Jeopardy!

So Michael was on Jeopardy!

This has been a lifelong dream of his. He has tried out on the online test every year that I've known him, and this year was the first time he was selected to go in for the next step. He went in for an in-person test, mock game and personality interview. We didn't hear back for a while, but he felt like it went well. A few weeks later while we were on vacation in San Diego, he got the call that they wanted him to come in for the show!

And it was huge that he got accepted. I'm trying to remember the numbers we heard - that something like 300,000 people take the online test. They pick 3,000 to come in to interview, and they select 300 to be on the show? I think? Anyway, it was a big deal to get on.

I wanted to go with him so badly. So badly. I wanted him to have someone cheering for him in the crowd, someone to chat with before and after the show. But I also couldn't leave the kids. My mother in-love was so incredibly sweet and offered to watch the kids so I could go to LA with Michael. <3 p="">

We flew down and stayed a night in the hotel. Michael had to be off early the next morning - way before I had to be there for filming. They spent a few hours practicing, learning how the buzzers worked, etc.

I had a leisurely morning then headed to the studio.

When I got inside, I saw Michael! All the contestants were sitting off on one side of the aisle and their guests were on the other side. We were given strict instructions not to speak to the contestants, so I just smiled and waved and gave like 25 thumbs ups.

The film 5 shows in one day and Michael was selected for the third one, which meant we got to watch 2 full episodes before he was picked. I couldn't believe how much more tense it felt being there in the audience compared to watching on TV!

When Michael got up there I snuck one photo before needing to put my phone away.

Michael did great. I was so proud of him. And let me say that he is the best-equipped person I know to be on Jeopardy. I've never met someone who knows so much about so much, with the exception maybe being my dad. But we knew going in that there were a few categories he just wasn't as strong in. Literature was one of them, and Michael joked to people that he'd be okay as long as he didn't get Opera.

Well, it was a good game. He and a woman were trading places for the lead for quite some time. But the woman got all 3 daily doubles, and she was fast on the buzzer. Michael said the hardest thing was just getting to buzz in. You need to be fast, but you can't be too fast. There are these lights that turn on to tell you when it's okay to buzz in. If you buzz in before that, they don't let you buzz in for a half second (or something like that). Even in the audience, I could hear the frantic clicking of the buzzer as all 3 contestants were trying to get in. 

And what was the category for Final Jeopardy? Opera.  

Michael may not have technically "won" if you go by actual "points" but he won the hearts of me and the crowd, I think. He did great and I'm proud.

Some members of the crowd asked for a photo with him!

The episode aired on January 3rd. Michael's work was into it and some of his colleagues had mentioned wanting to have a 'watch party.' So I brought the kids that evening and we watched it with them!

It was fun to watch it, to see him on TV, to have the kids watch, to have his coworkers cheer whenever he'd get a question right. But I have to say that my favorite part of the night was after a coworker mentioned checking Twitter for "spoilers" and I searched on Twitter and found some hilarious tweets! Both men and women had weighed in on how cute Michael is! 

So I'll leave you with some of my favorite tweets, including one by Elizabeth Hasselbeck, about whom Michael answered a question correctly!

Ski Season!

I doubt may people think of good skiing when they think of Seattle, but there are some decent mountains not too far away. And they have something that I consider to be the biggest draw: proximity. We signed June up for ski lessons at Alpental, which is only an hour drive away form home! (We tried to sign Bennett up too but his age group was full).

So for this winter season, each Sunday found us getting up and out of the house by 7:30 AM

June really turned a corner this year! She has skiied before in Tahoe when we lived in Sacramento, but she started off this season still on her leashes:

But after a day on the mountain (before lessons started) she was off on her own without the leashes. I had to ask the lessons people to move her up in the class because she was so ready to ride the chair lift (rather than the little magic carpet bunny slope). I was so nervous to watch her go off and ride the lift on her own, but she did great!

She did so great, and by the end of the season she was ready for the blue (intermediate) chair. I was so proud of her bravery!

 

This was Bennett's first time on skis ever. He started off with leashes too, but we couldn't believe how quickly he took to it. It must be the ol' younger sibling trying to hang with the older one, but he was ready to take the leashes off by his 4th day on the slopes. He was a fearless little bombardier, shooting down the mountain and loving to go fast. I could hear him singing songs to himself as he went down the hill.

We tried to get him to work on his turns by playing games and having him follow us. He's solid on turning right but couldn't turn left for the longest time. (Michael kept calling him Zoolander.) Even now at the end of the season he more drifts left instead of actually turning left.

There was one day toward the end of the season when Bennett was unusually tired, a little whiney, and it was the first time I wasn't sure if he was going to want to ski all day. Well he saw June with her class on a run and she shouted that she was going "on the bumps." This was a little area off to the side of the green (beginner) run that had these bumps/jumps that you can zip over. Bennett instantly wanted to go over the bumps too. I held him over the bumps for two runs but told him that if he wanted to keep doing them, he had to be able to do them on his own. Sure enough, he cruised on over  them for 4 runs in a row, loving the thrill of doing "jumps."

Lessons were fun. There was a 9:30-11:30 session in the morning. We'd pick up June and head to the lodge where we met up with other family friends who were in lessons too. Then we'd drop her back off at the afternoon lesson from 1-3 PM. We usually would stay up for a few more runs after lessons were over to see what June had picked up that day.

One day Bennett was so tired at lunch time that he fell asleep on my lap when we were sitting by the outdoor fireplace! <3 p="">

It was a lot of work! So much to prepare, a lot of work to get everyone ready and to hike back up to the green chair from the lodge after lunch. But I can't tell you how fun it was to be up there as a family, being outside, watching our kids ski, being with friends whose kids are close in age to ours.

I'm not sure if we'll get any more ski-worthy weekends this season, but if not, I really look forward to next season!