New Clothes

I suppose Field Day is old news...as it was held a week before school let out. But it's worth noting! I volunteered at Andrew's field day--a Jr. Olympics type fun day outside. I have never worked so hard for a t-shirt, and loved it so much! I was in the parachute games rotation along with 4-5 other women. When we all stood there looking at each other, staring at the parachute, watching the children running in, I decided it was time to make a leader of myself. Or else we were going to be taken over by a bunch of 7 year olds! I said I'd be happy to lead the games, unless anyone else would like to...they all seemed very happy to give me the job.

It was so fun and SO crazy!! FUN--I love working with kids (these were K-2). I was back in my elementary education element! It was just great. Following some other Mom wouldn't have been half as fun! And I got to see my happy Andrew and his school friends! Even my little neighbor kid came with his class and he was just so cutely surprised (I know cutely is not a word, work with me) to see me there. It was adorable. CRAZY--the w-i-n-d. It was a really windy day and that makes handling a very large parachute incredibly challenging. We were yanked, pulled, and bullied by the wind. When we told the parachute to go up, it'd be sucked down and we'd pull up with all our might and make little progress. Or when we said down it'd fill with a mighty gust of wind. It was exhausting to get it to cooperate! I ended up with a blister or two on my knuckles. And the noise--yelling over the wind (and kids) for two straight hours. Wow. And the rain. We ended in a downpour. The kids and I actually did the "bubble" and hid under the chute for as long as we could, but our make-shift umbrella could not outlast the rain and we bolted for the building. Luckily this was the last rotation and we were about done anyway. What a day! I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

That orange shirt? I ran a 5K! First organized "run" since the Bolder Boulder 10K back in 2002! I guess I was overdue. My friend told me about it since she knew I had my eye out for a 5K. She gave me the info on the 3rd of July, and the run was the morning of the 4th! We decided to do it together. Me and her. She...she just happens to be 44 and training for her third IRON MAN (scroll over, that's a link). Needless to say, I was a little nervous. But she said she'd take it easy and I told her my measly beginner goals. Honesty is the best policy when running with someone who can kick your trash. It's funny, after the run I say, "The run went great! So fun!" But if you asked me during mile two, "Oh my gosh, I want to slow down! Why am I doing this anyway? I'm going to diiiiiieeeeeeeee...." Anyway, running with Vicki helped me not quit or jog at snail's pace, so it was really good to run with her. I'm glad I did it and plan to do another one...


later.