B's First Weekend of AAU

I think this weekend was quite the eye opening event for B. He played his first 2 games for the Emerald City Force. The outcome wasn't what we had hoped for, but B tried his best and worked as hard as we've ever seen him.

His team was missing 4 players and played 2 games back to back. B was exhausted by the end of game 2. The teams he played against were inner city teams who's boys live & die by basketball. He's realizing just how much QUICKER AAU is. The rules aren't the same and he's not too familiar with his teammates yet.

Once his team figured out he could score, every chance they got they would pass it down to him for the score. He scored 17 of his team's 23 points. We were so proud of him, he never gave up! Well done B man. We were also proud when the coach of the 1st team he played (which has a reputation as a power house in AAU bal) came up and singled him out and told him he was a really good player. As parents, that made us incredibly proud!

We're looking forward to the progression of the team as a whole, 'cause honestly, as a team, they only have one way to go & that's up!

One of B's Jumpers on the way to the hoop

The Egg Hunting Tradition Continues

Ah, it's that time of year, when we look through the papers and arrange our Saturday before Easter all around the egg hunts of the day! As you may have read in the blog from last year, we are serious about these egg hunts! Our boys have been doing them for nearly a decade, and to be honest, it's getting harder to upstage them year after year.

This year, we were planning on 4 egg hunts as the minimum. Of course, we raised the bar and got 5 egg hunts in during the day. We started off at 9:00 in the Morning at Harvey Airfield in Snohomish. We then headed back to Bothell for the 11:00 am hunt at Life Care Center, which is by far the best egg hunt so far, who would've thought that. Then we hit another one in Bothell at 12:00 and then dashed out to Richmond Park for a hunt at 1:00 and then wrapped the day up with 50,000 eggs at the eggstravaganza in Shoreline. It was soooo awesome. Beth and I were proud of our new record and I'm telling you, I have no idea how we're going to get better than that next year.

It was all in good fun and Beth's boys cleaned up at the hunts. At one hunt they got 5 golden eggs! Colton gave his golden egg to Brennen & Brandon gave 2 of his 4 golden eggs away, one to his brother and one to B. Bryan and I were very impressed with Brandon's generosity and B's lucky to have such a great friend.

Ah, here's the day in pictures ...

Brennen & the Easter Bunny

The Boys at the start of one of the hunts, the cheesy grin? Oh, that's Beth!

Showing off their golden eggs!

The Boys & the bunny

Brennen with some of his take!

Even Squatch stopped by to help out with one of the egg hunts

Brandon (10), B (10), Colton (6) & Brennen (2)

Awwwww ...

Li'l Helper

I walked into the kitchen one afternoon & found Brennen just sitting up on the counter like this. The kid will climb anything! I asked him what he was doing and he said "doing dishes" What a helper, I couldn't help but get out the camera and take a couple of pics.

Maybe when he's older and argues when we ask him to do the dishes, we'll pull out these pics and tell him he loves to do them!

BJ makes the team

Anyone that knows BJ -- well, they know his passion is Basketball. The kid eats, sleeps & breathes basketball. Even when he's just standing in a room waiting, he's shooting hoops. He makes plays with an imaginary basketball and practices his cross-overs on his brother. Need I say more, the kid LOVES basketball.

We found out about a great basketball club in Seattle, Emerald City Basketball Academy, and found out they were doing tryouts for their spring / summer leagues. B went down for tryouts - only two days after being out completely sick - and made one of the teams.

He starts practice on Monday with this new organization. It should be an adventure as it's located in the Interbay area of Seattle. So now the kid shuttling & creative scheduling starts happening so we can get B to Seattle twice a week. As long as he works hard, has fun and improves as a basketball player, it makes it all worth it.

Check back after the beginning of April when his league starts, we'll post how he's doing!

Basketball Skill

BJ had the opportunity to participate in a skills competition with his teammate Marshall on Friday. Also from the Sharks his friend Logan participated in the Speed Dribble. Logan was the fastest on the court, but unfortunately the ball just didn't drop the first time for him. B & Marshall started a little slow but fininshed in a fury with a total of 22 points over their minute and a half. Not too bad, next year boys, you'll get 'em!

Here's a pic of the Sharks Trio ...

B. Marshall & LG