This month we had many “firsts,” including:
- Lilah competed in her first triathlon
- Luke scored two goals in one game — one goal is captured in this snapshot
- The kids go on their first camping trip
- We carved pumpkins — including dad carving his first pumpkin ever!
- Luke ran in his first jog-a-thon
Lilah
This month Lilah competed in her first triathlon and man did she “compete.” The race was 50 yards of swimming, 3 miles of biking and a half mile of running. I could tell she was getting tired and not feeling that great during the run so I kept telling her to slow down or walk for a bit until she felt better. She only half listened though because toward the end, when I thought we would just both cruise to the finish line together, Lilah yelled out, “I want to pass that girl!” The next thing you know, she’s in a final 100 yard sprint to the finish line. She accomplished her goal of passing the girl, but within a few minutes she was off in the corner by the bushes throwing up, the result of pure over exertion. Shortly after that, she felt much better though as you can see from the smiling face in this medal-holding moment.
She’s really becoming quite the renaissance girl when I think about it. At school, she has been nominated by her teacher to participate in the GATE program, which stands for Gifted And Talented Education. This was the result of having done very well on her STAR testing. Next week I’ll be taking Lilah to take another test to possibly get into this program. We’ll see how it goes.
In addition to her physical and mental prowess, she is also progressing quite nicely on the piano, getting a real kick out of playing her songs faster than they should be played. I remember her former piano teacher wanting Lilah to play faster but Lilah refusing to do so because she didn’t want to make a mistake. Now you can’t get her to slow down.
Luke
Because I’m the assistant coach on Luke’s soccer team, I rarely get to take any pictures of him playing so I was very happy when one of our fellow soccer dads snapped this shot of Luke, scoring a goal on a breakaway play — his second of this particular game. Luke’s team still did not win, but Luke felt good about his efforts. The following week we managed to get our first win 5-2 (not that anybody is keeping track ;-)). Too bad Luke was a little too sick to play in that game. He was happy for this team though especially since he had been a little “concerned” about his team not being able to score without him ;-).
We kept Luke out of the soccer game because he was sick and we were scheduled to go camping that afternoon. It turned out to be the right call. I went on the camping trip with a friend from my running group and his wife as Cathy refused to rough it in the elements — something about not wanting to sleep in a cold, damp tent by the beach. In any case, me going with the kids was a good thing as they both enjoyed the new adventure.
In just one short day and evening, we managed to hike to the lagoon, climb trees, roast marshmallows over an open fire, carve pumpkins, and eat the kids’ favorite — carne asada. The only thing Lilah didn’t appreciate about the trip was sleeping in the tent, but not because she was physically uncomfortable, but rather because “daddy, snored too loud,” and “Luke, kept making frog noises” when he breathed. All in all it was a great trip and another good experience for them.
Luke also participated in his first jog-a-thon at school. It was fun to go out there and watch him do his thing and how he and all the boys seem to playfully compete against each other. I mean there he is looking like he can’t run another step when one of his classmates comes up from behind him and does a “Hi Luke.” Before the classmate can get past him though, Luke takes off on a sprint. And that’s pretty much how the whole affair went with Luke stopping and sprinting, and occasionally sneaking in a short walk or jog when none of his buddies was looking. Luckily, the kindergartners didn’t run for more than 10-15 minutes, which definitely was plenty.
Halloween
For Halloween, Luke dressed up as Robin, and Lilah created a costume of her own — a K-9 police dog trainer. For the third year in a row, Lilah’s friend Tory joined us for trick or treating activities in the neighborhood.
Even though the kids had fun, Halloween was noticeably subdued this year. There were a lot less kids out trick or treating — I think I had 15 kids come to our door tops. And Cathy said things on the trick or treating front were pretty grim too as probably 50% of the people in our neighborhood or more did not participate in doling out candy. I checked with a buddy of mine and he noticed the same thing in his neighborhood. I think that, as much as anything else, was a pretty good indicator of the state of our economy. Nice to know that the kids don’t notice any of that economic stuff. For them, it’s all about having fun. Aaaah, to be a kid again…
Anyway, that’s all for now…more next month…