Track and Field

My little Athena participated in her first ever sporting competition - a regional Lutheran School Track and Field event held at our local high school. It just happened to fall on the Saturday morning of the week that Chris (and Mimi) were out of town, otherwise it would have been an all day all family event. In fact, many of the more experienced families were camped out - full on tents and chairs and serious tailgating going on.

As it was, it was just me and three little ones trying to help me lug a blanket, two chairs, a cooler and my camera bag across the parking lot and a football field and to the nearest available clearing. As I was setting up, Jack took off towards the goal post. I caught him and brought him back to our blanket, that lasted about three minutes before he decided to run right onto the track minutes before the first race was suppose to start. Much to my chagrin, the announcer made a purposeful announcement over the loudspeaker reminding us to "keep the track clear, please!" Yea, trying, sorry!

I know of many families who have two year olds that will stay near them and not go tearing off in any direction, but, unfortunately that is not my two year old. It became quite clear that this wasn't going to work, I am only just one Mommy after all.

Luckily, Athena's first event didn't start for 45 minutes, so we hightailed it over to our local drop in play care center where Jack could run around like a madman for $8.50 an hour (he loves it there) and whisked back to the event just in time to line Athena up for the Kindergarten Girls 50 yard Dash.

The little girl with the rolled up sleeves won by a landslide.

Athena came in fifth place.

She didn't qualify for the relay race, but she still had two more events: the standing long jump and tee ball distance.

There were a couple of moments during the day where I felt my competitive spirit bubbling up in me, imagining a huge victory for my child. This day was not about that and I had to stiffle the urge to shout "Run! Baby! Run!" at the top of my voice when the starting gun went off.

Athena didn't care about winning. She just wanted to have fun and the purple "Participant" ribbon came in the best color anyway.

She was far more interested in capturing as many ladybugs as possible in the field.

This one she named Lala.

The ribbon ceremony -
where many a Kindergarten girl was
disappointed by the blue first place ribbon.

Zoe was bored to tears, and besides wearing down the battery on my phone playing puzzle games, she got some significant spinning time in.

This was dress yourself day, and she did, right down to the accessories and criss-cross of her Sketchers. My baby's got style.

We didn't stay for the awards ceremony or the relay races. Right after our picnic lunch I started feeling so guilty about not enjoying the beautiful day with the Dude. So we packed up, went to get our little guy and spent the rest of the day waiting to jump on Daddy when he finally came home - with presents!

Ahhhh Spring!

It's true we haven't been pummeled with ice storms and blizzards this winter, and we don't need to bundle up in three layers just to go outside like we used to, but we do get weather here and it isn't sunny all the time. In fact it has been quite rainy and overcast since November. Our backyard has been a bleak, wet puddle, and temperatures are low enough that its, you know, uncomfortable to be outside.

Just lately though there has been a dramatic change in the weather. Its' a bright and sunny land once again. The children go to school with sweaters on and come home sweaty. Spring's warm blanket is on us and we are drawn outside - loving every flower bud and sun spot and fragrant breeze.

Chris and I both had very stress-filled work weeks, so we used the weekend to cocoon at home and bump around our house. Except for that birthday party I forgot about, we had no plans, just watched some sports on t.v. - Giants beat the Dodgers and then (sigh) Kentucky lost the Final Four.

I could not stop taking pictures of my minis this weekend, perhaps it was the dappled sunlight, the green green grass, or just their pure beauty. I don't know but sometimes I'm obsessed.

Athena declared it "the best day ever" but we didn't do anything, just played outside, and oh yea, got Tangled delivered in the mail as part of our Disney DVD membership.

And speaking of mail deliveries...Chris' early Father's Day present arrived (I know, three months early - but there was a 20% off sale) and he spent the better part of the day putting it together. He painstakingly documented every step so that I could blog about it, but I can't find the chord to his camera, so I'm not putting the pictures here (sorry, my love!).

Beer, barbeque and baseball - what else does a Chris need?

Chris is raising his son to appreciate the three B's of summer. The little Dude insisted on wearing his SF Giants hat today to, seeing his Daddy wear one and the guys on t.v. At just two, and with very little prompting on our part, he can recognize the differences between Bee Ball (bastketball), Bay Ball (baseball) and Foo Ball (football). He's such a Dude.

While the scent of grilling steaks filled our backyard, the girls played hopscotch and the setting sun cast long shadows everywhere.

The only thing funnier than watching my awkward baby giraffe play hopscotch is watching her hula hoop - seriously needs to be captured on video.

Athena's jumps were quite graceful and accurate.

Welcome warm and lovely Spring!
We'll enjoy you until the heat drives us back inside again.

Boy Trifecta

Spiderman
driving a bulldozer
dozin' some balls...

...trifecta of awesomeness!