You see, I'm just too darned tired to spend time proof reading tonight! I just finished taxes, probably the latest that I have ever gotten them done, but at least it's before the deadline.

Anyway, it's update time. Hail damage: The car is NOT totaled, yay! There is about $4000 damage to it, and we took it to the shop today to have it repaired. We'll get it back in 2 weeks. I think we got the grungiest rental out there. The car is so disgustingly dirty on the inside that I really don't want to touch anything I don't have too. Plus, it's got scratches ALL over the outside. And yes, the rental company does have all of this on record so we won't be held responsible for it. As for the house, we had the roof checked out today. Sadly, it apparently needs to be replaced again. The roofer said the insurance company would consider the roof to be a total loss. It's not leaking, it's not going to just start falling apart but apparently it's not in great shape either. We can probably wait for quite awhile before we have it replaced. Too bad it's a brand new roof that got wrecked! Oh well, if we do file a claim, maybe we'll be able to get the shed roof redone and a new canopy for our backyard furniture as well.

Curling - Houston is on! Apparently they got a few last minute entries so I am set to go.

The boys are good, nothing new to report there. We're going strawberry picking tomorrow. It is supposed to be some of the best picking that the farm has ever had. Mike is taking the day off and will join in the fun! I'll try to remember to get some pictures.

And lastly, speaking of pictures, while I haven't actually added pictures to specific posts I have added the nifty little slideshow. So, enjoy my babies :-)