Weekend at Grammy and Poppy's

The boys were in need of some good ole Grammy and Poppy time, so we packed up our bags and headed down to Torrington for the weekend. The weather was beautiful, so we took advantage and spent most of the weekend outside.

Driving the lawnmower has become a favorite activity, and since it hadn't been used since last fall it took a little "tweaking" before it was ready to go. Tyson jumped right in to make sure Poppy was able to get it running.

Meanwhile, Scott and Jesse worked on their discus skills!

Before long the lawnmower was up and running! Poppy was celebrating the accomplishment! :)

Aiden had a blast on the lawnmower! He had a perma-grin the entire time he was on it! :)

Saturday evening we celebrated Aiden's birthday...a little early...but any excuse to blow out candles is a good one in our book! :)

Poppy getting some Aiden loves...

and the next thing you know....this is what happens! Don't worry....no Poppy's were harmed in the making of this blog post! :) He hopped right back up and was ready to go!

We even went in town and found a park to play at for a while.

Aiden getting a little back-up from Aunt Abbie on his first try up the climbing wall.

Weeeeee....down the slide they go!!

Check out the big boy....making it up all by himself!

Sunday morning we had our traditional biscuits and gravy before heading back home. Aiden jumped right in and helped Poppy make the biscuits...which included chicken and buffalo shapes:)

The weekend flew by, and we all enjoyed our time at Grammy and Poppy's...we always do! :)

Mite Awards Banquet

The Rushmore Thunder held their 2nd annual Awards Banquet to celebrate all of the Mites and their accomplishments during the 2011-2012 season. Scott Wray (Left Wing for the Rapid City Rush) was the guest speaker. I apparently was too into his speech and forgot to take pictures while he was talking, so this one was after he sat back down.

They had all of the coaches go up front to be recognized.

They then went through each of the Mite levels and introduced the players 1 at a time and had them come forward and receive their medal.

Tyson sporting his shiny medal.

Tyson and his buddy Landon.

After the banquet they had all of the players line up for a big group picture.

Tyson and some of his best buddies...

Caleb, Hayden, Alex, Landon, Dawson, and Tyson

Rush Poster Signing

This past weekend the Rapid City Rush had a "poster signing" after their game. They handed out posters with pictures of all of the players out to the first 2,500 fans to the game, and then as soon as the game was over and they quick showered and changed they came back out to sign them for the fans.

Nugget was the first in the line up...followed closely by one of our favorites...

Conrad Reeder!!! "We love you Conrad, oh yes we do...oh Conrad we love you!"
Aiden loves Conrad and loves singing his song! He also loves how he slides on his head backwards down the ice when he gets a "star of the game". Conrad is always very nice...he makes sure to give both of the boys knuckles whenever they see him.

Scott Wray is in the blue shirt...he has 2 young boys who play hockey with Tyson out at the Thunderdome. He even helped with some of the practices for the mites...very cool to get to play hockey with a Rush player! :)

Aiden was a bit nervous, but quickly warmed up and got right in there making sure to get his poster ready for all of the players to sign.

Scott had all of the players sign his Rush cap...Sean Limpright is signing it with Anthony Perdicaro next to him.

Goal tender "Timmy" Boron signing Tyson's poster...Tyson watches his every move when he's out on the ice! Danny Battachio tore his ACL midway through the season, and Timmy stepped up and did an awesome job as goalie for the Rush...definitely not a bad guy to idolize!

We eventually made it down to the end of the table where they had clearly saved "the best for last!"...if you ask Grandma Brenda, anyway! :) In all honestly, though, Riley Wesloeski (defenseman for the Rush) is not only an awesome hockey player but an absolute stand-up guy! He is involved in all sorts of community activities, and does 90% of them on his own time. In fact he was named "CHL Man of the Year" this year...definitely well deserved!

He was so nice to the boys, and thanked us numerous times for coming out to watch the game! He even posed with a nice smile so Grandma could get a good picture of him! :) Aiden has even started singing the "I love you Conrad" song, but will change it up to sing..."We love you Wezzie (his nickname), oh yes we do. Oh Wezzie we love you!"

Taking great time and care to sign Scott's cap. :)

It made for a late night, but I think we would all agree that it was definitely worth it!!

Mite Tournament

It seems like Tyson just started his hockey season a few short weeks ago, and yet this last weekend he had his end of the season tournament...5 months after the hockey season started! :(

Waiting to come out on the ice for their first game...one of his good buddies (Landon) is right in front of Tyson.

Grammy, Poppy, and Aunt Abbie made the drive up to help cheer on the hockey star! Tyson was so excited to be able to show off his skills! He really has come a long ways since the start of the season. He was known as the "goal guy" out on the ice...he was always scoring goals!

He made sure to come over to the glass so all of his fans could get a good picture of him before the game started! :)

Getting ready for the puck drop.

What time wasn't spent on the ice was spent soaking in time with Grammy and Poppy and Aunt Abbie.

The second day of the tournament Tyson got the shot he had been wanting all season...to play goalie!!! He was soooo excited to get his shot in front of the pipes!!

Giving Dad a "goalie stance".

Get that puck out of there...

It was a busy couple of days, but so much fun! It was sad to see the season come to an end. At the end of the tournament all of the teams/players received foam pucks with "Face Off at The Thunderdome" on them.

Coach Aaron giving Tyson his puck.

Tyson's team

It will be a long few months without hockey...luckily they are offering a "3 on 3" for 6 weeks during the months of May and June, so we will definitely be signing him up for that. He is already looking forward to it! Another hockey season down, and who knows...next fall may find us with 2 little "hockey players" in our house! :) Only time will tell...