Mason at hockey...

Mason has loved hockey for so long. We were hesitant about playing hockey in Texas because it's not as big down here and you have to travel a lot. With Texas being such a big state, some meets are like traveling from Ohio to Illinois or New York. But, it's the one sport he really loves. And he's good at it! We're glad he's been able to get on the ice again.

I promise he does have more than an OSU jersey -- he just likes to wear this because his coach wears a Michigan one.
Kind of blurry -- sorry.

At the pool...

I took Mason and Hayley to the pool after school today. They swam while I chatted with neighbors. Mason made the comment the other day that he likes Texas better than Ohio because we have a pool down the street and he can swim whenever he feels like. He's finally getting over the Buckeye state... I hope going home this summer won't set that back.

My fish.
Mason, Hayley, Shannon, Chance and some neighbor girl I don't know.
I had this on my camera, too. This was at Nate's birthday party last Saturday at Austin Park and Pizza.
Shane and Mason, goofing around.

Off to bed. I'll add some pics from hockey tomorrow!

Hockey Presentation...

Well, I uploaded some pictures from yesterday and the prep. It will be a few days before we have the Flip video up.

Mason's trifold. He still needed to glue some labels onto it.
The evolution of the goalie mask. He added a label later.
The middle of the trifold which Mason used to discuss the positions and rules (icing, offsides, etc). He and Mark drew this TO SCALE. I love my OCD boys!!!
A game he made of the hand signals.
Some dangerous facts.
Mason's 3-D product. Every project had to have a 3-D product so he came up with ideas to improve chest pads. All of the blue pieces are new padding. He hadn't glued on the neck pieces yet. Yes -- armpit padding. We found out about all sorts of injuries happening where the butt of the stick sandwiches itself between a player's armpit muscles causing holes. Ew.
Beginning his presentation. Every one needed to start and end with a "creative format," so he took in his hockey gear (minus his stick and cup!) and said how he hates carrying the heavy bag and taking 25 minutes to get suited up, so he wanted to see WHY he needed all of that padding.
Showing referee hand signals.
Waiting for the Power Point to start.

I'll update some pictures from the pool later. I have to run to Lola's!

And we're blogging...

For years, I have had some sort of webpage blog. I blogged before blogging was considered blogging (anyone remember Rokne's Realm or K10's Kingdom? hehe -- OLD school!). Then, marriage and motherhood happened and I didn't blog for a good while. When Mark got a new job in Austin, Texas and we packed up our life and moved here in 2007, I started blogging on myspace to keep our friends and family back in Ohio updated on our new lives. Myspace blogs aren't nearly as fun. Especially when I read such cool blogs, like Tracey's and Julie's. hehe. Hence, I decided to try blogspot. So far so good.
Today was Mason's Independent Study project presentation for Quest (gifted and talented). He's been working on I.S. since January and his topic was (what else?) hockey, focusing on safety equipment. This was his first time doing I.S. (he attended a different school in a different district last year) and we're all relieved it's over. Mark videotaped it on the Flip so when I download it, I'll link up. Anyway, Mason did an amazing job! When I heard he had to give a *fifteen* minute presentation, I was worried, but he did great! The kids in his class loved his power point on hockey gear that featured a video on NHL's greatest hits.



If the weather stays nice today, I'm going to take the Boy to the pool. Our neighbors' kids can't join us because they flew to California for the weekend. Oh well.