Abigail, 9th grade, and Deborah, 7th grade, just finished their first volleyball season. A few years ago most of the district had six man mixed (boys & girls) volleyball teams. With so many people from the Bush heading to Anchorage, the villages are getting smaller and now most of the teams in the district are three man mixed teams. It works out great for us as homeschoolers. Since the three man teams are not state sanctioned we can play with the highschool team. It worked out well for the school too since they needed a girl :) Deborah was the Jr High team. Since they have to fly to all their away games, the district wouldn't pay for the Jr. Highers to travel but they got to play at the home games.
Their first game was at Port Alsworth. It is the closest village to Nondalton up the lake and we lived there for six months before we moved to Nondalton. Since we've still got so many good friends who live there, Paul flew up with the older kids for the games. They got to stay with the Fowlers and their eight kids. Great fun! Since Deborah was there anyway they played a Jr. High game.
Here's the team at Port Alsworth: left to right - Nicole Rogenes - coach, Marvin Balluta, Richard Weedman, Deborah Brendemuhl, Beretta Trefon, and Abigail Brendemuhl.
Deborah #34
Abigail #3
Abigail bumping
Deborah digging the ball opposite our friend Rachel Walsh from Port Alsworth. (The one with the black eye on the Family Conference post.)
Deborah with a nice set.
Abigail and Deborah playing in the backcourt together at Port Alsworth.
We had one home match this year. Kokonok and Levelock came and played Friday night and Saturday morning. The whole district got together at Newhalen and had a volleyball clinic/leadership conference. Their only other match was the district tournament at Chignik Lake halfway down the Aleutian Chain. Paul managed to be the pilot or extra chaperone and go with Abigail to all the games.
Deborah bumping with Abigail looking on. That's Richard the mighty moose hunter with the pony tail on the top of his head.
Abigail bumping.
Two days later was Paul's birthday. We were in the midst of a community three man volleyball tournament. 
Abigail, Deborah and I along with Regina, made up another team. We both won one game and lost one game, so of course the tournament bracket pit us against each other. One of us would be eliminated! The girls had a simple strategy, keep the ball away from Paul. My handsome husband is a good volleyball player, and while the boys will be great one day, they just don't have as much experience as the rest of us. Our strategy worked well and we beat the guys. But they were great sports about it. That is one reason I love sports, under proper supervision you can really develop your character for the good while playing sports. Nothing shows your good and bad character traits faster than a good competitive game. We have taught our children how to play and have fun and be good sports and it was a joy watching them play in the tournament.
Last year Paul used a blow torch to light his candles (you can see that post here). This year instead of putting all ? candles on his cake, I used the candles to write his age. Can you make it out below?
Sarah is so cute doing her stretching exercises. You can see her below next to me as she tries to imitate everything we do.
For our older kids, one of the funnest things about playing volleyball with the school was getting to fly to the two tournaments they had for the district teams. They enjoyed spending time with their friends from other villages. So, Paul took Abigail, Deborah and Quentin (they play 3 man volleyball here) to Port Alsworth for a scrimmage game. Then Paul flew them to Kokanok to watch the district tournament. The lake froze over thick enough for Paul to land on the lake to load the kids up for the flight.
