June Highlights and Happy Father's Day!

Steaks to celebrate Father's Day! 

Lots of Golf

Velocity Championship with Luke, Liam, and their friend (Adam) as coaches

John had knee surgery

Aiden's Velocity 3 on 3 Championship Win

More Golf with Dad

First and Last day of school for 2021-2022

A final spring hockey tournament in Chicago for Luke

Last Day of 8th, 8th, 6th, and 2nd grades

Happy Father's Day to our Dads and Grandads!  We are so thankful for each of you, Grandpa Carrithers, Grandpa Morse, and John.  

We finished up the month of May with a final spring hockey tournament for Luke in Chicago followed by the last few weeks of school.  Luke and Liam finished their final year of middle school while Finn completed second grade and Aiden completed 6th grade.  We are excited for HIGH SCHOOL next year for Luke and Liam which will bring many changes including some very very early morning departures!

The month of June has been filled with some warmer weather and more time for golf and other outdoor activities including a little pool time as we finally reached some temps above 70 degrees.  John had knee surgery at the beginning of June for a partially torn meniscus.  He is doing very well post surgery and beginning to get around a bit more although he still needs to be somewhat cautious.  He is excited to get back to his normal biking and eventually running routines as soon as possible.  He isn't 20 years old anymore and the recovery process is a tougher one.  

We are enjoying some hockey camps this summer, lacrosse games, and more down time to hangout with friends and play with neighbors.  Looking forward to a fun summer!

Our Fun Month of May

Our biggest highlight for the month of May was undoubtedly getting to see Zach, our cousin/nephew, pitch in a MLB game IN MINNESOTA!!  What are the odds?  Zach's first start for the Oakland Athletics was against the Twins at Target Field in Minnesota.  Unfortunately, John and Luke were already heading to a hockey tournament in Pittsburgh, but Liam, Aiden, Finn and myself were able to join Uncle Russ and Zach's wife, Cayla, for the big game.  It was beyond exciting for all of us and a bit surreal.  My pictures are not in order below, but there are a few of the boys and I at the game in Minnesota.  Ironically, a few weeks later, Zach pitched again in Oakland (also against the Twins) and John was in San Francisco for work and was able to go and watch Zach.  We are all thrilled for Zach and so proud of the work that he has put in to get where he is now.  Congrats Zach, we are so excited to watch you continue to pursue your dream!

May was also filled with hockey tournaments for Luke, several work trips for John, track and field for Liam, and lacrosse for Aiden and Finn.  Our temps are finally getting warmer and the weather feels a bit more like summer since we kind of skipped spring this year and has an extra two months of winter!  

Lastly, Luke and Liam along with several of their hockey buddies participated in a basketball tournament recently and had a blast.  None of the boys actually play basketball except as a hobby in our driveway, but they did pretty well in the tournament and definitely showed their athleticism as well as their lack of basic basketball knowledge.  Overall, it was fun to watch them play and try something other than hockey!  I am pretty sure we won't be switching to basketball anytime soon.

John and Luke in Pittsburgh

Aiden is playing lacrosse this year and loving it

Dinner with Uncle Russ, Cayla, and some friends and trainers for Zach

Liam began track and field this year and has loved it

Finn with TC Bear at one of Zach's games

John in Oakland to watch Zach

Luke and Liam participated in a basketball tournament.  Yes, you read that correctly....

Meeting Zach after the game.

So fun to watch!

Luke and his team in Pittsburgh

Track and Field for Liam (back left)

Down on the field with Zach after the Mother's Day game

Zach's MLB debut

Hockey tournament in Duluth with Aiden

Hockey tournament in Detroit for Luke

Track and Field for Liam, he really enjoyed running the mile, 4x4 relay, and 800m

Maple Grove Swishers

Waiting for the big game for Zach

Here to watch and cheer for Zach!

Getting ready for Zach to throw out the first pitch!

Finn is playing lacrosse again this year and also enjoying it.

Detroit for Luke's tournament

This is how we all feel after a busy month of May!

Spring Break and Spring Sports

 Warning...pictures unfortunately loaded in random order so they are all mixed up but I will do my best to explain them!

Over Spring Break, we got some Cold Stone Ice Cream from birthday gift cards from Cousin Calvin

Finn started lacrosse and is playing on a 10U team.  He's one of the youngest kids, but not the smallest.

Luke and all of his first year friends on the Bantam AA team

Liam's team Banquet.  Liam is in the middle on back row with blue shirt.

Liam's first track meet.  He ran the 400m and did quite well.

Aiden And Finn went to a Timberwolves game with John

Aiden started playing lacrosse this year for the first time and is really enjoying it

We went to the WILD game over Spring Break.  This is Dinner prior to the game.  

Finn got to meet one of his favorite previous NHL goalies, Devan Dubnyk.  He played for the WILD and has retired now and has a son that is Finn's age.

Cheering at the WILD game!

Timberwolves game

Checking out warmups at the WILD game.  The WILD played the Colorado Avalanche and won in OT.

Luke's banquet with his team and coaches

WILD game

Liam's first race was cold and windy!

Liam and his buddies at his banquet

John and Luke at Luke's banquet.

We had a nice Spring Break in Minnesota.  The weather wasn't exactly spring like but we managed to find several fun things to do.  We went bowling with some good friends, went golfing on an indoor golf simulator place, went to a WILD game, John took Aiden And Finn to a Timberwolves game, and we tried to catch up on things we missed over hockey season like haircuts and dentist appointments!  Overall, it was a nice break.

Aiden and Finn are both beginning Spring Lacrosse and are excited about their new teams.  This is Aiden's first year to play lacrosse and he is very excited to try a new sport.  He has been playing quite a bit in the back yard with his brothers prior to this, but is excited to learn some new skills.  Finn is playing on a 10U team this year.  He could have stayed at 8U or moved up to 10U and we opted to push him up since he's so big and relatively physical.  

Liam is running track for the first time this spring and really enjoying it.  He goes for runs with his team everyday after school and is trying various events.  Right now, he is doing the 400 meter race and finding it is not an easy distance at all.  He has several buddies doing track as well, so its been a fun experience so far.  

Luke is busy with spring hockey.  He's playing lots of tough competition this summer and working out with high school kids at the place where he trains over the spring and summer.  He's playing for two high level teams and enjoys the competition.  One of his teams has kids from all over the United States including Florida, Texas, California, and Minnesota.  

Happy Spring!  We are hoping for some warmer and drier weather soon!

 

State Tournament March Madness

 

Aiden and John at Aiden's State hockey banquet

Luke and I up in Baudette, MN at his State banquet

Liam went skiing with some buddies

Willie the Walleye in Baudette, MN.  Just behind Luke is the where you cross the border to head into Canada

Aiden's team won in Regions to move to State

Only in Baudette would you see something like this

Luke's team won in Regions to move to the State tournament

The Maple Grove High School team advanced to the State Tournament and finished as Runner Up in a double overtime battle with Andover

Finn's end of season Jamboree

Aiden's team trophy for Regions

First year boys on the Bantam AA team with Luke

Luke and his hockey buddy and carpool friend, Lane

Luke and John at Luke's end of season banquet

Luke and I in Baudette with his Consolation champs trophy

Luke's team and coaching staff at the end of season banquet

Finn's cheering section for his jamboree

"On the Bench" celebrities at the State high school hockey tournament 

Aiden and his buddy, Anders 

Finn and Aiden at the Timberwolves basketball game with John

The theme of March for us was State Tournaments!  Both Luke and Aiden's hockey teams made it through their region and had the opportunity to play in State.  Just making it to State is a huge accomplishment.   The teams that make it out of their district are assigned to a Region tournament.  In each of the four region tournaments, there are TWO teams that advance to State.  This means that of the 100+ hockey teams at their respective levels in Minnesota, their teams were each 1 of 8 teams to advance to their State Tournament.  Quite an accomplishment just to be there.  

Both Aiden and Luke's team had tough first round draws in their games.  Aiden's team played an Edina team that was one of the three teams he lost to this season.  And Luke's team played the only team (Moorhead) that we couldn't find a way to beat all season long.  Not exactly a good way to start the tournament.  They both lost their first round games, but battled back and fought hard.  Luke's team came out with State Consolation Champs!

We also attended the high school State Hockey tournament in March and were able to watch Maple Grove advance to the Class AA State Championship.  It was an amazing game and one of the best championship games in recent history according to several of the people we were sitting with who were just there to watch.  There were 19,000 people there to watch the game and Maple Grove lost 6-5 in double overtime.  It was a heartbreaking loss, but such a fun environment like none other.  

In other news, Finn finished out his season with a jamboree.  His nickname was "Finn Crash the Net Carrithers."  He had a cheering section of middle school girls and boys to watch.  Finn is well loved by the middle school boys and girls that his brothers hang out with.  

We have officially ended our hockey seasons and we are preparing for spring sports even if the weather is exactly spring like yet?!  All four boys plan to play lacrosse this spring and summer.  Liam is running track on the junior varsity high school track team for the first time this spring.  They just started practicing last week, but he is really enjoying it so far and has several buddies doing it as well.  He is planning to try mid distance running first.