Marathon

The kids did a 'mile-by-mile marathon' this month. They did 25 miles at home (my kids did most of them by walking home from school) and then did the last 1.2 miles with a huge group of kids. Aaron and I were near the back of the group and the view up ahead was impressive. They pretty much filled the trail! And Zeke ran nearly the whole way. 

At marathon's end, they got a medal and a tshirt that they immediately wore (Zeke wore his backwards, silly kiddo). Then they got to hang out at the safe kids fair. There was so much to see and freebies to get. We toured an air ambulance helicopter and then watched it take off. It sounded like they were a little worried about the weather getting worse and wanted to get back to the hospital in case lightning started. 

Very tall fire truck ladder. 

The Sherrif's office did a car crash simulator. The kids loved 'crashing' at about 5 mph. It made my neck hurt just to watch them. 

It was lots of fun and the weather held out. Everyone enjoyed all the extra walks this spring.

Lake Trip

One awesome Saturday morning, we went to the lake with Grandma and Grandpa and a bunch of aunts, uncles, and cousins. 

Nora was in the water pretty much instantly. She loved wading and floating in the raft with her cousins.  Zeke spent most of his time either floating in the shallow water or in the kayak. 

Aaron flew his water plane.

Zeke wanted to kayak alone. I wasn't sure, because I was worried he would get too far out. But there were a couple of people who were willing to kayak close and keep track of him, so I decided not to object. I'm glad I let him try, because he got really good by the end of the day. Definitely a huge accomplishment for him and I'm proud of him for sticking with it. Because we wouldn't let him kayak himself into the deep water, Grandpa towed him out. He loved it!

After our adventures, we had a picnic on the shore near these cute sunflowers. 

It was a wonderful day and the kids keep asking when we can buy our own kayak so we can go back all the time!

Track Meet

We got really excited when Zeke came home with a flier for a junior track meet hosted by the high school track team. Short races and jumping events are Zeke's best sports. 

We were sad that Zeke missed his 50 meter sprint. He wasn't feeling so great after school and while we were waiting in line to register. However, as time went on he got feeling well enough to do his field events. And he will have another chance at the sprint on Field Day in a couple of weeks. 

His javelin throw was mediocre, but he was psyched for the long jump. He's a little froggy with springy legs! I had prepared him (mentally) for running long jump, but for the younger kids they did a standing long jump. He got to jump 3 times with major improvement each time. I'm not sure if they were measuring in centimeters or inches, but his first jump was around 53, his second was 57, and his final jump was 62! 

Nora was way bummed that she couldn't register and participate (the youngest kids were 1st graders) and she really really wanted to long jump. I thought about asking them if she could try, but decided not to because there was a long line behind us. However, because I was on the other side of the pit taking pictures, I wasn't there to direct her when Zeke finished. The next thing I knew she had stepped up to the line and was jumping. The teenagers running the long jump were so good to her and she loved every second of it. She jumped around 38 all three times. 

It was a great day and they love that they came home with ribbons. It was a lot fun and I'm sure we will be back next year!

Floating and Flying

We've been to a lot of float flys, but this was the best one so far. It may be my favorite fly yet! We borrowed a boat to take with us, and the first thing we did when we got there was unload the boat and go out on the lake. It was still early and the water was so smooth and peaceful.

Nora loved the water and spent most of the day splashing in the shallow water. She did a great job staying close to the shore. Meanwhile, Zeke was playing in the dirt further inland.

Aaron did plane retrieval as necessary and Zeke went with him nearly every time. 

Aaron even got to fly. Some technical problems stopped him after one flight, but he loved his first experience flying off the water.

Toward the end of the day, we all went out on the boat again. I really enjoyed watching the float planes from out in the middle of the lake instead of the shore. While we were out, another plane lost power so we towed it in.

It was a wonderful way to spend a warm sunny Saturday. 

We've Been to Kolob

The other major stop on our Zion trip was Kolob Canyons. We drove up to the viewpoint and then had a picnic lunch.

Zeke didn't eat much because he was busy running around and thowing sticks and dirt. He also told us that he wanted to climb this tree.

After lunch we hiked the Timber Creek trail. Lots of picture-worthy stops along the way!

We learned this trip that hiking with a young child gives you an upper body workout as well as a leg workout.

We stoppped just short of the official overlook point because Zeke was tired and the remaining trail was steeper and rockier than we wanted to navigate carrying Zeke. The rest of the party thought our overlook was better than the real one anyway.

We've Been to Zion

We went to Zion National Park over the 24th of July, to see (as I told Zeke) rocks and trees. And a whole lot more! We spent our only full day (the 24th itself) in Zion Canyon.

The Zion Canyon shuttle was awesome. I'm so glad we didn't have to drive up into the canyon and try to find parking. And Zeke loved riding and watching the bus.

We hiked the Riverside Walk trail. I think Zeke sat on every rock possible the whole way. He loved the rocks and the red dirt (his socks were pinkish by the end of the day).

The water dripping from the rocks was one of our favorite sights.

The view from Weeping Rock was amazing.

I loved the red and black rocks at the Temple of Sinawava too.

It was so beautiful there. We all enjoyed it immensely!

Going the Full 5k

I have to admit that I was and still am a bit skeptical of the idea of paying $25 each for the experience of getting up early, driving for an hour, and going for a walk in the park with hundreds of other people. But Dynna does a 5k every May for brain injury awareness and fundraising with her work, and we finally came with her this year after being invited last year and the year before and having conflicts both times. We're used to going on walks of about 4k, so we did 'train' a little bit by making sure we went on longer walks in the weeks before the event.

Here we are, ready to go before 8am. (We're on Team Red with the rest of the fam and Dynna's coworkers.)

We started a couple of minutes after all the runners, near the back of the walking crowd. We spent maybe the first k passing people and trying to find an open space to walk in so we didn't feel so crowded. We totally lost my family in this process; guess they just weren't ready for the sudden bursts of speed. After a while Carrie sprinted up to us and walked with us the rest of the way. We were really excited for the company (she probably was too, as Draper was walking with Dad) and had a great time chatting with her. We came in at about 52 minutes, which made us very happy because our goal was to walk 5k in under an hour.

After everyone crossed the finish line, we got snacks and water and found a picnic table near a pond. Zeke and Carrie and Draper watched the the ducks and fish.

And then Dynna and Brooke taught Zeke a new game.

It was fun and we would do it again with Dynna. But I think for the most part we'll just stick with our evening walks near home where there isn't an entry fee and there is a lot less competition for the sidewalk.