NEW ROAD HOCKEY BLOCKER AND TRAPPER

UPGRADED GOALIE BLOCKER AND TRAPPER - VAUGHN DELUXE!

Elliott has spent hours (probably days at this point) playing mini sticks, knee hockey, or road hockey clad in his old street goalie equipment. A set that had taken millions of hits with balls, pucks, pinecones, and countless other random things found on the ground that are just the right size to hit with a hockey stick. The old set had done a great job, but, it was starting to fall apart. An upgrade was needed.

Elliott had been saving his money for awhile, planning and debating what to spend it on. His list was pretty short; goalie equipment, rollerblades, lacrosse stick. After mutiple trips to Sports stores, Canadian Tire, Toys R Us (the comparing between stores seemed endless...but, he did a thorough job really narrowing down the best deal and best product he could buy), he finally decided on a new goalie blocker and trapper.
He went with the Vaughn DELUXE Blocker and Trapper. It was big enough, quality built, and on sale 50% off (good shopper bonus!)...and fabric was pretty cool too!

But, how did the new equipment perform?

Great!

Elliott got on the new blockie and trappie and I took a few shots on him. Here is a quick product review video we made.

THE KIDMADE BACKYARD HOCKEY RINK

WHAT HOCKEY DOES TO THE MIND OF A CHILD

Pine Tree Press | Sports

The hockey season for six year olds is officially over. It has been for two weeks now. However, Elliott has yet to accept this. He is still suffering from a very bad case of Hockey Fever. Symptoms include dressing up in hockey equipment as often as possible, imaginative play revolving around a hockey theme, leaving gloves and a stick at the end of his bed to be 'ready for hockey' when he wakes in the morning...and one very rare and disturbing symptom - building a hockey rink!
Braving the cold and snow Elliott took it upon himself to dig through a foot of hard packed snow in the backyard until he made it to the thin layer of ice covering the ground. He then cleared away the snow in the surrounding ten square feet. No small feat for such a little guy. He was obviously overcome with his Hockey Fever and could not help himself. He then organized a small game with the only other children around, his siblings! This game, The Winter Classic, was fun and energetic. No injuries...although Elliott did have one awkward fall on his head before the game - helmets were made mandatory after that.

Here is some clips of the Winter Classic

The 'Classic' was a one night only affair as the next day the sun shone bright and melted away the rink. Coincidentally, the Hockey Fever seems to have subsided a little as the sun melts the remaining snow and ice. To speed the healing process Elliott has been prescribed a soccer ball and an open field.

OSKIE TURNS TWO - A HOCKEY BIRTHDAY!

OSCAR 2

Pine Tree Post | Birthday Page

The Boys both had birthdays last week. As you may know, they were both born in January, separated by only one day. This makes one hectic week for birthday parties.

OSKIE

Up first was Oskie. He turned the ripe age of 2 this year.

Here he is nursing for the last time before he turns the big 2.

For his birthday party he opted for a hockey theme. "Hockey" is the most used word in his vocabulary. So, without fail, when asked what kind of birthday party he would like his answer was "hockey".
A pack of his little friends were invited over to celebrate and play games.

Friday morning: the Place Under The Pine was decked out with lots of hockey decor...

The Score Board with symbolic numbers.

A string of hockey cards.

The Stanley Cup

Happy B-day sign with an ice rink background

Here they are playing a hockey version of pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey. This version is put-the-equipment-on-the-hockey-player.

This game was lovingly made, by the hands of Oskie's mother, out of felt. Felt is the ideal material for this game and for this age group. Paper would be crumpled, ripped, and eaten. Metal would scar both the wall and the child. Also, felt will cling to other felt pieces, eliminating the need for a pin, nail, thumbtack, or other such device. As any parent will tell you, it is not a good idea to give pins, nails, thumbtacks or similar devices to two year old children.

Cake was enjoyed by all. As any parent will tell you, two year old children love cake so much they want to spread it across their face and absorb it into the skin.

Oskie has come a long way in his second year. From this...

January 2014 - 1 year old

to this...

January 2015 - 2 years old

Happy Birthday little guy.

UNO SHOWDOWN

THERE CAN ONLY BE UNO WINNER!

Pine Tree Press | Sports and Rec Page

The game started off friendly enough.

It started out simple enough, Father told the children to have a card game, maybe two depending on how fast the games went, then it was bedtime.

A quick score sheet was drawn up, SCORZ and WINER

Then the games began.

As epic card battles like this typically begin, it was all fun and games...

until someone lost (not an eye, just lost a close game).

A few minutes later E was back with a win of his own.

Tied up at one game apiece, with the clock ticking down towards Bedtime, that was when things got serious.

THE FINAL GAME

Minutes before the infamous 'cheat call'

E was up first. He started fast, taking it to the deck hard with a colour changer! What a strategy! Then there was a rapid exchange of pinks, back and forth, both throwing them down with gusto. Numbers matched and colours rotated, it was like a math rainbow tower building up to the heavens. It was a very tight match through the first ten cards, then a major surprise happened.
A 4 card pick up colour changer was played!
Then another, back to back! An almost unheard of play left E with eight extra cards in his hand. One of which was another 4 card pick up colour changer.
This game had turned into an all out war at this point, a no holds barred event, so E played the card.
Lolli was forced to pick up twelve! An almost unheard of number. What a heartbreaking stack of cards to end up in her hands. After those surprise plays this game changed from a sprint into a marathon.
E, who was in a slightly better position, made great progression through his cards and was soon one away from yelling 'UNO' when O frantically played a pick-up-two. It saved her, as E was held up and eventually became mired in a collage of colourful cards.
The next dozen turns were uneventful until O, still weighted down with a boatload of pink cards, finally hit for a colour changer - and she ran with it! She pushed forward with pink after pink until she only had two cards left...then a controversial move happened.
The Official stopped the game on a cheating call. O seemed to have reinterpreted her own modified rules which were agreed upon at the beginning of the night. Rules around using colour changing cards near the end of the game. She broke her own rules and her play was called back. Her momentum was stopped.
E took the chance and rallied back, burning through cards until he was left with only two in his hand.
Both players looked at each other, both had only two cards in their hand's, and both had the eye of the tiger...one may have even been growling...this game was intense!
Both played a card and were down to one.
The tension was palatable in the living room when all of the sudden 'UNO' was called!
A squabble ensued about the timing of the yell and the timing of the card played.
The official had to call it - E WINS!

After the hard fought game it was no surprise that O was a little disappointed. She did not cry, but, you could tell by the tone of her 'oh darn' that she was hurting. But, being the great sportsman/woman she is, she congratulated her little brother and shook hands...and only complained about the officiating in low mumbles as she headed off to bed.

Kingston | 8:01