We spent most of this weekend at a hockey tournament for my oldest son (I also shot an amazing session in the forest with snowfall which I’ll share soon!). This is his first year of playing competitive hockey (he’s 8) and therefore our first year of being a ‘hockey family’. I must admit, I tried to avoid having him in hockey. We did the outdoor league (WAY too cold), we did House League (this was good but according to Oliver he’d never make it to the NHL in this league) and finally we relented and signed up for competitive hockey. I resisted for so long mainly because of the time you have to commit to the sport. I work basically every weekend and I didn’t want to miss games or leave it up to my husband to take all three kids every time. But now that he’s in it I love it. There’s nothing better than watching your child set goals for himself, work hard and achieve them. He is so passionate about hockey and I’m glad I didn’t let my misgiving’s stop him from playing.
Now what I didn’t take into consideration was taking my other two kids to hockey. We’re lucky that my husband always makes it home in time for practice during the week so we don’t need to drag them along for those but for games they’re with us. Have you ever taken a two year old to a hockey game? It is not fun. Vivi has zero interest in watching which is understandable. We have to load up with an obscene amount of snacks and more often than not we bring the Ipad. Does this always work? No. Sometimes, like this past weekend, all she wanted to do was play in the dressing room…Please if any hockey parents have tips on how to keep the toddlers busy when going to 4-8 hockey games a month please share! My five year old is equally bored but at least he’s old enough to roam around a bit on his own. He likes to climb the stairs, climb the poles, run, run and run. And if there’s any free food or drinks within the arena, he will find it! (Hence the giant pink ring around his mouth in the below photo, he found the gatorade).
But despite all the hurdles hockey might present it is so unbelievably fun to watch. If you’d like to see how fun, check out the video I posted on Instagram of me cheering Oliver on. Super embarrassing, I had no idea I was that loud!
I love this shot I got of Oliver in the middle of the game. He is so determined when he plays. My sister-in-law said to me the other day that she loves that Oliver is so convinced he’s going to play in the NHL. To him there is not a single reason he could think of as to why he won’t make it. He is the most confident kid I’ve ever come across. She said she thinks this is going to take him far in life and I’d have to agree.
Now for some sweet, sweet baby photos to warm you up on this chilly day 🙂