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Again this year, Lyla requested to go trail riding at the Marriott Ranch. We had a great experience when we went there last year, so the day after school go tout, we had our trail ride scheduled. We had a beautiful, sunny day, and our group consisted of just Lyla, Nina, Mouse, and I, and the two guides, so it was a great ride!
I snapped a couple pictures with my phone camera, but obviously I wasn’t trying to focus on taking pictures while riding. It was beautiful scenery though - I wish I did have more pictures on the ride!
The ride lasted for 90 minutes, but before we even got in the car to head home, Lyla was asking about her next chance to ride. The girl does love horse!
There is a tradition at our elementary school called the Lab Mile. The school mascot is a Labrador, so hence the name of the tradition. During the spring, the students are encouraged to run a mile in PE. They are timed, and the 10 fastest times from the 4th and 5th grade boys and girls collectively are gathered, and that’s who gets a chance to run in the Lab Mile on the morning of the last day of school. Lyla’s time qualified for running in the Lab Mile, so we were excited for her.
Part of the tradition is that all the 4th and 5th grade classes, administrators, and parents come out to line the track and cheer the kids on, so Mark and I were there to watch. The girls’ race was first.
They started out fast, but after the first 1 1/2 laps, the group started to spread out some. Lyla did a good job of keeping pretty consistant with her pace.
Here she is coming down the stretch to the finish line with her awesome teacher cheering her on...
…and a big group hug for Lyla and her other classmate who ran in the Lab Mile.
Lyla finished 4th with a time of 6:23. We were super proud of her!! Her really good buddy finished 1st with a time of 6:04. I had no idea 4th adn 5th grade girls could run that fast!
The boys race followed the girls race, then the racers were presented with their medal. It was an awesome event and just another reason why we love our neighborhood elementary school. It’s really big (for example, there are eight 4th grade classes this year and the same or more in 5th), but they do a lot to make the kids feel a part of a community that is special. It was a great way to start the last day of 4th grade which has been just a terrific year for Lyla!
This school year, my parents were pen pals for Lyla’s 4th grade class. Each of the 4th grades requested that several of the grandparents of the students start corresponding with groups of kids in the class, talking about generational differences, memorable life moments, and generally getting to know each other. So, over the past year, both my mom and dad were assigned to a different group of kids who they wrote back and forth with.
On Monday, all the 4th grade pen pals across the different classes got to meet the students. There was a small cookie and juice reception where there were boards with pen pal facts so that pen pals from other classes could learn a little about each other. After that, they came to the classroom where they saw a little video presentation made by the students, then they had time to sit and talk for the first time in person with their pen pal group. Of course, Mouse and Pops were a big hit with the kids. Lyla was so proud of them, and my only regret is that I wish I would have photocopied the letters that my parents sent to the students. I read several of them, and I feel like I learned things about my parents that I didn’t know just from reading the letters! It was a cute afternoon, and I was glad to be there to see it (unfortunatly, I only had my camera phone which takes terrible pictures, but you get the idea).
Last weekend, the girls and I had an awesome afternoon at Scott’s Run. It was an impromptu decision because we were supposed to be taking a trail ride that afternoon while the boys were golfing, but the weather had forecasted 90% chance of thunderstorms on Saturday, so we had to reschedule our trail ride for a few days later. The day ended up being beautiful, so we decided to head to Scott’s Run. We have been there before, and the girls have always had fun, but I think this time was definitely their favorite.
When we’ve been there in the past, the waterfall area where the trail meets the river has always been the big draw. They have played in the water along the river’s edge and climbed the rocks around the waterfall. This time, the water was too high and fast to play in the water along the edge of the river. We have gotten TONS of rain in the past month, and obviously that had a huge impact on the current and water level. There was a little swimming hole just under the waterfall that I wasn’t comfortable with the girls going in (because it opened out to the river), but Cayenne jumped in for a quick swim until some people sitting on the rocks warned us that they just saw three copperheads in that area and advised us to be careful.
So, to be honest, we were a little bummed. It wasn’t safe to play around the waterfall (copperheads and strong current don’t make a good combination), and that’s what the girls were most looking forward to. We decided to backtrack a bit where we saw another cool spot off the trail and see what fun we could find there.
That ended up being the absolute funnest part of their day. We saw some guys jumping off this log into the water below. Nina really wanted to do it, so after watching the guys for a few minutes, I felt good about it being safe enough, and the girls gave it a try. They had so much fun!!! They met another girl their age who was there with her family and dog, and they jumped off the tree and the rocks for over an hour and we had to drag them away when it was time to leave.
It ended up being such a fun afternoon! Everybody (Cayenne included) had such such a great time, and as we were driving home, the girls were already trying to plan our next time to go back. I love that they have so much fun with just the simple joys of being out in nature on a beautiful afternoon!
Lyla’s second year of travel came to an official end over Memorial Day weekend. Her team has had an awesome year. They had the nicest group of girls on the team, and they had an awesome coach. It was one of those teams that you know is going to change (as people move, change teams, etc), but you just want nothing to change and everything to stay the same. Their coach, who was also Lyla’s coach last year, is moving to the West coast after the season finished, so it was very sad for the girls to think about saying goodbye to her as well.
They played in the Columbia Invitational tournament, and the conditions were tough. The grass was SO high from all the rain that we had prior, and the weather was hot and muggy. They stayed undefeated in their first two days, but sadly, they lost the semifinal game that they definitely “should have” won. The girls were really disappointed as this was their first loss of the season, and they were so sad to have the season end that way, but sometimes that’s just the way things go.
One thing Lyla did walk away with from the tournament was an Alex Morgan USA National Team jersey - not a bad consolation. :) Their fun together didn’t come to a complete close however. Their coach was the head coach for the varsity girls’ soccer team of one of our local high schools. Her team was awesome, and she always invited her younger girls to come be ball girls during the games. Lyla and her teammates did that several times throughout the season and had a blast. Her coach’s team went on to win states this year! We weren’t at that game since it was in Richmond, but we enjoyed being at many to watch some very talented high school girls play.
They wrapped everything up officially this week with their team dinner and parting words from their coach. It was such a great year, and while we’ll miss having the team the same this fall, we hope for good things ahead as Lyla continues her journey playing soccer.
Just typing that title, Nina Turns 12, it’s hard to believe! Twelve years ago, everything most definitely changed in our lives. From two married adults to a little family with a baby who definitely didn’t make that transition easy. Twelve years later, not everything is easy, but Nina is truely a joy. She is a fun companion to spend time with, she loves animals and loves her family, and she makes sure we’re never lacking in someone to talk to.
Since we celebrated her birthday activity at Luzia, we just had a family celebration on her actual birthday. As always, donuts were a must for the birthday breakfast, and she got to open a couple presents, then it was off to school. Cayenne was too funny. I think she believes that all presents are for her. She loves to open presents, and I think she remembers Christmas when she opens presents and gets treats inside. She kept stealing presents out of Nina’s pile on the floor and was trying to open them. I actually had to move the pile off the floor or she would have opened them all. Maybe the dog wrapping paper confused her. :)
When Mark got home from work she got to open the rest of her presents, and we had her birthday dinner request which was chicken tenders and mac and cheese. She requested a cholocate frog cake as well, so she polished off the evening with that. Her friends at school made her feel special by decorating her locker and bringing her birthday treats, so by the end of the day she said it was one of the best birthdays ever! Happy 12th birthday, Ninster!
