the Devine family blog

Happy Birthday Jimmy!

We love you!

Turkey Hunting 2021

James and the boys have been doing some Northern Minnesota Turkey hunting and is happy to report a harvest! 

A Day Trip To The Shore

Today the kids and I adventured to the North Shore and spent time at Tettegouche, Split Rock, and Gooseberry Falls State Park. We threw rocks, had a picnic, and walked some of the trails in each park. It was a great day for this small adventure!

Easter 2021

This Easter we celebrated with a small outdoor gathering.

It was a beautiful day!
🐣🐣🐣

Distance Learning

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All four kids are home distance learning as our schools are on a "reset" due to a high rate of COVID cases in our community and student body. The kids all have school issued chromebooks, which is helping. Distance learning is not all smiles, but we're taking it day by day an trying to make the most of the extra time for projects and outdoor play. We're all ready to get back to "normal", but until then, this is what our world looks like.

 

State Nordic Is Meet 2021

Yesterday Zoe participated in the Minnesota State Nordic Ski Team competition at Giant's Ridge.

Approaching the competition, conditions were questionable, but the night before we got 8+ inches of new-fallen snow, so we went from Spring, back to winter. There were a lot of modifications this year, some due to weather and some due to the pandemic, making it different.

Here were some of the notable changes:

• It was not a pursuit race (which is fun to watch and certainly adds a different element to the energy and competitiveness of the race). The format this year was two 4 K (opposed to 5K races)
• The kids went out spaced in 30 second intervals
• There was only one spectator allowed per athlete and it was "closed" to the general public. (James was in the stadium area watching). 
• The kids had limited access to indoor warming-areas and bathrooms all season. 
• Our team did not provide busses for transportation. Parents had to transport to every racing venue.
• Athletes could not congregate and socialize together as in years past.
• The boys and girls state tournaments were held on separate days.

Zoe at the start

Zoe at the finish
(Zoe and Phoebe were both individual qualifiers for the State Competition)

Zoe the boys and I watching from the alpine area. We were on snowboards and skis for the day. We were able to take advantage of our alpine ski passes and watch the girls pass by at an area by one of the lifts at the far end of the ski resort.

Zoe perservered this season! She worked hard, she stood out and we are proud of her!

Results here.

Section 7 Nordic ski meet

This crew, along with the boys team, raced today at the Section 7 Nordic Skiing Competition.

It was a modified pursuit race. Zoe came in third for the classic,

and first in the skate race

In the overall results, she placed third, and has qualified for the state meet!! (along with her teammate and best friend Phoebe)

Full results here

These two will be racing hard at the state meet next week!

Duluth East Invite/Junior High Celebration/Crazy Hair Day

Zoe participated in her last regular-season competition and Otto his last competition of the season this past Tuesday on a balmy 40 degree, hard-to-wax, bad snow day in Duluth. 

Results here:

It was a LONG day and Otto entertained himself with the rest of the junior high boys setting up a bowling alley.

Otto celebrated the end of the season with a Junior High Olympics event yesterday. The coaches organized all the different events. He made the "podium in the end."

Here's an action shot of Otto 

Zoe will be advancing to the section 7A competition this upcoming Wednesday.

Here are some pics of the Varsity and JV teams:

I also have some crazy pics of our youngest two.

Wyatt and Boden celebrated crazy hair day today at school. 

Wyatt also earned a special award in the Washington Elementary Reading Olympics as part of I love to Read Month in February:

...and there you have it, another week at the Devine's.

Grand Rapids Freestyle Invite

Another great meet for Zoe and Otto yesterday. Zoe won overall and Otto got 3rd in the junior high.

http://stevestiming.org./grhs_inv_2_16_21.pdf

Sweet 16!

Time flies when you are having fun!

And we're having fun with this girl, who celebrated her 16th birthday today!

We celebrated together with a requested meal, cake, and a home full of energy.

We are blessed with this girl and are enjoying watching her grow into a fun, caring, strong, and creative individual.

We love you, Zoe Francine!