West Edmonton Mall Tournament

Over the family day long weekend, Jake's Atom Tier 1 team played at West Ed in a tournament. It is very neat to play there, although it is a little bit dreadful at the same time. First, if you have ever been to West Ed on a long weekend, you would understand that there is no parking available at all. So if your game happens to be during mall business hours, you can pretty much count on a parking nightmare.
I did finally follow a lady carrying bags out of the mall, in hopes that she had drove a car and was leaving her parking spot... and then rejoiced as she did indeed walk to a car. However, I then had to wait with my signal light on until she packed all of those bags into her car, had a snack, did her lipstick, talked to her girlfriend about what she bought, phoned her husband and or children and possibly had a nap. I then took her spot after she left only to find myself in the mall where there are hordes of people, while dragging 3 kids and a hockey bag. Slightly challenging to say the least.
However, beyond that, it is kinda neat. The crowd watches, and they cheer for goals, and oh & ah over hits, or missed opportunities...
The photographer they had there was the real hi lite for me. He got some outstanding pictures. Here is a sequence he took of Jake after he scored that was just awesome!

At the time, I said I would never want to go back to that tournament. But now that it's over, I'm actually glad we went. It was something different, and the rink wasn't freezing cold at all. Next time, I might have mom keep my other 2 kids though :)

Love,

Jodi