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...

Wordless Wednesday...Silly boys!

Spongebob and Patrick...at hockey!

Spongebob and Patrick made it up for a Rush game! They even did a ceremonial puck drop.

During the game they were off hiding, but each period break they came out on the ice for the games and fun!

Hey Patrick!!!

Hello Spongebob!

Nugget apparently needed a break...we caught him lounging on the job in the row behind us during the game. As always, we enjoyed the game and it was an extra special treat to get to see Spongebob and Patrick!

Cooper's Birthday Party

Cooper celebrated his 1st birthday yesterday, so we spent the afternoon at Marla and Tony's to join in the celebration!

The cousins getting ready to sing Happy Birthday to the "big boy"!

Big brother, Mason, helping blow out the candle.

Marla wasn't sure he would even touch the cake since he doesn't like getting his hands dirty when he eats, but to much surprise he stuck his little fingers in and had a few bites of the good stuff!

This was about as crazy as he got...nothing like his cousins Tyson and Aiden who were covered from head to toe by the time they finished their 1st birthday cake! Nope...no tub needed for this little guy when he was done...just a quick washcloth to his hands and face and he was back on the go playing with the kids.

Aiden took some time out from playing to get in some story-time with Grandma. It was a quick party, but a lot of fun! The boys really play together well, and it was wonderful to get to celebrate the first year of Cooper's life and remember just what a true miracle he is! We love you Cooper...Happy Birthday buddy!

PeeWee State Hockey Tournament

This weekend the Rushmore Thunder Dome hosted the state PeeWee hockey tournament. They had asked a few of the Mite skaters to help with the opening ceremonies. They needed 2 skaters for each team that was in the tournament. They held up the team's jersey and escorted them out on the ice while they were announced.

Tyson was with one of his teamates and good buddy-Caleb.

It was a big responsibility...but they all did a great job!

They were holding the Watertown jersey.

There were 9 teams in the tournament. Our Thunder PeeWee team was rated #1 in the state going in to this weekend. To say that the Thunder program has grown and improved over the past few years would be an understatement!

I think it was really cool for all of the mites to see the "big kids", and where they will be in just a few short years!

Shinny

The new Downtown Square has become our second home on the weekends. They have open shinny where anyone who wants to can play hockey. They even have jerseys that they bring out so they can split up into 2 teams and play against each other. There are men in their 40's-50's all the way down to a 4 year old who is a mini mite for the Thunder. It's really neat to see them all play together, and Tyson is by no means intimidated by the "big guys"...nope..he gets right in there and doesn't shy down from going after the puck!

Dad and Tyson warming up before they start the game.

The first time we went to shinny Tyson wasn't wearing any pads. He unfortunately played as if he was, though, so we quickly learned that shin/elbow pads, breezers and his helmet are a must. His legs were one big bruise from his knees to his toes after that first shinny...like I said...get that boy on ice and he is a "monster"

Tyson has become good buddies with Landon (one of his team mates from the Thunder), and he just happens to have a little brother just a few months older than Aiden. His name is Parker, and these two have a ton of fun together. Every practice and game when their brothers are out on the ice playing hockey, these 2 are usually going up and down the bleachers playing tag, running up and down the hall, and sharing their many "treats" with each other. The same is true when we go to shinny. The last couple of weekends they have been able to go too, and these boys make up all sorts of games to play...off of the ice.

Scott and Landon and Parker's Dad in the white sweatshirt (Mike).

Time to get out the jerseys and divide into teams...

Scott, Mike, Tyson, and Landon made sure and all put on orange jerseys so they could play on the same team.

The little guy in the middle is the 4 y/o that was there that day. He kept right up with the "big kids". It is so great for the young boys to work on not only their skating but teamwork and communicating with each other on the ice..all the while having a ton of fun!

Check on Tyson on defense!

It was around 50 degrees this particular day, so there were a lot of people out on the ice, but surprisingly, it worked out really well. Tyson and Dad both found the back of the net a few times I believe! YAY!!

These two keep busy doing their own thing and entertaining each other.

After the game, the 2 little guys got to go help pick up pucks off the ice so they could Zam it before Open Skate.

I'm not sure who was more exhausted...well...I maybe could take a guess! :) Tyson still had some energy and insisted on skating some more during the open skate...about an hour...this after he had been playing hockey straight for 2 hours! He's a machine when it comes to playing hockey!

The clean up crew still working to clean up all the ice/muddy water. It was a tough job but someone had to do it! :)