first week of summer vacation

I sill have so many blog posts to catch up on; last day of school and cruise stuff mostly, but now summer is in full swing and I don't feel like looking back at the moment. I will got to it eventually though.
The last day of school was Wednesday. We spent Thursday and Friday unwinding. Then Saturday came and we hit the ground running. Between Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday we spent at least 20 hours with the whole family working our little fingers to the bone. We cleared out and organized the garage which is now almost finished. Just awaiting the instalment of overhead storage shelves. Then we cleaned out, organized and moved furniture around in all 4 of the bedrooms that are occupied by the kids. McKay is now in Abby's old room. Abby and Gracie are now sharing McKay's old room and Gracie's old room, which still needs some clearing out, is going to be ready for the baby soon. Nate and Bryce share a room and not much work was done there. Just the changing of sheets and clearing and removal of an old dresser. Nate's dresser was replace with Abby's old dresser, which isn't that old, because Abby and Gracie got new dressers, part of the bribery that took place to get them on board with the idea of sharing a room. So much work and so much hauling of furniture up and down stairs, which I swore I would not be involved in, but in the end I helped with a lot of it because I just needed it done.
There is still soooo very much to do, but for now we are taking a break from projects. Tuesday we spent 3 hours playing at the park. Well, the kids played, I sat and chatted with some friends.
Wednesday we spent about 2 1/2 hours at the pool while our home was being cleaned by...not us. It was lovely. The 4 older kids are all able to pass the swim test, so they can play in the big pool without an adult by there side. That just leaves McKay who is mostly happy to play in the kiddie pool and when he wants in the big pool it gives me the chance to cool off. Otherwise I just get to sit in a pool chair, soaking up the sun and watching from the side.
Today we went to the library. Now I'm sitting in my clean house while kids are quietly reading or playing with the neighbor kids outside.
So far summer is going well. There has been quite a bit of bugging and tattling and McKay is having a little bit a hard time with not getting his way all of the time now that the other kids are home all day, but mostly they have been super helpful and playing nicely together. Abby and Gracie have even been getting along while sharing a room.
I think we're going to enjoy this summer.

My Little Triathletes

 Last Weekend Bryce, Abby, and Gracie participated in Tri the Rock, a youth triathlon. They trained with volunteers from The Rock Tri Club, three nights a week for the last 4 weeks. They were excited and ready the morning of the race. Maybe a little nervous but for some reason not as nervous as I was. I hardly slept at all the night before.

Here we are waiting at Butterfield park for the race to start.

Here is Bryce in his Transition area.

Bryce had to Swim 100 Meters, Bike 8K or about 5 miles, Run 2K about 1.25 miles.

His times for each event were Swim- 3:31, Bike and Transition- 26:59, Run- 9:03 for a total of 39:32. He placed 17th out of 43 boys his age group of 11-12 year olds.

When he crossed the finish line he was totally wasted. He started wheezing and crying and had to get to his inhaler fast. He pushed himself so hard and did a great job. Swimming is not his strength so he wants to work on that this summer. But overall he's a great athlete.

Abby at her transition area

Abby had to Swim 50 meters, Bike 4K or about 2.5 miles and Run 1K or about .6 miles. Her times for each event were, Swim-2:05, Bike and Transition- 17:59, Run- 4:34, Total 24:35. She place 36th out of 90 girls in her age group of 9-10 year olds.

She was also completely wasted when she crossed the finish line. The kids PE coach, Mr. Ford, helped with their training and was at the race to cheer them on. He was waiting at the finish line when Abby came in. After she finished he said to me, "I was wondering if any of these kids knew how to waste themselves to finish a race and then I saw Abby come around the corner. Now that how you're supposed to finish a race."

Gracie at her transition area.

Gracie's age group did the same distance as Abby's 50 meter swim, 4K bike and 1K run. Her times were, Swim- 2:10, Bike and Transition- 17:35 and Run- 4:56, Total- 24:40 and she placed 13th out of 62 girls in the 8-9 age group.

She was a trooper. I was the most shocked at how well she did, because of the three of them she is the least competitive. She also came across the line the least worn out, but her time was fantastic. She has a lot of natural athletic ability. She's a rock star!

I love when they have come to my races and cheered me on but I loved even more watching them compete and cheering them on. They all work so hard and did such a good job. I am so proud of them and I love seeing them relize again, that they CAN do hard things!



School Stuff

Every year the kids' elementary school holds a Grandparent's Tea. It's an event for the kids to honor their grandparents or some other special person in their life. This year Sam's parents were out of town and my parent's were coming to visit the next week for Gracie's baptism so I got to be their special person. I got to spent time with each of them in their classroom and receive a special gift from them then join them in the gym for yummy cake. In Bryce's class each kid got to go to the front of the room with their guest and tell the class what they love about them. Then the guest could tell every one what they love about their kiddo. Bryce is so tender hearted. He got a little choked up as he told every one that he loves me because I support him in everything he does. I encourage him to practice in sports and do well in scouts. He is so sweet. I said that I love him because he always works hard and does his best in everything he does, and because I love his freckles!

Last week they had their last Top of the Rock assembly of the year. Gracie got an award in Technology and Bryce got an award from his teacher for exhibiting the IB traits in the class room.

I have great kids with great teachers. They have all had a positive year, but we are all ready for it to be over and enjoy us some summer time. McKay graduates from preschool on Friday and Bryce graduates from 6th grade next Wednesday. We have one more field trip and 4 class parties then we are done!

Gracie Girl

We've had some pretty big events take place around here lately. Things that need documented, you know. At the top of that list would be Gracie's 8th birthday last month. Notice that her presents are wrapped. :) We had a bowling party with some of her friends at Brunzwick Zone and she had a great time. Along with turning 8 Gracie made the decision to be baptized. She got to pick out a beautiful white dress for the occasion. She was baptized and confirmed by her Daddy, and was joined by her grandparents and some other family and friends. It was lovely. The day got a little stressful afterwards when we had a BBQ at our house. Sam went to pick up the desert tray from Chick-fil-a and it was not ready so I started getting burgers on the grill and then the toilet overflowed for the second time that day and then we realized that the hamburger buns I bought only had 4 buns per pack instead of the usual 8. Then Nate had a major wipe out on his bike.  But eventually things calmed down and even I was able to enjoy the afternoon. Talking about the toilet overflowing though reminded me that the baptismal font also overflowed that morning. Who ever was filling it did not keep a close enough eye on it and it flooded the men's restroom. Sam and the other dads were mopping up as much water as they could before the service started. Anyway, it was a great day and we are so proud of our Gracie Girl. She is funny and silly and lots of fun. She is creative and smart and friendly and outgoing. She brings extra excitement and energy to our home and I love her to pieces.

Notice the traditional giant baptism cookie made by Grandma Mary. Which reminds me I still need to clean out the bottom of my oven where the cookie overflowed so that I don't continue to smoke up the whole house every time I use the oven. Which isn't very often lately or I would have already remembered to clean it out.