Last week Josie's school had a science fair. She made a diorama of the far north region. Luke helped her build it. Friday they presented them to the class and then got to go look at all the other class science fair projects. Each grade has their own project.

 Landon found Josie's friend Annie:)

 Last october the school had their annual hoe down. They took pictures of people dressed up and so me, my mom, and Josie dressed up. We just now got the picture back:) this is a picture of a picture, so the quality is not the greatest.

Last week it hailed at our house...

Friday evening we packed up and headed for Wallace Idaho. It is about 10 minutes away from Lookout Pass. Lookout Pass is a small ski area that host's the finals of the race league. Wallace is a very very small town. The hotel probably has more guests on this weekend than it does any other weekend. They even left a nice welcome message for all the racers:)

When we got there, the pool probably had 50 kids in it with most of the parents hanging out in the bar:) There were kids running up and down the halls and it was pretty chaotic. I think the front desk lady was a bit overwhelmed:) By saturday night..kids were being kicked out of the pool and the front desk lady was threatening to call the cops at 8:45 at night!?....I'm sure they were glad to see all the ski racers check out on sunday morning!
We woke up early on saturday and arrived to the lodge at lookout pass around 7am. I found the last table available. I didn't bring my ski's or Landon's and I totally regretted it once we were there. The weather was so nice and the mountain is pretty easy. Instead I brought a bunch of crafts and games for landon.

 Josie having her second breakfast before the race:)

 You can see the race course from the lodge, there was a small hill that all the kids had fun playing on. Landon's boots had a hole in them and we didn't know, so his feet were soaked by  noon. I had to buy him new socks but he was soaked again by the end of the day!

 Both Saturday and Sunday the weather was so nice that Josie didn't have to wear a coat or her ski pants. Saturday was Slalom, where the gates are close together and sunday was Giant Slalom...or GS, where the gates are farther apart and they are flags. She did great both days. She ended up placing 15th out of 27, which for being on the young side of her age bracket she did really well.

 Here is Josie with her friend Avery.

 It was so nice we brought our lawn chairs and hung out in the sunshine. Luke snowboarded both days but hung out in the afternoons with Landon and I.

 Here is Josie's first SL run on Saturday.

Here is her first  GS run on sunday...She did so well on her second run that other parents were coming up to her and us and telling us how great she looked. One parent said ' we were watching a kid come down and saying wow, look how fast she is going...and then we realized it was Josie!!' Her coach was so proud of her and so were we.

and this was the end of her second run.

Landon was really good this weekend. Thank you to everyone who emailed me with Landon advice. After talking to some friends with boys around the same age, It sounds like he is not as bad as I was feeling. I did start reading a book called the strong willed child (thanks dad for the recommendation) ...although I would like to point out that my parents never had to read it:)....Sounds like landon gets his fiestyness from his daddy!

Josie's race team took 1st place out of all the other teams. That means that for the whole race season SARS had the best racers. Josie is a lucky girl to get to ski with some of the best coaches and skiers in her region...she sure has improved this season with her racing skills. All the kids on her team were able to stand with the team trophy and touch it. Josie is somewhere in this pile of kids!

This weekend Is the last weekend of ski racing. They will do a final home series race on Saturday and then they are done for the season! It has gone by so fast. I am ready for a break from skiing but kind of sad to see it go. I think some of the best advice I got this season was from my friend Andrea...Originally I wasn't going to take josie to the away races because she wasn't placing in the top 10....Andrea said...'did your parents not take you to horse shows because you weren't placing?'...no, they took you no matter how good you were right?'....She was right. I think it was such a great experience for all of us. A lot of work, Yes, but so worth it to see the smile on Josie's face and to hear her say how much fun the races are, even if she doesn't place in the top 10. we are so proud of her this season. I asked landon if he wanted to be a ski racer next year and he said 'no thank you'...but then luke later asked him and he said 'Yes!'....That kid!! we shall see:)