Kaylani Michelle Babcock was born at 4:35 a.m. on Feb. 6 in Silverdale, Wash. to Matthew Babcock and Samantha Willard-Hoffman. She weighed 8 pounds 3 ounces and was 22 inches long. “Everyone is doing great,” said Samantha.
The Haines Presbyterian Church hosted their annual Valentine’s Tea Saturday. The idea for the tea came from Miriam Cameron when she and husband Bob Cameron came to pastor in 1970. In “Valentine’s Day Tea History” by Doris Ward it states that tea and coffee have traditionally been served in antique cups first given by Verle Lewis and added to by Lib Hakkinen, Merle Howser, Mimi Gregg and Betty Israelson. The church’s deacons organized the event along with many volunteers. Doris Ward and Cecelia David attended this year and were also at the first Valentine’s Tea 49 years ago.
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Melissa Ganey organized a chocolate food war among friends. Toni DeWitt and her granddaughter Brooklyn DeWitt took the top spot with Chocolate Peanut Butter Crazy Cupcakes. Others who participated were Steven Cunningham with Chocolate Scott Cupcakes, Tiffany DeWitt with her Chocolate Dipped Macaroons, Suzanne Newton and Ila Nettleton with their Flourless Chocolate Torte, Aubrey Cook with her North Douglas Chocolate Cake and Coconut Balls, and Kari Johnson with her Samoa Truffles.
The Valentine’s Day Market, organized by Lilly Ford and Debi Knight Kennedy, was a great success at the Chilkat Center last weekend. “It was a really nice event and we are hoping to make it an annual one. There were lots of vendors and lots of happy shoppers. I’d say the vendors went all out to make special valentines gifts,” said Debi.
Sierra and Carlos Jimenez traveled to San Miguel de Allende in Mexico’s central highlands along with their children Hayden and Asher to visit Sierra’s parents, Bonnie and Hayden Kaden. “We spent about 10 days there exploring the area, hiking in the botanical gardens, visiting natural hot springs and just taking in the amazing city. I spent much of my childhood there, so it was fun to show the kids where I went to school and what parks I used to play in,” said Sierra. In the small, coastal town of Trancones they spent the next eight days, eating seafood, playing in the surf, snorkeling and horseback riding. A highlight for the boys was taking part in a sea turtle restoration project where they got to dig up baby turtles from the sand and then release them in the ocean. “It was pretty much the perfect family vacation,” Sierra said.
Shannon Del Prete her husband Andrew and children Garrison, Cademan, Porter and Eden have returned from visiting her sister Jessica Summerall in Florida. Highlights of the trip included a trip to Disney World, visiting beaches, eating at many restaurants, jet skiing, boating on the Indian River and island exploring. “We took the boys to the rock-climbing gym, and picked oranges, bananas, star fruit, mangos, papaya and limes on my sister’s property. We were spoiled with fresh-squeezed orange juice and mango smoothies,” Shannon said.
It was a successful trip for many Haines students who participated in the Floyd Dryden Invitational Wrestling Tournament in Juneau last weekend. Haines brought 11 wrestlers and eight of them placed. Three champions including, Colton Combs at 75 pounds and the only fifth-grade student wrestling in the middle school tournament, Leo Wald at 110 pounds and Luke Davis at 133 pounds. Dawson Holm took second, Dalton Henry took third, Nolan Wald took third, Trenton Oaks took third and Gaelen Allen took fourth. Other middle schools that attended were teams from Floyd Dryden of Juneau, Dzantik’i Heeni of Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan, Gustavus and Kake. Coach Jordan Baumgartner was proud of the success of his team.