First Grade

Ellie enjoyed her first day of First Grade today.  It sounds like everything went well for her.  She used her new Tinker Bell backpack, rode the school bus to school, found her classroom all by herself after the bus trip, made a new friend in her class, had pizza for lunch, did the monkey bars at recess, and played Barbies at her after-school care program.   I'm sure there was some learning thrown in there, too, but we didn't hear anything about that yet.

We love the beach!

We made it to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware Tuesday of this week and the sky was threatening rain. We quickly hopped into our suits and headed to the beach. The kids LOVED it. They had a great time playing in the surf and digging in the sand. There were a few sprinkles here and there, but they didn't mind. The sky looked dark and gray to the west, though and before too long we were in the middle of a huge downpour. Everyone was scrambling to get out of the rain.

The rain stuck around for the rest of Tuesday and all day on Wednesday. :-( I think I was more sad about the rain than anyone else in the family. We did our best to have fun, though. The boardwalk at the beach had an awesome little amusement park area (some inside and out of the rain) for the kids. It was the perfect place to spend some fun time when we couldn't be in the sand.

Luckily, the skies cleared up on Thursday and we spent several hours enjoying the beach, sun, water, boardwalk, pizza, french fries, and dolphins! We were surprised by how many dolphins there were and they were relatively close to the beach.

We are back in Frederick, MD now visiting John's Aunt Carrie for a few days before heading home. I am already planning a week to Rehoboth Beach for next summer, hopefully at one of the hotels right on the beach!

State Fair 5K and Kids Fun Run

We had a busy day today. The kids ran in the State Fair Kid's Fun Run, John and I ran in the 5K, and then we all enjoyed a few hours at the Fair.

Austin ran his race and then it was Ellie's turn. The race started and our girl took off. Next thing I know as I am watching her through the video camera lens, she is skidding across the pavement on her knees. John helped her up and carried her to the finish line where she then hobbled across to get her medal.

I have to say that I could tell from first glance at her knees that she had probably the worst skinned knees I've ever seen. But then it was time for John and I to run our race. Thank goodness, Dylan and Heather were there to take care of everything for us while we ran. Dylan had Ellie all bandaged up when we returned.

This was John's first 5K. He has been running for several months now and is in great shape. He actually ran faster than I would have liked to run the race. Seems that we both motivated each other at certain points of the race. I am very proud of him for running regularly and for accomplishing the 5K with a pace UNDER a 9:00/mile!!

Sounds like he's planning to run another one already at the end of the summer!