Weekend Ski Race

Young Philanthropist

Just in case you thought I'd stopped taking pictures...I haven't. Here's a shot of 12 year old Zachary Bonner from Tampa, Florida. This boy has his own foundation, The Little Red Wagon Foundation, which works to help underprivleged kids. He does online schooling, which allows him to tour the nation, talking to kids his age about the importance of philanthropy. Such an amazing kid...I was happy to have met him at Cal's school today. Here's a story from Good Morning America about Zach's work.

What were you doing when you were 12?

Superior Ice

Ski Racer

Mason participated in his first race today at Spirit Mountain! He did one Giant Slalom course and the Slalom course (shown above). Mason joined the development racing team in December, but hasn't wanted to do any of the races (they are optional), just the practices. I didn't want to push him into it unless he felt ready. So today, he was ready. Me? Not so much. This was an all-new experience for me, because even though my brother was a high school ski racer, I never saw him race! Three kids were transported to area hospitals during this event, and I saw many other close calls. Mason managed to get down safely, and I spent the afternoon playing team photographer. (I took more than 600 photos of "our" racers.) We just might do this again.

Safari - Part 2

These are my three favorite shots from Mason's camera. He did a great job, don't you think? I like these shots much more than my own!

*as always, click on a photo to enlarge it

Photo Safari

Mason has been home sick for the last three days. When we visited the doctor's office yesterday, the nurse suggested getting outside might actually help his cold. So this afternoon, Mason and I went to Brighton Beach on a little photo safari.
These were three of my favorite shots from the day. The stacked up chunks of blue ice along the shore are always fun to photograph.
And listening to the floating little ice chunks in the water as they hit rocks and ice on the shore...well, it kind of sounds like bamboo wind chimes. It's a wonderful sound. I'll post some of Mason's photographs later today!

Backed into a Corner

Our old icky basement is getting a facelift. This room will eventually be the game room. We jackhammered the old floor out, and dug down about 8 inches to get more head room. In the end, we really didn't gain more than an inch or two of head room, but we do get a level floor! Today the glass block window was removed, and the guys made a chute out of plywood to dump the concrete into the room. They surprised me, though, when they worked toward the window. These guys were pulled out through the window and then used a long tool from the outside to smooth out the final bit of floor. Next step, clean up those walls!

Surprise!

The blog is active again. I've been surprised how easy it has been to just let it go. But I think I'd like to get it going again. I'll try and post more frequently, but no guarantees about every day, OK?

I took this shot today after receiving a phone call from Calvin. He was at the nearby University campus, taking part in a regional math competition. There were about 75 kids there, and he came in first place! He wanted to know how fast I could get there to take pictures (for his school, too - his team came in second!). I was there within 10 minutes. Cal walked away with three trophies, the one shown above, for first place as an individual, another for second place as a team, and another for his second place finish in the "countdown round". The top 8 finishers individually were bracketed for the countdown round. The girl who finished 6th individually, ended up in first place for the countdown round!

The top two individuals move on to the state competition, so Calvin will compete at the state level in March, both as an individual, and as part of his school team. Way to go, Cal!