Running Club and Oiler Mania!

One of the things Max loves most about school is the running club. In the fall they do outdoor running club and have three races throughout the city. His class had a lot of success with this and they finished top 5 in the city for 4th grade boys. This winter they did an indoor running club. All of the events (except field events) were relays so they got to learn how to pass the baton also. The first race was the Running Room race. Apparently these used to be called the "Journal games" put on by the Edmonton journal and all of my friends who are originally from Edmonton remember running in them! Max was on the "B" squad and his team qualified for the quarterfinals! Our school also qualified the "A" team and the girls "A" team. It was super exciting to get 3 teams to the next round.

The quarterfinals were a few weeks later and Max's team did not qualify for the semis, but their boys "A" team won over the entire city! It was so exciting to be a part of that for Max. They all wore their running jerseys to school on Monday to celebrate.

The last race of the season was the Klondike Relays. It was super fun because Mya got to be involved too. They were short a couple kids so they asked some 3rd graders who had siblings involved if they wanted a chance to run. Mya only got to do one race, but she had a blast. It was the mixed shuttle relay. They practiced together the weekend before:)

 Max ran in 3 races and did the long jump. His buddies and him got first in the city in the 4X200 meter relay!! He also got 10th in the mixed medley and 4th in the shuttle relay. They combined everyone's score on the long jump and our school ended up 2nd in the long jump! Another super successful track meet!

To see the 4X200 click here. The first runner for our team is Robbie. He's in a white jersey and hands off to Max. Max's mixed shuttle relax is here. You'll see his teammate Alera (in white) first, she hands off to Max.

Also we have caught the Oilers bug around here. They made the playoffs for the first time since 2006 and for a city who bleeds blue and orange, this is a huge huge deal. In the weeks leading up to the playoffs there were shirts for sale that read "pray for playoffs". Kids at Max's youth group were requesting prayer that they make the playoffs too! In fact, it has spiked a huge jump in the economy here with jersey sales, tickets, restaurant sales, etc. Pretty exciting to be a part of it. The kids' school has Oilers days on home games so everyone has to wear orange and blue. The kids and I are hooked...Chris is still a Minnesota Wild fan:)


 Below...Oilers colors for his braces! And side note...this is his last run with all of his appliances! Found out Tuesday everything will come out on July 5th. Phew!! 

Since these games are on so late at night, the kids have been going to bed before the end. This is a note Chris left for the kids after game 1. The kids went to bed when the Oilers were up 2-0 so he knew they would be so disappointed when they found out they lost in the morning! Thankfully, they ended up winning the series and game 1 didn't make a difference! 

Catching up! Max's birthday in Jasper

The kids had March 2nd and 3rd off so we took off to Jasper for the weekend! We stayed at one of my favorite places on Earth..the Jasper Park Lodge. It's actually really hard to leave once you get there...they know how to do winter! We haven't been there in the summer (they double an already expensive price) but we love it there in the winter. We drove through a snow storm, checked in, had some free appetizers (our room wasn't ready) and then headed to our room! They had birthday cupcakes for Max in the room waiting for us when we got there. We started a fire, kids went out to play in the snow and we ordered pizza! After the pizza we headed over to the outdoor pool and hot tub. No pictures this year of snow angels..it was snowing and I didn't want to wreck my phone. We had a great time!



The next morning we got up bright and early and made our way to Marmot Basin ski resort. Normally it takes 20 minutes or so to get there but it took over an hour this time. Apparently they got so much snow the plow got stuck! It was my first time skiing in this much powder. I loved it, but it was so hard on my legs! I was taking tons of breaks and felt like a wimp! Ivy had a tough morning, but rallied and ended up having a great day and ended up improving a ton on her speed and fearlessness.



Sunday we woke up to -24 degrees C (-10F) so we went into town for breakfast and then decided to brave the cold and go skating on the lake at the hotel. It didn't feel as cold as it was when we were out skating. The kids and Chris played a little hockey, we raced around the track, and had a great time. After skating, we packed up and drove home. It was such a great weekend!