In February we packed up the whole family and went to San Diego for Finn’s hockey tournament. The timing worked out well — the kids had Thursday, Friday, and Monday off so no one had to miss any school.
This was a great tournament for lots of reasons. In past tournaments, Finn’s team had been entered in a division higher than their skill level and the scores reflected that. I don’t mind them losing games, but when they aren’t even able to compete it’s no fun. This time, they were in a BB division as they should be and it was much better. Also, since it was in San Diego we were able to meet up with the lots of family and friends. It was great to have a Moision/Beck get together and to spend some time with Peter, Laura, Eric, and the Banning clan. The Bannings rescued Ezra from a long day of hockey on Friday when they invited him to join them at the Wild Animal Park. He bonded with the animals.
Friday was a great day of hockey — two games and Finn’s team won both. First, though, was the boys’ favorite part: breakfast at the hotel. The food was mediocre at best, but the kids love being able to get what they want from the buffet, and the novelty of eating breakfast with friends is slow to wear off.
Here are a couple of shots from one of Friday’s games. I don’t tend to take many pictures during the games.
And one of the handshake line.
After the second Friday game we went for a late dinner with the Bannings. Despite the “meh” Mexican food, a good time was had by all. At the end of the night the kids noticed this sex appeal monitor in the lobby and hysterics ensued.
The next morning we met up with Laura and Eric, stuffed ourselves with pancakes and coffee, and then took a quick trip to the Birch Aquarium at Scripps. It was a gorgeous day.
We all enjoyed seeing a reference to an Oatmeal comic in an exhibit about the mantis shrimp. Ezra, especially, is obsessed with all things Oatmeal.
Finn was nervous about getting to his game on time (that’s my fault; I’m also too much of a worrier about getting places on time) but it all worked out. They lost the game, but continued to be in good spirits. After the game, Bruce and Peter had the chance to hang out while the boys and I went to lunch with Finn’s teammate Arthur and his mom.
That night was the Skills Competition. Finn and three of his teammates, Robert, Drew and Bubba, were competing. It was a madhouse of activity, but the boys did really well. In fact, they won the prize for their age group. There was only one other team competing, but still.
Finn stopped all of the shots he faced. We couldn’t see very well, but his coach sent me videos. (I love seeing his teammates cheer for him!)
Here’s the whole Skills Competition crew and Coach Mike:
On Sunday Finn’s game wasn’t until 4:00 so we had time to take a leisurely visit to Balboa Park. The museum we planned to see (the Mingei) was closed for remodel, but we had a fun time at a photography exhibit, the train museum, and a stop at the Finnish house on the way out. Here are a couple of photos from the photography exhibit.
And here’s all the photos we took of ourselves at the station Finn is at above.
They ended up losing Sunday’s game, too, but still made it into the finals.
And they had a team dinner on Sunday which was super fun for the kids. Bruce and Ezra skipped that and went out with the San Diego/Temecula Moisions and Becks.
Back at the team dinner, there was cake and a very festive atmosphere. It’s a pretty fun bunch of kids.
On Monday, the Black Stars played in the finals against the team from Canada. There had been some parental conflicts at the previous game against this team, and the bad attitude of a couple of the Canadian parents continued on Monday. Really there were only a couple of parents pushing the limits of youth sports decorum, but they sure managed to dispel the myth that all Canadians are nice.
Our boys ended up getting the silver, and the team quickly scattered as people rushed off to the airport to make flights or start the long drive home. Our flight ended up being delayed, so we were not in a rush but had a very late night.
For us, it was definitely a successful weekend. And I think our very tired goalie would agree.
