The End of an Era--of Basketball, that is...

Barron Golden Bears Regional Champs

2007-2008

Wow!!! We had an exciting night of basketball tonight as the Barron Golden Bear Boys traveled to River Falls to play the Spooner Rails. Spooner has beaten us twice in our regular conference play this year, so we knew we had a tough contest ahead of us tonight.

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The Barron Boys played AWESOME, and held the lead much of the game! At the end of regular play, we ended up tied at 31 each--on to overtime! We went into our overtime play with 3 of our starters having 4 fouls each, and, two of them fouled out during the last minute and a half of the overtime. We were up by three points with only 10 seconds to go, and Spooner went down for a 3-pointer and missed! They got their own rebound, and took a 2-point shot. Unfortunately, our player, the third starter with 4 fouls, fouled the shooter! So, we lost our player to fouls, and Spooner nailed the free throw with only about 1 second to go to put us into DOUBLE OVERTIME!

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Our team did well in the double overtime, but we were really missing our three starters that had fouled out. We were only down by 2, but ended up losing 51 to 47 after some last second fouls on our part and some made free throws by Spooner.

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Our Varsity finished really well this year, and we will sure miss the watching the seniors next year. Our friends, Andrew Sloan, Shay Herrman, Justin Balts, and Brad Halberg are a few of the graduating boys that will be missed on the team.

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So, our bleacher time for basketball is coming to an end. Andrew has his State Tournaments in LaCrosse on March 29th and 30th, and then basketball season will be officially over for the Klimek Family for this year.

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P.S. to the blog post::: I added a news clip to the blog posting from Thursday, February 14 entitled "Winter Survival Camp". You can scroll down to see it, or click on:

http://klimekchronicles.blogspot.com/2008/02/winter-survival-camp.html

(click on the little red video camera icon to watch the video)

I don't think Andrew is actually on the video, but it is his class up at Camp Phillips--it may have been the day he had to stay home sick...

McBarron

It's a BIG DAY here in Barron, WI, as our McDonalds opened here in town at 5:00 am today! Some people are more thrilled about this than others. Take, for example, the Klimek Kids. All three of them were out of bed at 4:30 am today, and the boys were out the door by 4:35 am this morning. Austin's friend, Kyle, spent the night at our house so he could be at the blessed event, as well!Andrew, Austin, and Kyle were the VERY FIRST PEOPLE in line at the new McDonalds! Jamie brought Abby over about 10 minutes later to wait in line in anticipation of the doors opening at 5:00.

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It was a cold morning waiting outside of the McDonalds doors!
Neil, Austin's head, Andrew, Kyle...

A Freezing Squirrel!!!

Andrew was deemed the "First Customer" and had his picture taken by the McDonald's staff--he is now a local celebrity!

Enjoying the high-calorie, cholesterol-filled breakfasts!

It is too early in the morning for a girl to get a picture taken!!!

Why, you ask, did these crazy kids get up so early just to go to a McDonalds when they have probably eaten at McDonalds over 100 times in their lives? What a silly question! The first 200 customers got FREE COFFEE MUGS!

This made it all worth while!

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****UPDATE: I guess I failed to mention earlier--I got up and woke everyone up, but I DID NOT go to McDonalds and take pictures! Jamie was kind enough to do that for me while I sat home and sipped coffee with the dogs!!! Too cold for me to go wait outside for a coffee mug that isn't even stainless steel!!! :-)****

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****UPDATE #2: Andrew had the principal of his school announce over the PA system today that he was the VERY FIRST CUSTOMER of the new McDonalds. By the time of the game tonight, I believe the whole town of Barron knew of Andrew's new "celebrity status"--what a dork! :-)****

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Our Barron Golden Girls lost their second regional game last night in Altoona, so our girl's basketball season is now done for the year. Our boy's have their first Sectional game tonight in River Falls against Spooner--only 2 games away from State!!! However, Spooner is in our conference, and has beaten us twice this year, so we will be cheering extra loud tonight for a Barron Golden Boys win. Maybe all of those fries the town of Barron will eat today will insure a victory?!?

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Have a good weekend!

House Update

Andrew was kind enough to take a picture for me of the house on Wednesday afternoon. We now have a roof on the porch!!! No one worked yesterday (Thursday)--the contractors had some meeting they had to go to. Hopefully, there will be someone here today!!!

Look Who's A Teenager!!! Happy Birthday, Morgan!

Happy 13th Birthday, Morgan Paige Fylling!!!

To a niece who is pretty on the inside, as well as the outside!!!!

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Summer 2007Looking sweet at 24 months...
Cutest package under the Christmas Tree!!
It has been so fun to watch "The Babies" grow up together!
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Here they are in October of 1995
Morgan, Emily, and Andrew

Christmas, 1997
Age 2
Morgan, Andrew, and Emily
Summer at Grandma's pool!
Morgan, Andrew, and Emily

the cousins~

Morgan and Emily

three girl cousins!

Abby, Emily, and Morgan

(the year of the Flurbb!)

Morgan, Abby, and Emily

lookin' beautiful for Jeremy and Kara's wedding day

Auntie Morgan and Baby Allie

Happy Birthday to the first one of "The Babies" to become a teenager! Don't worry, Andrew and Emily are right behind you! We hope you are having a GREAT day! Happy 13th from the Klimies! We love you!!!

Happy Birthday, Kara!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday, Kara (Pedie) Fylling!!! We are so lucky to have you as a part of our family! We hope your birthday is great, and that you get a chance to take a spin on Allie's new "sled" to celebrate your BIG DAY!!!!

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I have included some pics from your and Jeremy's wedding to commemorate your birthday...
Happy (insert age here!!!) Birthday!

(Once you get to a certain age, it isn't polite to broadcast it on the internet for all to see!)
:-)

Happy 25th Birthday, Jeremy!!!

Happy 25th Birthday to my first little nephew, Jeremy Allen, on Saturday, February 16th!!! What a cute little baby you were--you took after me, you know!

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Some pics to celebrate your big day!

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Enjoying a popcicle...

Dancing with Grover!

Cute little mouse--Aunt Connie made this costume.

Gettin' ready to crash the boards...A tasty doggie treat--I am sorry, I can't remember the name of this puppy--it isn't Josh, he was the black one... Kindergarten Graduation!

Highschool Graduation!

Daddy and Allie!

Happy Birthday, Nephew! We hope you had a great day!

Love, Auntie Nee Bones

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Sorry for the delayed post--we were gone all day yesterday, but I was thinking of you!

:-)

Winter Survival Camp

http://www.wqow.com/News/index.php?ID=19493

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After the C-Team Basketball game tonight and the Parent's Night introductions, Jamie, Abby, and I headed north to Camp Phillips to visit Andrew at Winter Survival Camp. We found poor little Andrew sitting on a bench around the campfire looking quite pitiful and forelorn. I immediately took him to the lodge to take some of his cold medicine and to make sure his clothes were warm and dry (they were!).

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The quinzee the boys constructed has turned out to be rather smallish, so Andrew and his friend, Zach, have decided to sleep in the lodge on bunk beds for the night. I can't say that I am disappointed in this decision, as I have been nervous about him sleeping outside all day long! My poor little baby is sick and should be home in his nice, warm bed!!!

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I didn't get much for pictures at Camp--my camera froze up, I think, as it didn't want to take pictures outside! Here are a few shots I did get before the camera malfunctioned!

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Poor little orphan, Andrew, sitting by the fire.

Note the red-rimmed sick eyes!

Andrew sitting by the campfire trying to stay warm
Abby was very curious to see a quinzee, so she was able to look inside and see how very small one is inside. Here she is posing on the outside just in front of the doorway to the quinzee.
And a final look at a finished quinzee--looks so warm and inviting!
We hope Andrew makes it through the night, and that we don't get a midnight (or later) call to come and pick him up! The poor little buddy just didn't seem to be enjoying himself in the freezing 1 degree weather! (It is getting colder as I type, moving toward the goal of -10 to -15 below zero with windchills down to -20 to -30 below!)
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Stay warm, little Andrew!

Thursday Night on the Hardwood

Austin and the Barron Bears took on the Hayward Hurricanes tonight in their C-Team match up. The Bears were leading the whole game, but fell apart in the fourth quarter. I believe they only scored 4 points in the entire last quarter of the game! As a result, we lost our game again tonight. :-( It was a disappointing loss, as Hayward was definately a team we could have beaten.

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I have included some pictures of our evening of hoops...

Here is Austin bringing the ball down the floor against a Hayward defender.Austin playing tough defense on the press...

Me, Austin, and Jamie lined up for Parent's Night recognition--thanks, Abz, for taking pictures for us!!! :-)

The Squirrel Abz shooting around after the game--I just love her shot formation and the way she jumps with her whole body!

Abby and her friend from school, Cora

Only one more game left for Austin this season. Tomorrow night, the Barron Boys host the Cumberland Beavers in the last regular conference game of the season.

Construction Update!

Today our porch "grew" some posts!!! Although they are only half done, I am very excited to see some progress, because when the porch is done, the siding can begin. All of our storm windows have been replaced and the windows and doors have all been wrapped, except for those windows in the front in the area of the porch. We are waiting to get the porch finished and the roof on the porch before we complete those last few windows.

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Here is a photo of the house from across the street...A close-up of the porch progress. The steps will come down where there isn't any Tyvek on the front of the porch. That is where our existing sidewalk is now.
Here are my posts!! The bottom will be sided to match the house (tan-colored), and the top pole will be covered with plywood in a type of graduated column--larger at the bottom and narrower at the top. That will be wrapped in a white vinyl like the window frames are wrapped in. Then, there will be a white railing between the posts to finish it off.

We are not expecting to see the contractors in the next few days, as we are predicted to get about 5 inches of snow tonight and tomorrow with blowing snow and cold temperatures, so this will be all of the progress we will show for the week.

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Keep poor little Andrew in mind, as he is sleeping outside tomorrow night with temperatures predicted at -10 to -15 below zero with windchills around -20 to -30 below zero. UGH! I hope his quinzee is warm inside!

The Bears Visit the Panthers--This Can't Be Good!

Tonight found us traveling down Highway 25 to Durand for a showdown between the Barron Bears and the Durand Panthers. Austin had a great night of basketball, and hit 2 three-pointers in the game. He also had some great steals and a nice break-away lay up, along with his usual assists during the game. Unfortunately, the effort put forth by the Bears just wasn't enough, and they fell prey to the Panthers by over 20 points. UGH!!! Austin did play well, though, and didn't sit out the whole game. We were proud of his effort!

(Both the JV and Varsity won their games tonight...)
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When we were about 10 miles out of Barron, I realized that I had forgotten my camera. :-( I am so disgusted, because I wanted to take pictures for this blog post of all of the "fans" that came tonight to watch the game! Austin was very thankful to have a large gathering of family that was able to come and watch him play tonight---and we were also thankful for those that made the trip to come to the game. Thanks a bunch! It sure meant a lot to us to have you there, and Austin appreciated it, too!
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Thanks to our special fans: Grandma Deb, Grandpa Ken, Auntie Nicole, Carter (and his friend, Nicholas), LaNita, Bill, Dylan, Paige, Jack, Don, Amy, Brett, and Hunter!!!! Along with Jamie, Andrew, Abby, and myself, I am sure Austin had the largest cheering section at the game tonight!
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After the C-Team game, Jamie, Andrew, Abby, and I went to visit at Chad and Nicole's house so we could see Bradley for a few minutes before heading back to Barron. Chad is on the road tonight, so we missed him. We played with the boys for a bit, and then hit the road.
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Thanks again to all of you who came to watch Austin play tonight!!!

:-)

SIDENOTE: Poor Andrew was home sick again today with a fever of 101.3. I had my car running to warm up at 6:30 am, when he stumbled into the bathroom to let me know he didn't feel well. I stayed home, thinking I would take him to Camp Phillips where his class is working on building their quinzees for their winter survival unit, when he felt better. Unfortunately, the poor kid didn't have his fever break until about 1:00 in the afternoon. He still is complaining of a sore throat and a stuffy nose and a cough, but his fever appears to be gone (we hope), so he is planning on going to school/Camp Phillips tomorrow to finish the quinzee construction. The big sleepover is scheduled for Thursday night, when all of the kids will be sleeping outside in their quinzees--I hope he doesn't end up with pneumonia!!!!

:-{

Only 2 more games left of this basketball season....

Golden Bears at Stillwater

The Barron Golden Bears traveled to Stillwater, MN last Saturday for another seventh grade tournament. It was a nasty cold and windy day with wind chill warnings and travel advisories out. I am so ready for spring!

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The boys played their first game against Cambridge-Isanti, who are notorious for having weak teams. They came through on their reputation, and Barron won quite solidly in the first game of the tournament.

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Our second game found Barron up against Rice Lake once again. Last week, we went into overtime when we played Rice Lake in Superior, and we ended up winning the game. Well, this weekend, Rice Lake trounced us and ended up beating us by 20 points! Our boys just couldn't get it together for this game, and Rice Lake took advantage of that and beat us for the first time ever. The Rice Lake team was pretty happy about that!

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The Golden Bears re-grouped, and went on to win their next two games of the tournament against Stillwater Red and Stillwater White and took home a white third place ribbon for the day.

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Poor Andrew was sick with a sore throat and cough for the tournament and was taking Day-Quil throughout the day. Most of the other guys on the team were also coughing and hacking--they have been spending a lot of time outdoors at school lately to prepare for their Winter Survival week this week. On Thursday night (Valentines Night), the entire seventh grade will be sleeping outside in the quinzee's they will construct on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week! Andrew was home sick today with a 101.2 temperature trying to get well for the rest of the week's adventures!

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Below are some action shots from the weekend tournament of Andrew and some of his teammates...

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Andrew taking it to the hoop!Two Points! Way to go, Andrew!
Watching his freethrow drop in the hoop...
Shooting the next freethrow...

Nick Uthe~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nick again!

Zack Terpstra~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Michael Hover

Elliott Borgen~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Neil Rasmussen

We have only one more regular tournament left for the Barron Golden Bears seventh grade boys--next weekend in Rice Lake. Then, they will also play in the State Championships in LaCrosse in March, and their season will be over for another year.

Tomorrow night, Austin will have a game in Durand. He also plays on Thursday night at home against Hayward--it is a rescheduled game and also parent's night. Their last game of the week is on Friday night at home against Cumberland, with the WinterFest Dance to follow. Another busy week!
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Have a good week!