It has been three weeks since I have updated the blog and that is a sign of the hustle and bustle of being back at school for Cathy and I, hockey starting for Alexander, hockey starting for Hanna Rose and Canskate starting for Calli. I don't have too many pictures to post but will give some adecdotal updates.

This is a picture of Alexander in his away jersey. Alexander is playing in his first season of competitive hockey. The team is called the Minor Atom River Rats. 33 players tried out for the team and we selected 17. 15 skaters and 2 goalies. If you want to keep up to speed with the results and developments of this team, you can check the team website that I have created: http://www.hockeysite.biz/riverratsminoratom/. We are off to a good preseason start. To date we have played 6 games and are 4-1-1. We had our first loss last night. Despite the loss, it was a great game. Very fast, very physical. We played the Eastern Ontario Cobras in Hawkesbury. They are a huge drawing area and are very good. We will have our hands full with them this year. We tied them 2-2 in our first tilt but lost 5-2 last night (had a 2-0 lead after one and gave up 5 unaswered goals). Two twenty minute periods of stop time followed by a twenty minute of running time is a lot for 9 year olds, but it was good. I am head coaching this team and so far it has been great. Our league starts on October 17th so we will have about 4 more exhibition between now and then.


Here is a pic of Calli at her first Canskate practice. I was not able to attend as I had practice with Alexander's team but when I got home Calli told me that she was flying out there. Cathy then translated that for me by saying Calli can now walk quickly on her skate blades. They are playing the "head and shoulders, knees and toes song / game here. She will be in Canskate every Thursday for the winter and will no doubt be closer to her "flying" stage by April.

Hanna Rose had her tryouts for Nepean Girls Hockey. She is in her second year of Novice and played House B last year. This year she was selected for one of the House A teams so it will be a bit of a jump for Hanna Rose. She is very excited about it and looks forward to the challenge. They have had a few practices already this year and things are off to a good start. I will keep you posted.

Alexander tried out for his first school sport this year. As a grade 4 student he is now able to try out for cocurricular teams. He tried out for the cross country running team. There were 17 grade 4's that tried out (it goes by grade). The cross country race is a 2.8 km race and the top 5 finishers at the school are selected for the team that gets to compete at the Terry Fox Athletic Center here in Ottawa. The 1st meet is for students in the Catholic System. The top 3 finishers from the Catholic Board will get to move on to compete in the overall city event. Alexander finished first overall from his grade and second overall in the school - Owen MacLellan, a grade six student finished first overall in the school (he is Snookie MacLellan's grandson - from Brookvillage - kind of funny - here we are in Ottawa and two kids with ties from Brook Village, Cape Breton finish one - two. I ran 3k with Alec yesterday and he beat me by about 20 metres. Cathy ran 3k with him today and he beat her by about 100 metres. He has his meet at Terry Fox this Thursday - very excited that he gets to miss school. He is nervous about the meet but excited. We will keep you posted.

Cheers, Duane.

Calli's First Day of School

Calli had her first day at school today. It wasn't her official start day but it was meet the teacher day and then hang out in the classroom for a bit and make a craft. She was pretty excited as you can see from the grin. Calli was like an old veteran in the hallways as she knows many of the students at the school. With Cathy having taught several grades at the school, me coaching hockey and soccer in the community and with the friends Alexander and Hanna Rose have made through school and sports, Calli has been exposed to much of the school population. Kids were saying hi to her and I didn't even know them. It was funny. This is Calli making her necklace. This is in her French class. She will alternate spending one half day in English, and one half day in French.
After Calli finished her necklace the teacher took her picture in front of the class apple tree. The pictures will be put on the apples.
Cathy, Calli and I.
On our way home Calli stopped in at the front office to get a picture with the school secretary. Nancy is a good friend of Cathy's and basically runs the day to day stuff for the school. Calli is well connected!
Tuesday will be the first day for Calli to take the bus. Til next time. Duane

Calabogie Lake

This weekend we headed up to the McVeigh's cottage on Calabogie lake. This is a pic of Alexander and Hanna Rose on the Seadoo with Sean (owner/builder of the cottage). The kids had a lot of fun tubing, and riding the Seadoo. They also have a water trampoline that was a big hit. Sean and Carla just finished the cottage about two weeks ago and it is a beautiful spot. Chris Neil of the Ottawa Senators is building a cottage right beside them. Hanna Rose is looking after the rope for the tubers in this pic. A great day at the lake. In the evening several of us went for a tour on the bikes / atv's. There are some great trails at Calabogie and also a track and sandpit right near their cottage. A good run.

The soccer season wrapped up last night for Alexander. He played in the Ottawa Premier league at the Under 10 age group. He was an under 9 player but ended up playing up a year. It was a pretty good experience for him. Their team finished in 6th place out of 15 teams and on many nights he faced a lot of shots. He ended up tied in the league for first place in shut-outs (3 in total). Considering it was his first full season as a goalkeeper we are thrilled at the progress he made this year. Alexander making a save off of a corner kick.
Alexander coming off the line for a challenge. As you can see, we were a bit outnumbered here. This was a fairly regular occurance on our team - which in one way was good for Alexander as he was never bored!
Alexander coming off the line to fight for a 50/50 ball. He ended up slide tackling the ball against a fairly large opponent and making the save.

That is it for my soccer pics for the '08 soccer season. Bring on hockey!! We have one week between the end of soccer and the start of hockey. We are going this weekend to Syracuse and Buffalo. Alexander and I are going to a Buffalo Bills vs. Detroit Lions NFL game while the girls do some shopping. Stay tuned.

End of Hanna Rose's Soccer Season

This weekend saw Hanna Rose's soccer season wrap up. The Greely Storm Hawks did tremendous this summer by going undefeated. The girls posted a 13 wins, 0 losses, and 2 ties record. Next year these girls are of age to try out for competitive soccer and certainly there are several that could make the jump from house league. I head coached the team and had a lot of fun doing so as the girls were great listeners and always tried their best. We really were the only team in the league that played positionally and passed the ball around. Here is a picture of Hanna Rose dribbling the ball. I think this picture is kind of neat because it shows that we do play our positions. There are 6 purple jerseys in this picture chasing Hanna Rose. By the way, house league is 6 against 6 plus a goalkeeper.
Alexander took this picture and he was quite proud that he caught Hanna Rose with some air time. The next frame of this pic is Hanna Rose face planting in the grass!
Hanna Rose in stride scoping out the play.

Dirt Biking Fever

Since Darrell is helping me learn this blogging I deleted several previous posts and have reposted some pics in the new format. Here is a pic of Alec riding at a spot across from the Rideau Carleton Raceway. A great spot for biking. Duane and Alec taking a break from biking on a beautiful Ottawa afternoon.
Duane cleaning out the carbon on Alec's bike. A Yamaha PW80 two stroke.
Duane getting some front wheel air on one of the two oval tracks. 3rd gear and jamming!
Happy Calli. Calli loves when it is her turn to have a ride on the bike. We were just after coming down a steep hill and then through the middle of a good puddle. When Alec saw how deep the puddle was he opted to take the side route.

Chilling with the Gillis family

We were able to spend a couple of great days hanging out and visiting with Kevin, Carol Ann, Mira, Dane, and Daria. Here is a pic of Kevin and the kids after returning from a drive in the convertable. A great way to cool down on a warm Windsor afternoon.

Kevin and his 1966 Pontiac GTO. Duane had just finished cleaning a bunch of the carbon out of the engine while driving beside a Mustang on Riverside Drive. Kevin and I were teenagers again like the days back in Mabou...hee, hee.