Dave and Cathy's Family Blog

November Highlights:

• Luke wraps up the YMCA basketball season
• We kick of the ski season with a Thanksgiving Day weekend in Mammoth
• We get a visit from Rebecca, Tom, and Susie
• Mom runs the Las Vegas half marathon

Luke Wraps Up Basketball Season With Three Buckets and Some Aggressive D

A confluence of factors made Luke’s last game of the season his best experience ever in pseudo organized sports. First, the entire family made it out to the game, even Lilah who is not fond of sitting and watching her brother play for an hour. Second, cousin Rebecca and her parents (Tom and Suzie) made it out the game, giving Luke a nice contingent of fans rooting for him to succeed. Third, Luke played really well on offense which led to him hustling more for the ball on defense in an attempt to get the ball back and score some more points. The end result was that his three baskets were enough to make him the the team’s highest scorer in the first half. His team also won the game which is always good.

It’s nice when many different variables come together to make something a little more meaningful than it otherwise would have been. To celebrate Luke’s good fortune, we all went out for ice cream at Coldstones. We had a great time hanging out together, going over the game and catching up since it had been a while since we had all seen each other.

Something Different for Thanksgiving

Last month, I mentioned how our Halloween was completely different this year with the kids opting to hang out with their friends in other neighborhoods to trick or treat instead of ours. Building upon the momentum of breaking patterns and traditions, we did not celebrate a traditional Thanksgiving this year either. The idea to do something different came to me when I thought about how my parents wouldn’t be here for Thanksgiving this year since they were still on their two plus month trip to Chile.

The alternative T-day idea was to head up to Mammoth and do a little skiing and snowboarding during the break. Cathy thought it was a great idea and so did the kids (but for different reasons). Cat liked the idea because it would allow her to get a little quiet time, learn some of the new routines she needed to memorize for her training classes, and relax, knowing there would be no pressure to get the house ready for Thanksgiving day, a holiday we’ve celebrated and hosted at our place for 18 straight years. And obviously the kids liked the idea because they’d get to have fun in the mountains. The result: a win/win break for everyone ;-).

Preparation
In addition, this trip allowed me to spring a pre-Christmas surprise on Luke: his very own snowboard. He had been talking about how cool it would be to have his own snowboard, but tempering his enthusiasm at the prospect by confessing that he probably wouldn’t get his own board until he was older so that “we” didn’t waste money purchasing a board that he would simply outgrow in a year (nice to hear some of dad’s indoctrination coming out of his mouth ;-)). Little did Luke know that I had purchased a used snowboard for him when the season ended last April. And when I revealed the surprise to him, the smile and look of appreciation on his face couldn’t have been more genuine and sweet.

Lilah, on the other hand, insisted that she did not need skis or boots because she gets free rentals whenever she goes to snowboard/ski club at Mountain High with her classmates. I told her that it was still a good idea to get her some used boots and skis for the times we all go to the mountains together outside of snowboard/ski club. I managed to get her some boots, but it’s really tough to find used skis her size at the local Play it Again Sports. One of the employees there told me that in this area, skiing is almost a dead sport as they receive so little skiing equipment. They do get plenty of snowboards and snowboard shoes, just not a lot of skis so we’re still looking for those.

The day before heading out to Mammoth, we had our own mini-Thanksgiving — just the four of us. Even though it was a small event, we enjoyed our little celebration, and the next day, when most people were already at their Thanksgiving destinations, the kids and I took off on our road trip and arrived at Mammoth at around 2:30 pm on Thanksgiving day. The roads were pretty empty which made for a nice drive especially driving alongside those snow-capped eastern sierras.

Hitting the Slopes
We had amazing weather on the slopes — maybe a little too hot, but blue skies and calm conditions on both days we hit the slopes. Luke couldn’t wait to get to the mountains as he had been tracking the snow conditions every day for the two weeks leading up to our trip. He had also been monitoring what lifts were open and if his favorite run, St Moritz, was going to be open or not. It was a close call as Mammoth managed to pick up just enough snow to open St Moritz four days before our arrival. The only mini-disappointment for him was that the Disco Park wouldn’t be open yet.

Lilah would have loved for the Canyon Lodge to have been open so she could ride down the schoolyard run traversing through the trees, but no matter as she ended up loving the St Moritz run and, in one of those great reversals, Luke ended up hating it this time around because he felt like it was somehow steeper than the last time we came, and also felt a little intimidated with all the skiers and snowboarders zooming past him on the steep parts, which is something I also still struggle with. Lilah, however, had no problem and wanted to ride down St Moritz again and again.

Even though Luke shied away from his favorite run this visit, he still managed to have a lot of fun going down the Sesame Street run at the main lodge. Mainly he worked on his turns, changing directions and going faster. By the end of the second day, Luke looked a lot better than he did on the first day where he kind of let St Moritz psyche him out a little.

Luke and I are still very much beginners when it comes to this snowboarding sport. We both know how to connect turns, which makes the experience a lot of fun, but we’re still not bombing those mountains the way you see some of these really little kids doing it. I’m not sure if I’ll ever get to that stage, but I am enjoying the journey so far.

Lilah is definitely more advanced and faster than us on her skis but she’s a cautious girl who still hasn’t moved up to the next level up — the blue runs. But I have a feeling that will change for her this season especially when she gets another six weeks of snowboard/ski club under her belt and several family trips as well. She is also looking forward to her mom taking lessons in December when we will all go to the local mountains during the winter break. Really looking forward to that!

Cat Completes Her Second Half Marathon in Vegas

Cat ran the second half marathon of her life in Vegas. It was also the first race she had ever done at night. But when you’re running among all the lights emanating from the hotels and shops on the Vegas strip, it doesn’t feel so dark does it? Cat said the race was cool because of how the strip is shut down for runners, but that there were definitely some dark spots where you had to watch your footing. She also said the race would get congested at times and that meant she spent more energy trying to pass people than she perhaps would have liked (not a bad problem to have), but overall she really enjoyed the experience, finishing the event in just a little more than two hours.

Originally Cat was supposed to run this race with a friend but for one reason or another that did not work out so she ended up going on this trip solo, something she was perfectly fine with, giving her two solo weekends in one month. Wow, what’s a mom who values her quiet personal time to do ;-)?

That’s all for now…more next month!