Russian chocolate

Interesting reactions to Russian candy at a family party.
Haha!
...and no, these reactions were enough to keep me from trying some!
I'll stick to Hershey's.

Mele Kalikimaka

We enjoyed another terrific Christmas Day.
Nice gifts, great family time, and wonderful food.

@ the Hawaiian Air Classic. Hawaii taking it on the chin so far. 44-21 at the half, UNLV.

Noreaster ripping thru this weekend

Okay, so maybe it's sorta , kinda alright that the Wildcats aren't in the D3 Championship game tomorrow....

In all, from the mountains of North Carolina to eastern Massachusetts, this winter storm as the potential to impact as many as 50 million people before everything is said and done.

A large swath of historic and dangerous December snows of 10 to 15 inches will bury many of the major cities in the Mid-Atlantic to Northeast.

The heaviest snows are forecast for northern Virginia including Washington, DC to Baltimore and Philadelphia where 1 foot is likely and even 1 to 2 feet around Washington, DC.

Wildcats' Season Comes to an End

The Linfield Wildcats couldn't hold off a late surge by Wisconsin-Whitewater and were denied entry into the National Championship game next Saturday in the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl.

It was a terrific run by the team. They started the season unranked in the Top 25 and not even a pick to win the Northwest Conference.

They ended up winning the Conference and beating 6 ranked teams this season and came out of the toughest bracket in the play-offs to get to today's game undefeated.

After getting down 10-0, they stormed back with 17 unanswered points and the lead heading into the final quarter. But a great team makes great plays when they need to and that's what Whitewater did. They scored the last 17 points and ended up winning, 27-17.

It was a memorable season for Linfield and we'll look forward to next season along with Brent.

Tsaiko Xmas Party IV

The 4th Annual Tsaiko Christmas Party was at Murphy's Bar & Grill last night. The service is good there, if not a little "hard" to get smile from.



Fuud is always important: Steamed clams



Roast Pork Loin



Our customary Jan-Ken-Po tourney with the proceeds going to the Advertiser Good Neighbor Fund.

A terrific win

Wildcats celebrate making the game-clinching first down. Two more kneel downs and the game was over.

Bound for the semi-finals!

Last home win and it's off to the semis!

Final score, Linfield 31, St. Thomas 20.

Wow! On 4th and 11. 'Cats call a TO. They rush the punt team on as the referee signals ball in play. When they set up, the offense runs on with :19 on play clock. Boehme throws to Patterson for a 1st down! 2 kneel downs and the Wildcats are semi-final bound!

1st down at 33. 3:00 left. Tommies call TO

UST fumbles! Cats recover ball on UST 40. 3:30 left

Yikes! Linfield receiver drops a 1st down catch. The Linfield receivers are looking right into the sun when they try to catch the ball. Punt. UST takes over on their 14. 4:31 left

Linfield ball on their 44. 2 first downs should wrap it up

Incomplete screen pass. UST punting!

Holding on UST on 2nd down is declined on incl pass. Big 3d down

Big TFL on 1st down

UST takes over after punt in EZ. 7:08 left in game

Cats held to 3 & out but recover fumble on punt @ UST 36. Big sack on 2nd down ball on 38. Drive stalls.

'Cats roar back with a TD. Kunioka's PAT makes it 31-20, 12:53 left in the game

Linfield trying to answer back. Nicw KOR to midfield. Offense moves to UST 20 with a first down as ;rd qtr ends

UST intercepts ball in EZ and marches for a score. They miss the XP. Could be huge? We'll see. 24-20, 'Cats

Looks like UST is targeting DLine knees

Tommies look like they will stay with ground game

2nd half starts with a trade of punts

Halftime. 24-14, Linfield. It's getting colder!

Play action pass to TE. TD, Tommies. 24-14.

UST tries a reverse but 'Cats D is ready; big loss. UST comes back though and converts a 3rd and 19. 1st & goal at 4. 0:27 left in half

Ka'ohu Cummings goes down holding his knee...but gets up to walk off field. Whew can't lose another DL

'Cats block a punt. Drive in for a TD! 24-7, 3:53, 2nd qtr

Drive stalls. Maika Kunioka from Wahiawa makes a 41 yd FG. 17-7, 8:00 left in half

Looks like Ian Estrada's career is over. The DT had 2 knee surgeries and was playing his 5th year

Nice run by Lamson. Good rhythm by 'Cats O.

St. Thomas powers in a TD 14-7

End of 1st Q. Tommies driving. Linfield, 14-0. Handling STU big o-line well by getting leverage advantage

Defense doing real good. St. Thomas out of rhythm

Long pass sets up 'Cats @ 1 yd line. TD Linfield! 14-0. 2:19 -, 1st quarter

Wildcats score first! 7-0.

Shari's!

Linfield moves on in the playoffs

Playoff win

We made a quick trip back to McMinnville to watch Brent play in the team's first round playoff game.
It was the first time back to the Division III playoffs for Linfield since 2005. The school won the National Championship in 2004 for it's third national championship. So while playoff football is nothing new to Linfield, it was an occasion we wanted to share with Brent.

They started off shaky with a fumble on the first play from scrimmage deep in their own territory but the defense set a tone for the entire game by holding the visiting Cal Lutheran Kingsmen to only a field goal. On the next possession, the Wildcats scored and scored again and again until they were up 31-3 in the second quarter.

After a brief lapse that allowed CLU to close to 31-17 at the half, the defense shut things back down for the rest of the game and the offense scored again to secure a comfortable 38-17 win.

They play again on Saturday in McMinnville but we'll be following that one from home.

Playoffs

We're back in McMinnville for the second time in a month's span.
This wasn't planned as far ahead as our last trip. Brent's Linfield team made it to the Division 3 football playoffs so we decided to make the return trip.
It's Game Day now! We got into town yesterday and had dinner with Brent. He was excited about the game.
It's going to be pretty wet and cold as another storm system is supposed to pass through around game time. Thankfully, we all have covered seats so we should be dry but it's still gonna be pretty chilly...about the mid-40's!

Go Wildcats!

Pearl Harbor Tour

Na Koa Football Club invited its members to take a private tour of Pearl Harbor.
It's been years since Juliet and I were able to do this.
We went on Friday, October 30.

Colors of the Season

Juliet really loved the colors we saw on our trip. We got to the mainland just after the leaves started turning color.

On our first Saturday in Oregon we watched Brent's football game with a terrific fall background. Crisp, cool air and a little rain...what a setting for football!

Playing tourist in Portland

We spent our first day in Portland trying to get an overview of the city. We went to the south end of the waterfront on the streetcar to get on the Aerial Tram. Once on the top you get a terrific view of the Willamette River and the bridges that cross it. Here you can see the Ross Island Bridge in the foreground and the I-5 on the Marquam Bridge heading into the City Center.

We headed back to the City Center and stopped off to see Ryan's friend, Craig at Portland State University.

Later in the day we walked from our hotel a few blocks to Pioneer Square. Juliet met a couple near the square. They were all rather ambivalent about the meeting.

Fuud in the PNW

We've been enjoying the food on this trip so far.

Started the day on Saturday with the complimentary breakfast at the Best Western in McMinnville. Waffles!

We had Lunch at Mo's in Lincoln City on Sunday. They are known for their clam chowder. It was pretty good! So was the shrimp salad sandwich.

Obviously, the bread is good, too!

We had lunch today at a place on campus at Portland State University. This spicy sausage hoagie was great!

Walk throughs

We're in McMinnville!

It's Homecoming Week at Linfield so there's a lot of people in town for the game. We ran into some other parents from Hawaii here for the game.

I went to the field to watch practice yesterday afternoon. It was very impressive to watch the team go thru a review of their game plan. But I noticed other groups doing similar things in preparation for the game today.

The cheer squad was out working on their routines.



As a parent of a player, it was interesting to note that even the training staff was reviewing their procedures for dealing with player injuries. This was a review of staff coordination in dealing with a severe injury including removing pads and helmet from an immobilized patient. You hope this "play" never gets called.


The coach does a great job of maintaining the team's edge as they get to create their own plays near the end of practice. This was a successful game winning field goal attempt by who appeared to be one of the coaches' young sons. The players came up with some pretty funny plays!

Well, hopefully the Wildcats will end the day with their unbeaten record intact.

Go 'Cats!

Updated season results

We found out last week the Kamehameha was beaten AGAIN by Punahou, 3-0. So the Saints beat the Puns twice; the Puns beat the Warriors twice and the Warriors beat the Saints twice.

This leaves all three teams with a final record of 2-2 and I am guessing that they are Tri-champions???

What a season!

Go Saints!

Ryan finished his second year of coaching the St. Louis JV team on Friday night.


The result that night wasn't what we were all hoping for but it was a great season in its totality. He got to stretch himself in different ways and learned some things along the way.

Being the guy in charge is a solitary experience.

He had a great group of guys helping him with the team. I think they had a great time.

In the end, they can only steer the young men in the right direction and hope for the best in their futures.

Job well done!

A tough game needs tough plays

Running Back Alex Green showed a lot of toughness and determination scoring a TD late in the game to move the Warriors ahead for the last time.

He gets the handoff and sees a defender in the hole.



He cuts to his right to try to avoid the tackle...into another defender.

Both Rebels meet him short of the goal line.


Green takes the hits but keeps driving for the end zone.


....and SCORES!!!

What is pass interference?

Rodney Bradley draws a pass interference call from the UNLV Cornerback to set up a touchdown run on the next play.

Missed opportunities

In another instance, what seemed good at the time could really have been a missed opportunity.


Greg Alexander completes a pass to Greg Salas for a nice gain. But if he looks in another direction, maybe it's a TD to another receiver downfield.

Game of inches

Got back last night from Las Vegas.

A one point loss by the Warriors was pretty tough. Even more when you look at how close it is between succeeding and not can be.



Lametrius Davis has a ball sail inches over his reach and it lands in a Rebel receiver's hands for a touchdown.