The weather forecast for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday is for "snow showers". The Tuesday forecast is for PM ‘snow showers’. If we were going tubing, it would best be Tuesday. We chose the Hoodoo Autobahn
We arrived about 10:30a, and suited up. Lucy and I started off in a double tube. We hooked up to the tow rope and had a smooth ride up the hill.
After 2 runs in the double tube, Lucy decided she wanted to ride by herself. I heard her laughing all the way down the 800’ run. As the day wore on, the line for the tow rope got really long. We switched to walking up the hill. We could get 2 runs in the time it took to wait for the tow rope. When I say that we walked up the hill, I mean Lucy rode like a princess in the tube as Dad huffed and puffed up the hill. Max was fast up and down, and he probably got 1/3 more runs in total than Lucy and I did.
The PM snow showers began at about 2 pm. By 3p, it was hard to see the bottom of the run. Not being an experienced I was concerned about road conditions, so we had our last run at 3:15p. I was right to leave early. It was scary for me, although I later heard one local comment that ‘this was nothing’.
We make it up to Oregon about every other year around Christmas. In the past we have gone tubing and sledding, but this year I wanted Max to learn to ski or snowboard. I didn’t really care which, but I wanted him to have some professional instruction.
The nearest ski area to Eagle Crest Resort is Hoodoo. Hoodoo has a Mountain Cubs program for kids under 6 years and a Junior’s program for kids under 12. We saw on Google Maps that it was only about 25 miles from our resort, so I figured that 45 minutes would cover the travel time. I also planned for 30 minutes before the classes started to get the kids signed up and fitted for rentals. With the classes starting at 10a, I wanted to leave at 8:45a. At 8:30a (when they opened), Toby called, just to make sure the class wasn’t full. The person she talked to said that we should arrive 1 hour before the class and that the travel time would be closer to an hour. He didn’t think we would make the morning class, even if we left right away (which we would not be able to do).
So instead of running around screaming at each other feeling under the gun, we leisurely got ready for the afternoon classes (1p). Toby had done a great job of borrowing snow clothes for everyone, so there was a lot of preparations to make sure we had everything for both kids. My plan had been that I would snowboard during the kid’s instruction and Toby wanted to be available for Lucy.
Our GPS had us taking some crazy small side roads. Since it had recently snowed, neither Toby nor I wanted to be taking these types of still-iced roads. So we winged it and just followed the highway signs (per the Google map). We got there with about an hour and 15 minutes to prep the kids. Even with all that time, by the end, we didn’t have any extra minutes; the kids were right on time.
In the running back and forth between Mountain Cubs and Juniors, I lost track of Max. I had placed him in the instruction area, and he and I had talked to an instructor in the area. I left him under the ‘Snowboarders- beginner’ sign, and when I returned after getting Lucy signed in and suited up, the instruction had spread out to various areas of the mountain. After about 15 tense minutes, we found Max with the ‘Snowboarders- beginner’ class. What took so long was that I was telling the Ski School supervisor that he was a first time snowboarder. He was not with the ‘Snowboarders- first time’ class as I insisted he would be. He was with the ‘Snowboarder – beginner’ class, having a great time. When we finally found him, he had a big grin on his face and had made a couple of friends, so we left him in that group. The instructors didn’t check his tag, and I put him under the wrong sign, so there was confusion all around. But all is well that ends well.
Lucy did all the things that the instructors asked her to do, but she said afterwards that she didn’t like it (except for riding the lift). When we are back in Oregon in two years, we will try again.
We left Santa Clarita right on time and arrived in Burbank at 5:20a. Our 7a flight had a 6:30a boarding time, so we were in good shape. Until we saw that McD’s was not open. McD’s was closed Christmas day, or at least was opening late. Denny’s was open and we got Moons Over My Hammy sandwiches for take out.
We arrived right on time in Portland after our very early flight. Christmas dinner was slightly delayed when the Wasson clan (8 members) had some motion sickness on the trip from Olympia to Portland. All in all, there were 19 people for Christmas dinner. It was great fun.
Camille didn’t feel well the next morning, so we drove to Eagle Crest on our own. This place is nice. Toby gives this place 5 out of 5 stars for the layout of the condo. She loves that the master suite is on the second floor (thus the fact that she is able to take long naps).
Sunday morning we woke up to a very light snow. The kids were so excited for the snow. Lucy made a snow angel and we had a mini snowball fight. We met a nice family at the local playground who let us borrow their sleds. The resort is on a golf course, so there are lots of little hills to sled down.
Don and Camille arrived later Sunday afternoon. We ordered pizza from Cibelli’s. We thought that we would order 3 large pizzas for the 6 of us in order to have some leftovers for the rest of the week. When I picked up the pizzas that Toby ordered, I was quite surprised at the size. These were 24” pizzas. I’ve never seen a 24” pizza before, and I carried out 3 of them. Below is a picture of 1 of the boxes, with a piece of letter sized paper for reference.
Max’s team ended up in 4th place for the AYSO Area 10W. Area 10W covers north Ventura county and south Santa Barbara county, including:
Ventura
Camarillo
Santa Paula
Santa Barbara
Ojai
South Oxnard & Port Heuneme
Fillmore
North Oxnard & El Rio
Carpinteria
I was not able to figure out how many under-10 boys teams were in Area 10W, but I know that Carp had 10 teams and Santa Barbara had 42. Santa Barbara has a couple weeks of tournament play to select the 2 teams that will go to the Area playoffs. I imagine that Ventura and Oxnard have similar numbers to Santa Barbara. Whatever the actual number, the initial pool of teams was very large and to advance to 4th place was quite an accomplishment.
Max’s AYSO soccer team won their game today and so has advanced to the semi-finals tomorrow. These games were supposed to be played last weekend but the whole weekend was rained out. We have an 8a game tomorrow. The teams are supposed to check in 45 minutes before the game starts, and so we will be leaving for Camarillo at 6:30a. Yikes.
(Max is number 5, towards the left)
Today’s game was a real nail-biter. In the first quarter the other team scored 2 goals. In the 2nd and 3rd quarters The Vipers did not let them score, and scored 3 goals themselves.
The referee seemed to be making all calls against The Vipers. Coach Jack had his work cut out for him helping the ref to see reason. The ref made our players back up very far from a free kick. Jack reminded him (not so gently) that the rule was 10 yards, so the ref stepped in off and the boys lined up much closer. Many throw-ins were called back (I think 5 total) for our team, but none for the other team. Once, the ref made a call without looking at the line judge who had a flag raised. Coach Jack pointed out to the ref that the line judge had a flag up. After conferring with this line judge, the ref reversed his call.
This back and forth rose to a head at the end of the 3rd quarter when a blue player was off-sides and the ball dribbled into The Vipers’ goal. I don’t know a lot about the rules, but Coach Jack was nearly apoplectic when the ref didn’t call back the goal due to the off-sides. The ref agreed that the player was off-sides, but disagreed with Coach Jack that the player was involved in the play (apparently being involved in the play matters as to whether a foul is called). After a few tense minutes, and Coach Jack throwing down his hat in disgust, the goal was allowed to stand. This set the score at 3 to 3.
The 4th quarter was scoreless for both sides, so the teams went into overtime. Overtime in soccer (at this level) is 2 five minute quarters. After the second quarter, if the score is still tied, there is a shoot-out. The teams went to the shoot-out. 5 players from each team take turns kicking the ball one on one with the goalie. The shoot out ended in a tie, 4 to 4. This leads to a ‘sudden death’ shoot-out. Each team gets a chance to score a goal. If both score, or both miss, then another pair of boys tries to score a goal. If 1 boy scores and the other misses, that is the game. Our first kicker for the sudden death scored a goal, and the shot from the opposing team was successfully blocked! The Vipers won!!!
There are 2 games tomorrow. If we win the first game, we play at noon in the Finals. If we lose the first game, we play at noon for 3rd or 4th place. The first and second place teams from this weekend advance to the Regional tournament which is in Bakersfield at the end of January.
