sure, playing hockey is cool and all, but what kid, or kid at heart, wouldn’t rather be tooling around on the zamboni?
Tag Archives: odin
day 2703: odin decorates his Very Own Tree.
odin has veeeeery specific ideas about what should go where on a tree. i’d like to think that now that he has his very own tree we might have a little more leeway with the main family tree.
riiiiiiight, uh huh.
day 2703: a christmas tree hunting and zip line riding we go!
’tis the season for hunting christmas trees! we’ve been going to our favorite local farm, snowy ridge in westby, wisconsin since 2006 when odin wasn’t big enough to do much but help pick out the tree. ( our adventures in 2007 and 2008 must be on a harddrive somewhere, but i did manage to post 2009 and 2010 which are great walks down memory lane. )
this year odin attempted once again to help me cut down the tree. he put in a good effort, but eventually had to relinquish the saw to his old man. maybe next year 🙂
this is the first year odin asked for his own tree. if one is good, two must be twice as nice?
ya sure, ya betcha!
as always, the 100 foot zip line is what makes snowy ridge extra fun.
is there a better way to celebrate getting two trees? i think not.
to this day, i have no idea how they manage the insurance for a zipline which ends in a massive treehouse.
i still have plans to build The World’s Most Awesome Treehouse, but the bar has been raised high.
the perfect closer to a perfect christmas tree hunting adventure? hot chocolate and cookies in a warming house with a cracking wood fire!
thanks for the memories, snowy ridge.
day 2702: little drummer boy.
we’re in the “sampling” phase of odin’s musical journey. he plays a bit of guitar, piano, violin, xylophone, flute etc. we’ve done nothing by way of formal training at this point. i “teach by example” and show him little things here and there and he picks up on it all really quickly. he has a really good “ear”, especially on the piano, for picking out pretty little melodies and improvising riffs. we’ll definitely get him lessons for at least one instrument in the near future, but the tough part is deciding what to invest time and energy in because he enjoys them all.
we walked into a local music shop recently and he sat down for the first time at a drum kit, paused, and clicked the drum sticks together four times like he was setting time for the band before launching into a drum solo.
“wow! why did you click the sticks together four times?”
“oh, i don’t know. it just seemed like the right thing to do.”
day 2690: knittin’ kitties.
while odin still enjoys advanced finger knitting and making bracelets, he’s now fullblown knitting with knitting needles.
and making fun stuff like this cute little kitten! i bet more than a few friends and family will be getting one as a gift.
a close up to show the soft form and detail of odin’s knitted kitty. now if i could just get him to crank these out by the hundreds 🙂
is there an age limit in the etsy terms of service? just kidding. sort. of.
day 2671: being judged.
since odin has started playing hockey again we’ve been working on honing his hockey skills in anticipation of him trying out to see what team he would play on. according to usa hockey rules children under the age of nine can play in what is known as the “mite” level on either the “mite A” or “mite B” team. mite A players generally have better developed skills that mite B players.
i think this is the first time odin has ever had “try outs” for a team and i was surprised to find myself slightly anxious at the prospect of having people grade his skills while he went through exercises like skating backwards in a “figure 8” around pylons.
we’re all about having fun, regardless of whether or not he makes the “A team” or “B team” and, truth be told, after a 3 year hiatus he should be on the B team so he can develop with kids at the same skill level.
and yet, there i was with fists balled as he went around the ice, nervous that he was going to fall, secretly hoping he would ace all the tests and surprise everyone by making the “A team”, while having flashbacks to my own pee wee basketball and little league baseball tryouts when i was his age.
it really makes me happy that odin couldn’t care less about what team he plays for. he just wants to have fun on the ice and skate as fast as he can.
we should know in about a week which team he’s on.
day 2667: honing hockey skills.
i swear odin must have been practicing hockey in his sleep while on his self-imposed three year hiatus from the game. we went to a saturday morning clinic so he could get some extra ice time between practices and it’s amazing to watch him quickly get accustomed to skating with a stick and pushing the puck.
he’s remarkably adept at judging where the puck is heading and putting himself in the right position to pick it up.
if he sticks with it, it’s going to be amazing to watch his skills improve even more through the season.