Selfies and scenery

When I looked at the pictures I took this week, I saw that most of them fell under two categories: selfies and scenery. This is what life with older kids looks like: no more daily pictures of cute squishy cheeks building towers of blocks or jumping on the trampoline with wild hair and wide grins. I like taking pictures for my own memories, but lately it's been extra tricky to get pictures of my busy family, and I find myself taking more and more pictures of scenery and myself doing everyday tasks. We did have a cross country meet this week, so at least I got a few pictures of the kids there! 

The light puffs of wildfire smoke in the sky gave us extra pretty sunrises and sunsets this week. This sunrise filled the entire sky with the most beautiful warm peachy color!

Recalculations

We had to make several recalculations this week. Since Jay, Rose, and Amber were extra busy, I had to recalculate how to use my time during the school day so I could mow and maintain our vast lawn. Since my ankle tendons were still aching and stiff, I had to recalculate (yet again) my expectations on the recovery process and when I can return to running. A runner with special needs got cleared to join our cross country team on Thursday, causing us to recalculate how to run practice with 50+ kids, 2 coaches, and 1 kid who needs extra supervision. It was a lot. A wildfire caused air quality to spike into the red and our cross country meet in Wenatchee was cancelled. Jeff recalculated like a pro and created a time trial event on our track for the cross country team on Saturday morning. 

Sunset in our backyard.

The Sunburn

After our intense camping and mud race in Oregon with the cross country team last weekend, we hit the ground running this week with prep for hosting our home meet. When we started hosting this meet 3 years ago, Jeff lovingly named it the Sunburn Invitational because there is no shade on the course and it is usually very hot since it's held so early in September. The top 3 runners in each race get a bottle of sunscreen as a trophy. This year's edition of The Sunburn was actually a bit cooler than the past, although temperatures were still in the high 70s/low80s, which felt plenty hot in Sunnyside's shade-less South Hill Park. 

Ultimook 2025!

We survived our 7th Ultimook cross country meet! This trip pushes the limits of our endurance every single year: hours riding a school bus, sleep deprivation, heavy lifting, organizing, accounting skills, running, emotional support, inclement weather, mud, etc. 

Cross country is brutal!