Bid Adieu to 2014

It was a great year. Really great. At the end of the year, I sort of imagine a scale. I have been so very lucky in my life. The balance has always rested on the side of good. Or better. This last year was no different. Health, happiness, growth and much love. What more can one ask for..? 

We didn't have as much time in Point Roberts this Christmas as we have in years past. Partly due to PJ and Julie's wedding (what a great reason) and partly due to other circumstances, but it meant we didn't have quite as much of the scene below as other years. 

Maybe that made me appreciate what we had a little more...

The beanbag chair crew

We had a spectacular New Year's Eve feast at our place in town with the McTaggarts. It is one of my favourite nights of the year. Great food, better company. The perfect way to usher out the old and welcome in the new.

This year was made extra special, thanks to the amazing gift of...a fireplace lamp for my dad. A long story, but a funny one.

2014 Year End Quiz

1. Name three Taylor Swift songs.
2. What three Air Malaysia flight issues occurred this year? Bonus points of being specific.
3. What moving object did NASA land a probe on this year?
4. Write any lyric from “Let it Go” (other than the title lyric…!) from the movie Frozen. Bonus: What are the names of the two sisters in the movie.
5. Winner of the World Cup.
6. Winner of 2014 Best Picture Oscar.
7. What company bought Tim Horton’s this year?
8. What Raven’s running back was reinstated by the NFL?
9. Number one box office hit this year?
10. What big referendum was held in Europe this year with a massive turn out?
11. What country did Canada beat to win gold at Sochi?
12. What two teams played in the Grey Cup?
13. Name as many books as you can from Canada Reads.
14. What country is Iggy Azalea from? Finish this lyric: I’m in the fast lane, from ____”
15. Name two new features on the iPhone 6.
16. What disease caused concern in Africa? Bonus: How many people had it in the US?
17. What chilly trend hit Facebook (and the whole world) hard and what charity did the money raise money for?
18. What Ocean’s 11 actor got married in Italy this year?
19. What is Serial? Bonus: First and last name of one of the main characters.
20. How many of Canada’s 7 NHL teams fired their coach this year?
21. What’s the Toronto Raptors new slogan?
22. Name one contestant from this year’s Dancing with the Stars
23. Name three famous people who died this year.
24. What South African with no legs was on trial this year for murder? Bonus: Name his girlfriend.
25. Who consciously uncoupled this year?
26. What picture tried to “break the internet”?

A Very Happy Day

E- Basketball, Basketball, Basketball, Hockey

Yup, it was a busy 3 months. When Joey decided to come home to Canada this summer, it sent me into overdrive. I knew I had to jump at the chance to have him in Vancouver coaching with Split Second Basketball.

We've already got a great program...and adding Joey makes it even better.  There are so many reasons that's it's good to have Joey in town, I won't even try to write them down. However, our undertaking didn't come without stress.

I still had my full time job and had a really good time at work. We're near the end of our second year together and have really gotten to know each other. Here's one of the only pictures we have of DFD's tallest crew ever....6'9", 6'7", 6'7" and 6'4". Unfortunately we will be splitting up next month and going to new halls. It was good while it lasted.

The basketball started off as a scramble to find gyms...and then

Got even busier. Here is our first class of the "All Girls" session at Crofton. Finny and Elodie won the  Queen of the Court awards.

Jeevan and Chris Lee won the King of the Court awards at our Saints only programs.

Fortius

False Creek

Kitchener. It was really full on!

Here's Finny in a pre-season MoreSports tournament, showing the type of intensity she always plays with.

Finny has a keen eye for a player dribbling too high. It didn't take her long to pounce on this guy for the steal and breakaway lay-up!

Who has more intensity?

Lukey backstopped his 3 on 3 to a huge tournament victory at the North Shore Winter Club. It was a huge turning point in the season for the boys. Even though they were representing the Mutants here, all the boys were from the Arbutus Club. 

After very few wins in the last 2.5 years of competitive games, the boys came alive in this tournament. Lukey was like a wall in net...which seemed to give his team confidence. They skated hard and miraculously won the tournament. 

UPDATE: The coolest part of this tournament was the aftermath. The boys returned back to their Arbutus team with renewed confidence and went on a completely unprecedented, and unexpected win streak. After Christmas they won 11 of 12 games at one point, and were one of the best teams in the league. 

No doubt it was a team effort. Players stepped up in a way we didn't see coming...particularly Nicholas Hart, John Demianczuk, Brett Nash, Ginger Worland. Zach and Joey continued to be really strong. However, nobody made a bigger impact than Lukey in the turn around. They were a different team when he was in net. 

Why was he so strong?  He loves the position. He studies it. He is able to get low and move low into the butterfly. It's hard to score on him 5 hole and he also gets his legs really wide. The only real hole right now is up high, which has more to do with his size than anything. He sure seems to love it right now, so we'll see where he goes with it...but he sure had an amazing (and positively reinforcing) experience this, his first season in goal. 

Lukey was also really proud to be the team's ironman, the only player to play in every game this season. 

E- Phoenix sun

Lukey and I had a fantastic boys trip. We golfed lots.  Well, Lukey and Ed golfed 4 times, and I just made it out once.  We saw 3 movies (Big Hero 6, Dumb and Dumber too, Alexander and the Horrible, Terrible, Good for Nothing Day) with bottomless popcorn and drinks.

We had great burgers at Red Robbins, In-N-Out and more. We went go-karting where Lukey was agonizingly close to being able to drive his own cart. We even tried stuffing paper in his shoes, to no avail. Bumper boating, pellet gun shooting, moped riding, cruising in the Corvair with the top down, and lots more. We saw the Coyotes play...and were 5th row ( and in the all-you-can-eat Blue Moon Club) for the Phoenix Suns defeating the Brooklyn Nets. And every day, we played soccer in the sun. Lots and lots of soccer.

It was great hanging out with Lukey...just the two of us...or three when Ed could join us. It was a fantastic 5 days, that felt a lot longer than a normal week.

We even got a little business done by meeting our new property managers and checking out our homes. Lukey and I had a few conversations about investing and finances, trying to piece together why we own homes so far from where we live.