Then Malia and Nalani partied hard with all the folks in Times Square in the background...
At midnight we raised our glasses in a toast to the new year using the finest vintage of sparkling apple cider...
Earlier that evening, the kids also celebrated the new year by baking me a cake.
But this it wasn't just any cake, it was a cake "signed" by each of the kids to honor the House Champion of the Bicoy Football League 2009 fantasy football season...
And, yes, I am that champion.
Unfortunately, no one in our house won the actual championship of the Bicoy Football League, but we ran a house playoff series for just the "owners" in our house. Namely, the Door County Jumbos (my team), Mommy Rocks (Cari's team), Girlz Rule (Nalani & Malia's team), and the Bicoy Boys (Bretty & Kekoa's team).
And while there is no trophy for the House Champion, all are required to kneel and bow down before him...
It's good to be the champion.
Speaking of games, Bret Jr. continues to play basketball.
One of the interesting things about 5th grade basketball, you pretty much have to mug a person before they'll call a foul. Last week Bret was mugged in a game for the very first time.
And thus we witnessed our middle son's first attempt at a free throw. Here is the entire series of pictures from the moment the ball leaves his hands...
...as it arches through the air...
...and disappears from the frame of the picture and Bret drops his arms to his side...
...and then for some reason Bret proceeds to swing his arms behind him while still waiting for the ball...
...and finally, down comes the ball, right at the basket, to complete a perfect swoosh...
Cari and I absolutely exploded in sound with excitement!
This next picture is from another game and I'm not sure what's more striking.
First, there's Bret as the only member of his team fighting with three other players for the ball...
Or second, look in the background of the picture above. Ya gotta love how the referee positioned himself to watch the action.
Last week also marked what had to be an absolute first in the history of Sturgeon Bay Clippers basketball. For a few minutes during the game, the Clippers had three Filipinos in the lineup at the same time...
Okay, Bret Jr. on the right is only 1/4th Filipino. But his friend in the middle was adopted from the Philippines (and happens to be the best player on the team), and the kid on the left looks Filipino - so close enough.
Hey, this is Wisconsin, we need to claim all the Filipinos we can get.
But the most exciting part of the month (according to our kids) was the return of our oldest daughter Alyssa.
Alyssa graduated from high school last summer but decided not to go to college this year. She had a job in Green Bay but we moved to Door County in July. Thus Alyssa moved in with Cari's parents so she could continue to with her job in Green Bay. Unfortunately, that wasn't working for her, so last week Alyssa moved home with us in Door County...
Alyssa's brothers and sisters were really excited to have her home. Her room is upstairs so Kekoa's way of welcoming her home was to carry all her luggage up the stairs...
David was so excited to see her that he even took his hat off and showed her his mop head of hair...
But to Cari and I, there was one aspect of Alyssa's return that most excited us.
We were just giddy that she walked in the door wearing pink!
Pretty in pink!
And she even likes shopping in thrift stores.
Now if I can just convince Cari not to leave me.
(If the last few lines made no sense, you are obviously woefully uninformed about cheesy 1980s Molly Ringwald movies).
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