After a slow moving summer the fall has moved along at a fast pace. Since the end of August we have spent 3 or 4 nights a week either at football practice or watching a game. Every season is different and this was a good season of learning and growing and responding. We were proud of Alec and the way that he played, the way that he practiced, the way that he listened, the way that he responded to hard things.
It is always a bump to move up to another league and start at the bottom. 3rd graders rule, 2nd graders don't. Alec was one of the only players who could reliably catch the football in the game, for the most part his league does running plays.
His coach this year took the time after the last game to hand out awards and verbally praise each player for good character and right responses. I think it meant alot to all the boys (and it reminded me of the quote from Charlotte's Web: "It is very satisfying to receive an award in front of alot of people".)
September was full of big events that we haven't even mentioned. The kids were apart of three races - Jan and Alec ran the mile race for Crisis Pregnancy Center and did GREAT! They both got to participate in the Akron Kids Triathlon were they swam 100 meters, biked 3.5 miles and then ran 1/2 mile. It was an exciting day and they did very well.
That picture is the only one I have on this computer of the Triathlon....Anne was helping me take pictures.
And then all the kids got to participate in the Kids Run for the Akron Marathon. Just a 1K but special for Anne and Pati since they can run it too. They both ran the whole way without stopping. I found out later that Pati did it because I told her that if she didn't run the whole way she wouldn't get to have the prize at the end. I meant that I wasn't going to carry her, but she took what I said literally.
Anne was behind the big kids and ran ahead of me and Pati so she ran to the finish line by herself and right into a huge crowd of people. We couldn't find her anywhere. After some anxious minutes we found her. She didn't consider herself lost, had navigated her way through the crowd over to the building where you picked up your prizes and then back out into the crowd where we found her. At least SHE wasn't scared!
But the real accomplishment was David finishing his run in 3 hours and 6 minutes. Quite a feat for someone who works so much that he has to train by running to work at 4:00 in the morning and then runs home after working for more than 30 hours. Doing long runs whenever he could steal the time on a rare day off. We are all pretty proud of him.
Grandma Copper came out to visit and help out. She stayed with the kids for several days while David and I enjoyed some time away at a Surgery Conference in DC. They had fun and we had fun. It was a good break!
