Skyhoundz Worlds 2008

This year the whole family attended the Skyhoundz World Championships. That means 2 parents, 2 dogs, 2 kids (and so Mom would bring the kids - 2 grandparents too!) It was quite the adventure. There were ups and there were downs. Here is how the whole trip went.

Thursday morning we took off very early with, 2 dogs, 1 kid, 2 parents, and pretty full mini-van (the 2 grandparents (and their 1 dog) had the other kid :-) ). Ten and half hours later we made it to Chatanooga, TN.



We didn't have any trouble traveling down, but had to wait on two terrible car accidents. We were just very thankful that we were not part of the accidents.

About 45 minutes after we arrived at the Chattanooga Choo Choo where we were staying (pretty cool - check it out!), Grandma and Grandpa Egg arrived with Sydney who they had been vacationing with for 3 days already. Sydney seemed very happy to see Mom and Dad again! Which made us very happy too!



The hotel was really cool. We stayed in Hotel Building 3. I think they put everyone who had dogs in building 3 to try and keep all the noise to one area. We stayed on the second floor, but had to take the family to the top floor and see the view from the cat walk.



We even got Grandma, who isn't fond of heights, to stop up there for a nice picture:





On Friday was a qualifier for teams who were not already qualified for the World Finals. Danny, the dogs and Grandpa Egg went there to watch and to give Guinan a little warm up practice. While mom, the 2 kids, and Grandma Egg stayed at the hotel for the day. Guinan played in Distance, didn't do to well, and at the last second did team time trial with another disc-dogger. Guinan won team Time Trial with an amazing time of 17.8 seconds, which is running to the 20 yard line twice catching a disc each time and bringing it back.

Saturday was the big day, it was the freestyle world championships (this is what Danny and Guinan won in 2006). There were 28 teams competing for 1 person to win the title of "WORLD CHAMPION". Danny and Guinan did their first round. Here it is. How do you think they did?



Well it was okay -- but not the best. After that round they were running in the middle of the pack. Then there was a round of distance which is normally where Guinan and Danny SHINE. But not this year. Guinan missed catching 3 discs, which shot them to 3rd from last place. The one good thing this did was mean that their second freestyle round was NO stress. Since they weren't worried about winning they of course went out and rocked during their second round. It was awesome and a lot of fun to watch. The world champion ended up being Tony Hoard & his aussie Rory. They are a great team from Indiana that Danny looks up to a lot.

Of course the whole family was there and the kids had fun playing and sleeping.




How do you like our camp setup at the fields?

Sunday was another day of the World Championships. The titles we were trying to attain were Distance Champion and Pairs Freestyle Champions. Christina Curtis and Danny did pairs with Guinan for the 3rd year. They haven't been able to make it to the top of the podium. 2 years ago Guinan got hurt, when she was tied for first place and had to withdraw from the competition. Last year Guinan was going crazy during their 1st round putting them in 6th place after the first round and somehow they pulled out an amazing 2nd round and made 3rd place on the podium. They were out to show what team: "Triple Treat" really could do. Everyone seemed to agree that their first routine was AMAZING:



There 2nd round wasn't quite as good, but still went really well. At the end of the day "Triple Treat" got 2nd place! Moving up!



What is very cool is that Danny's partner Christina also got 3rd place in Pairs with her son Chandler.



The distance competition didn't go quite as well - not Team Eggstreme's thing this year, but they were happy with just doing great in Pairs.

Then it was time to head home, with 2 dogs, 2 kids, and 2 parents with a VERY VERY VERY full van.



We traveled 3 hours still Sunday night, and then travelled the rest on Monday getting home about Noon. It was a long trip, but a lot of fun. And reminded us all to remember:

Sydney takes a trip

Sydney is taking her first out of state trip without mom and dad. Grandma and Grandpa Egg are taking Sydney to North Carolina (in the Smokey Mountains) with them for 4 days, and then on Thursday evening they are meeting the rest of us (Mommy, Daddy, Riker and the dogs) in Chatanooga, TN for the Disc Dog world finals.

Here are the events that transpired this morning and preperation for her leave:

Of course we had to get her up a bit early, which meant she was still a little tired.



She wanted mom pretty bad and loved her wonderful kiss she got from her.



We then needed to see what Sydney was thinking of her trip. So we asked her a few important questions about going to North Carolina. See what her response was:



We got her all packed up in the car ready to go. At this point she had changed her mind and was definitely ready to get truckin'!



Then of course we had to have the whole group goodbye picture as they were pulling out of the driveway.



It will be weird around here for the few days without her -- especially for Mom. We are sure Riker will like the extra attention -- except what he will be missing from his big sis Syd (he loves her bunches).

Have fun Syd -- see you soon!

Riker at Play

Riker has started to find that he has hands and can play, play, play! With toys and with his sister. We have a little Piano that Sydney has played with for a long time. I got it out for Riker to play with. This video doesn't do the best job of showing how much he was playing it(he was starting to get hungry), but does do a good job of showing Sydney's reaction to him playing with it. She is still sweet with him - but not so sure on this "sharing" thing...




We then got out the Exersaucer that Sydney used to have and put Riker in it for the first time.


He seemed pretty happy in there and played really well. And has tons since then too.




But soon Sydney became interested in his playing and came over to help him with how to use the different toys.




Sydney even went around trying to explain what each toy was.




Riker is such a joy, even Syd agrees, -- and now he is starting to sleep better too-- playing is hard work you know!

Indiana Rain 2008

The rain we have had this weekend will probably get the title of "Indiana Rain 2008" It was a record rain fall yesterday for the highest amount of rain in one day in Indiana EVER. But the fun did not stop there. 2 days after Ike made land fall the storm has found its way to Indiana, so it has been raining all day today as well.




Of course Dad had to spend sometime out in the rain to see that there was an inch of water everywhere in the grass.



And of course he had to show off how crazy he can be at times. Which is why we love him...right? :-)

Syd's a...

She's an OLSON TWIN
We tried a new look on Sydney and decided that it made her look like a 3rd Olson twin. What do you think? Makes us say "Got it dude!'





Real Olson Sister

Here is also a little video of her in the pigtails. Doesn't she look cute?

Yes, she is ALWAYS moving lately (unless she is sitting with Dad eating popcorn!).

She's an ATHLETE
Sydney has also created a new game that Mom has affectionally dubbed "Sydney Ball". She always puts on a hat that she got from Grandpa Fritz (usually backwards), her Dad's old slippers and then grabs a yellow plastic stirring spoon and a little ball and kicks it around and hits it with the spoon. Kind of a soccer/golf combo. She occasionally starts cheering "Yeahhhh!" like she made a goal of some kind -- we still haven't figured out the rules. Here she is in her "uniform"..







She's a TALKER
Sydney has started to enjoy the art of talking. She is saying tons of new words every day-- everything from "Watch!" (watch TV) to cracker, hat, Riker, Mommy, Daddy, odo(Frodo), please, up and many more. And various combos of them all. She also says "No Way!"--we are still trying to figure out where she got that from. It is like she suddenly got interested in communicating! Here is a short video that shows some of the words and the work it takes to understand "Sydney Speak". How many words do YOU hear?