Monday, March 31, 2014

Monday, March 31st - March is certainly going out like a lion!

It's currently 0' and the forecast has a winter storm watch with freezing rain and maybe more snow in the next 24 hours. Are they kidding me?  It's going to stay at 0' all day and get cooler tonight. I think I've just about had enough of weather that's of no use to anyone!

I had a great drive to Riviere du Loup on Friday but the drive home yesterday was not so much.  It started snowing about 15 minutes down the road and just got progressively worse as the day went on. It was a very long and tense drive but I'm pleased to say I made it home. The last couple of hours were not so bad because the freezing rain that was weighing down the trees in New Brunswick, had changed to rain and the roads were mostly just wet. I had sort of talked myself into staying over in Moncton but then when you are that close to home, you want to just keep going. Turns out this time it was the right decision. But it could have just as easily gone the other way. Problem is once you've made the choice to keep going, you have to keep going because there's no where in between Moncton and home. This time I did good!

I had a great weekend from Friday afternoon till Sunday morning. James was busy so didn't see as much of him but Patti and I got to spend the day together sitting in the stands at the arena. I'm amazed at how organized these people are. The parents all do this all the time and it's like a finely tuned machine. When they get to the rink, out come huge coolers, slowcookers, etc. Meals are made right there instead of having to eat the offerings of the arena canteen. The lunch break was only 45 minutes so there really isn't enough time to go out to eat anywhere. We enjoyed meatballs and rice out of the crockpot along with veggies and dip and various other snacks through the day. They were going to be having pulled pork on a bun for lunch on Sunday but I missed that one. 

Skating didn't go so well for James on Saturday. He fell in his first race and that seemed to set the tone for the day. But he did very well in his first race on Sunday morning and I hear he did much better throughout the day. Not a medal winning performance but a great experience. He met skaters from other clubs that they've not been up against before.  There were skaters from Quebec (of course, as they were the hosts), New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI and Nunavut. I had a chance to chat with some of the parents from the PEI club and when I texted Patti on my way home, I asked her to let those folks know what the roads were like. She later texted back that they were grateful for the update and that James was welcome to come and skate with them anytime he was on the island. I assume they must have met him after I left. When I was talking to them earlier they asked me who my grandson was and when I told them  and they all knew the name as James had the honour of being the first skater to get a disqualification for the day. Apparently  when he fell he took out another skater with him and it seems that's frowned upon. Or as James put it "if I'm going down, I'm not going alone!"o Fortunately neither got hurt - these things happen all the time, as I saw. It's too scary as a grandma to see these little bodies go flying off into the boards at a great rate of speed. I know there are mats on the sides but it's still  terrifying to watch - especially if it's one of your own.

All in all a great weekend and I will have some photos later in the week!

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