CYMBL #1

This past Saturday T and WY participated in CYMBL's first race of the 2012 season, which was located at Gwynn Valley in Brevard. The boys had a great time and were able to recruit their friends Lilly and Nora to join in the biking fun. Herbie and Nay-Nay also made the trip to cheer them on.

T raced in the 7/8 age division, which required the completion of 2 laps of a 1.4 mile course. He finished with a time if 25:59, placing him 13th out of the 20 young boys in his group. (The winning time was 22:47.)

 

As for William, Nora and Lilly, they each did exceptionally well in the 500 meter dash for the 6 and under category. To celebrate, we headed into downtown Brevard for milkshakes at Rocky's...yummy! As William so perfectly summarized during prayer time that night, "I'm fankful for winning the race and Nora won and Lilly won. everyone wins." (glad to see he's been listening!)

T minus 1 + $0.25

It took a little over two weeks, but Thompson's first tooth final fell out! The Tooth Fairy surprised him with a quarter.

(and Williams's classic response, "when I get older and my tooth falls out, it won't go back in.")

Boy + Bike + Puddle = hours of FUN!

 let's go again!

(I lost count of how many time he went through the water!)

1st Day 1st Grade

and he's off!!!

with his bus stop buddies - Lilly and Jillian 

Meet the Teacher

It's hard to believe summer has drawn to a close with school beginning tomorrow!  This afternoon we attended Meet the Teacher and learned Ms. Bloomberg will be Thompson's 1st grade teacher.  He is excited and has been counting down the days to the start of school for the past couple weeks.  One notable moment from the afternoon were the "happy-sad" tears he fought back when stopping by Ms. Brown's class.  It's awesome to see how much Ms. Brown has meant and continues to mean to T-man.  I'm certain Ms. Bloomberg will follow suit.

Sizzler and Hoffencross

We spent the weekend in Greeensboro (sans Bobby) for Thompson to participate in the 7/8 Kids Race component of the Sizzler Mountain Bike Race at Bur-Mil Park. #100 raced well given he had never ridden the Big Loop (our practice ride Saturday was rained out). He is proud of his 9th place finish (as well he should be!) and confirmed he rode his best and had fun! {that's all that matters}  It also proved to be great practice as the local mountain bike league CYMBL gears up (no pun intended!) this coming Saturday.

Although Bobby wasn't with us, he did some riding of his own. He stayed home to participate in a {crazy} mountain bike stage race coordinated by some friends. Stage One was a 10 mile time-trial that began at Midnight (Fri/Sat) followed by a checkpoint ride that began Saturday morning.  All in he rode 44.8 miles.  Way to go dad!

In Print Again!

Hammer Nutrition's August/September Endurance magazine...

Steel Anniversary

Today marks our 11th anniversary! Where has another year gone!? Among the many highlights, we achieved our goal of completing a triathlon...yeah! (and I'd venture to guess more lie ahead) And as parenting-luck would have it, we had to cancel our anniversary dinner plans last night as Thompson was sick.

In looking up what the traditional and modern gift is to commemorate this anniversary, I discovered it to be steel....yes, steel.  I can assure you we are not giving each other steel today.  But in many ways, I think we already have it. A marriage made of steel. A marriage founded on Christ. Certainly, our marriage has experienced both highs and lows...and perhaps this "steel marriage" is what has kept us united, strong, steady and able to withstand the winds that have come (and will come).

Earlier this year, I saw a video about a young couple who married with what most would consider great odds stacked against them (her healthy and he the survivor of a traumatic brain injury). Their story reminds us as John Piper so eloquently summarizes in This Momentary Marriage that “marriage is not mainly about prospering economically, it is mainly about displaying the covenant keeping love between Christ and His church…Knowing Christ is more important than making a living. Treasuring Christ is more important than bearing children. Either way, it is short. It may have many bright days or it may be covered with clouds. But if we set our face to make of marriage mainly what God designed it to be, no sorrows and no calamities can stand in our way. Everyone of them will be not an obstacle to success but a way to succeed…The beauty of the covenant keeping love between Christ and His church shines brightest when nothing but Christ can sustain it.”  God is most glorified in us {including marriage} when we are most satisfied in Him.

Here's to eleven steel years!

Big Boy Bed ... Take #2

After William catapulted himself (head first, we believe) out of the crib a couple nights ago (the details of which we're still not quite sure), we decided it was time for a permanent move to the "big boy bed" {translation: breakdown crib and remove from his room so he doesn't request to get back in it}. To get started, we moved one of the beds in Thompson's room into His. William is adjusting well, reminding us the "rool" to "not get out until mom or dad comes", and informing us of the numbers on his clock when we get to his room.