Officially a hockey family

Well Darrin, Max, and I have successfully (?) made it through our first hockey practice.  Well, officially Greenway refers to this as its Fall Hockey Clinic, but it was a practice to us.  The day started off with Max and I heading to Duluth for his dentist appointment.  Yay, no cavities! 


Back at home, Max and I got his mouth guards fitted and his bag packed.  I didn't yet purchase a hockey bag and didn't get one from Greenway, because the ones left to use were way too big for the few pieces of equipment Max is using during his first season.  I neatly packed a couple of towels, shin guards, elbow guards, skates, and a helmet into a spare bag I had around the house.  Did it really matter that it was a cute polka dot bag, I thought to myself.  Nah!


I was wrong!  Darrin refused to carry the bag into practice and griped at me at how ridiculous it was.  Ok, I was wrong...it did make a difference!


So, with Max proudly carrying his stick, Darrin carrying the camera, and me carrying the previously mentioned bag of equipment we attempted to make our way around the maze of locker rooms in the basement of the arena.  We finally  ran into Nick, the teenage son of Max's preschool teacher and FoM (friend of Max).  Nick led us to the pod of locker rooms that the little kids are supposed to use.  Alright, now we can get to the business of suiting our little hockey player up!


We join the cadre of parents in the locker room preparing their sweet little kids for battle on the ice or with the ice.  Even with the limited amount of equipment that Max is using his first year (so can learn to skate less encumbered) Darrin and I were at a loss as to what to do with the shin pads.  Inside the skate, outside the skate?  So, I took the bull by the horns and asked to all parents in the locker room, "Do the shin pads go inside or outside of the skates?"  We got a couple of puzzled looks, and finally an answer from one of Max's daycare "moms"..."it's skater's preference."  


Darrin and I looked at each other, looked at Max, and back at each other.  Then that kind of mind meld that occurs between parents happened, we both mentally thought, it's not about preference...it's about getting these damn skates laced up.  If it's with the shin pads on the outside or inside, who cares, as long as the skates are laced and he's ready to get on the ice.  And right now, I couldn't tell you how those shin pads ended up.  I guess I'll run through that again at practice tonight.


Finally, all equipment is on and Max has his stick in hand.  Our little warrior is ready to take the ice.  And take the ice he did.  He stepped onto the ice with all his might, took several slow steps, quickened his steps and was moving almost like a gazelle; until he tripped over the blue line on his way to join his teammates at center ice.  The coach instructed his players on how to put their stick on the ice and asked them to hit the ice with their sticks.  Max raises his stick up and hits the ice with the blade...and his butt quickly joins his blade on the ice.


Next up was skating from one end of the rink to the other.  Oh, Max was all over this until he was distracted by the pucks on the ice.  All he has wanted to do since we got him skates and a hockey stick is to hit a puck on the ice.  And that's all he wanted to do.  Forget skating from end to end, he was going to follow his puck or any puck around.  And nearly every time he hit or attempted to hit the puck, his little butt ended up on the ice.  So, he ended up pushing a chair around for most of the practice.  And even with the chair, he was still trying to chase pucks.


He was still extremely wore out by the practice (yay!) and said he had an awesome time and is excited to go back.  On the way to daycare this morning Max said to me, "I think I need to focus on skating and not the puck at practice tonight, mom."  I think that's a great idea.


p.s.  Yes, following practice we headed to the store and purchased a more appropriate bag to carry our son's hockey equipment.  


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Momma Lover

Getting ready this morning, Max says to me, "When I get older I'm going to change my name to Momma Lover, because I loooooooooooooooooooove my momma!"

Me: "Oh, that's nice. I loooooooooooove my boy!"

Max:  "Or you could still just call me Max, if you wish."

It's amazing how big his vocabulary is getting and how frequently he use uses it correctly.


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Max races his go cart at Hibbing Raceway on June 26, 2010

Each year Hibbing Raceway has a kids go cart race at intermission during one race. Well, that race was last night. We asked Max if he wanted to race his go cart earlier in the week, he said yes, then he said no, then he said yes. He also asked if we would be getting him a racecar truck and a racecar trailer to haul his go cart to the races. Darrin told him the minivan would be fine.  Max then asked us if we were going to get him a pit crew in case he "popped a tire or something out there."  I told him that daddy would be his pit crew.


We needed to be sure that Max could handle racing on a track, because he's so used to just cruising around the yard.  So, we turned our driveway into a racetrack. More posts and videos to come on the practice. Grandpa Ralph and Uncle Steve came over to watch Max practice a few times.  I'm not sure what they enjoyed more...watching Max or Darrin.


Darrin and Max (when he could pay attention) worked on the go cart and Darrin took one of our spare car seats and modified it to become a safety seat in Max's cart.  Max liked it and it was much more comfortable for him.


The night of the big race
As you can see from the video Max had an interesting first lap of the race.  He was too busy checking out the people in the stands and missed the of the green flag, so he decided he was going to catch up with the rest of the kids by cutting the corner and turning in front of them.  


After that, he did pretty good and didn't want to stop after the checkered flag was thrown.  I don't know that we could say he won, but he was the first to the checkered flag.


It was a fun night and I'm not sure how long the smiles will remain on Max's grandpa's faces.  I think auntie Tricia had fun too; it was her first time going to the races.


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