Alle finished first grade and Sam graduated from preschool. His teacher is retiring after 30+ years (hopefully not because Sam pushed her over the edge???) Alle managed to earn her "Master's Certificate" in reading just one day prior to the end of school. (Luckily I remembered to e-mail those last 85 reading minutes on time - we scored a free ice cream cone!) She is really a fantastic reader and we're so very proud of her. She likes reading chapter books to me, and I am reading the Little House books to her. We also read the Indian in the Cupboard and watched the movie together. It's fun discovering "new" (old) children's books and revisiting some of my favorites. The kids also finished another round of swimming lessons and are very proficient little fishies in the water. We got them scooters so now they have some wheels that fit in our car for rides to the park.
We greatly enjoyed a visit over Memorial Day weekend with mom, dad, and Tim. Tim inspired us with tales of geocaching; not having a GPS, we tried letterboxing for the first time (see AtlasQuest.com) and it was a great success - we found 3 of 4 boxes and had a great time exploring Memory Grove Park.
Training with the Salt Lake Galloway group is going well and I'm LOVING it! My latest race was a 10K Wounded Warrior run benefiting those wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. Two of our group members had lost their sons there so it was an especially meaningful run. I also must brag about hitting a new PR in my mile time - 8:14. Some people run a 4-minute mile, but I'd be thrilled to run one in 8! I'm looking forward to the Timpanogos Half Marathon in July and the Nike Women's Half in San Francisco in October.
Alle kindly made this sign warning passersby about the potential for bees in our yard.
We had a fantastic week with family in the vicinity of the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. This was not our cabin, but ours was similar. I loved the views on my daily run-walk workouts. The terrain was steep and challenging but did not stop me. :-)
Rafting the lower Pigeon River - class 2 rapids were just perfect for us.
A 2.5-mile round-trip hike to Grotto Falls in Smoky Mountains National Park. It was green and cool and beautiful. No bears, but we saw lots of cool insects and Alle made friends with a snail. I saw something like a little salamander or newt but it quickly retreated under a rock.
The Clan.
The last morning there, Sam got up before anyone else, got cookies from the kitchen (of course!) and while climbing up to turn on cartoons (?) fell against a sharp table edge and sliced his ear open. Here is the wound bathing in topical anesthetic...
The doctors, PA, nurses and Child Life specialists were very kind. Sam bravely played games on an iPad while getting 10 stitches. "5-0 vicryl please."
Recovering from an exhausting battle with Versed withdrawal. The remainder of the dino kerlix made for good entertainment on the way home.
I love the Knoxville airport. The waterfall is soothing and you get to relax in the rocking chairs while awaiting your plane.
That's all for now. Shalom...
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