On May 30th, my father-in-law turned 60. I think he looks pretty good. We all chipped in and got him a gift certificate to Striders in Layton. Since some of us have taken up running, he has expressed an interest in doing the same. Apparently, he was quite the runner back in the day. Happy Birthday Greg!
Mike and I have been training for the Ragnar Relay for the past couple of months. Mike has expressed an interest in also doing a marathon so he decided to sign up for the Syracuse 1/2 marathon held on memorial day. It starts and ends at Jensen Park which is really close to our house. They also have a 5K and a kids' mile. I had to work Memorial Day night so I wasn't going to do the 5k, but decided I was going to be up early anyway so I signed up. I quickly got my Dad, sister Cami, and friend Heidi to run as well. We signed up Gage to do the kids' mile along with his cousin Brayden.
Gage was so excited to run. We had practiced running a mile a few times to make sure he could do it. The kids weren't timed and I wasn't smart enough to start my watch. Gage and Brayden both did great and had a lot of fun. Gage was thrilled to receive a metal for finishing.
Here's me along with Cami, Gage and my friend Heidi.
I had yet to beat my Dad in a race. My Dad pulled out quickly in hopes of losing me at the beginning. About a mile in, I made my move. I ran past my Dad. I knew he was probably trying to keep a close watch on me in hopes of sprinting past me at the end catching me by surprise. I was ready for it though. He had used that move in the past. Come to find out later this is exactly what he wanted to do, but I just kept getting farther and farther ahead of him. I finished in 28:52 and my Dad actually wasn't that far behind coming in at 30:19.
Here's Mike and his brother Matt coming across the bridge with about 3 miles to go in their 1/2 marathon.
Mike is sprinting towards the finish line.
Mike finished in 1:44. He was shooting to be under 1:45. Way to go babe!
Fathers and sons.
The entire running gang. Gage is 6 and Landen is 4. Most children by Gage's age have long been done with their training wheels and I have even seen some as young as Landen. I don't know why but we are struggling in this area. Landen loves to go out and ride bikes. Gage likes it, but would never suggest it on his own. I blame part of their lack of bike riding skills on Mike and I because we haven't been that great about making them go outside and do it. So today, I had the great idea to ride our bikes from our house to Jensen Park. It is maybe a little over a 1 1/2 miles away which doesn't seem that far except when you have two kids on training wheels trailing behind.
Mike was gone, but was planning on meeting us later in his truck with his bike in case we weren't able to make it home. I loaded up Tanner in the bike trailer and got helmets on Gage and Landen. I went through safety rules which Gage listened to intently and Landen could have cared less. Landen was really the one I was speaking to. Gage has always been my rule follower even asking questions to make sure he understands properly. I told the boys I would take the lead, followed by Landen, and then Gage. Landen is a better and faster rider then Gage so I thought it would be good to have him behind me so he couldn't go too far ahead and so he also wouldn't keep running into Gage.
Well, we started off slow and continued really slow. Gage is such a trooper but for some reason his legs just aren't very strong and he is my little worrier. Gage also talks a lot and kept saying things like the following instead of concentrating on riding:
"Mom, good thing you are a nurse cause like if someone got hurt while riding bikes you could fix us."
"Mom, maybe you should have brought your nurse's bag just in case someone gets hurt."
"Mom, I only stand up to peddle when I'm close to home just in case I get hurt."
"Wait up you guys."
We finally made it to Jensen Park which has a bunch of jogging/biking trails around it. Mike met us there with his bike. We hung out around the pond for a little while.
The boys couldn't wait to check out the water.
Tanner loves wearing his helmet even when he doesn't need to. He wants to be like his big brothers.
Landen on his shark bike. For some reason, I didn't get a picture of Gage on his bike.Landen has attended the Syracuse Montessori for the past year. I have seen him learn and grow so much. I tell many people that Landen is probably my most challenging child. However, there has been such an improvement in his attitude since he has been going to school. I am so proud of how hard he has worked and all that he has learned. Landen picks up new concepts so quickly. Sometimes I wonder if he even listens at school and the things he tells me he has learned shocks me. Landen is learning to write and knows how to spell his name. Landen is left handed so it has been pretty difficult for Mike and I to help him because we just aren't sure how he should be holding a pencil. He knows all of the sounds the letters in the alphabet make and is starting to read simple three letter words.
It is fun to see the differences between Gage and Landen and their learning styles. The Montessori is about self learning and it allows the students to pick and choose the things they work on. The school sends home a weekly binder filled with the papers they had completed during the week. Gage's binder would be filled with all different kinds of papers. In Landen's binder, I would be lucky to see one paper. The few times there were more than one I would notice a difference in the coloring styles. I knew there was another boy in the class named Landen. I would ask Landen if he had completed the work or if maybe some of the papers belonged to the other Landen. Landen at first would tell me he colored them and then later would tell me he wasn't sure if he had done it or not. How could you not know?
When Gage was in preschool, he would come home singing all of the songs he had learned. I continually asked Landen if he was learning songs for his program. He said he was. I would ask him to sing them to me and he would tell me he didn't know any of them. Needless to say I was a little worried about today's end of the year program.
Gage is Landen's biggest supporter. He was so excited to be able to see Landen's program. One of the few advantages of afternoon kindergarten. My sister-in-law Jamie was kind enough to watch Tanner so that I would actually be able to see Landen in action.
The program was at the Clearfield Library. After each program I am reminded that I need a new camera before the next one. Landen is in a class of 45 students. They all sang a few songs together and then broke up into smaller groups to sing a few more. Landen actually surprised me. He looked like he knew all of the words and actions. My favorite was "You are special to me." I was able to get Landen to sing me a solo before the program so that I could film it.
After the program, the students sat with their parents and watched a movie put together by the school. It has pictures of all the students during the year in the classroom.
This is the picture of Landen that was in the movie. Here he is with Mrs. Reed in the math room. All of their learning is hands on.
I had to get a picture of my Dad wearing socks with sandals at the program. I don't know how many times I have told him this is a no no but he just doesn't seem to listen.I have the most hilarious dad. This post might not seem funny to a lot of people, but Brandy and I thought what my dad did was funny. I just wanted to write it down so I can remember how funny my dad really is all the time.
Mike and I are running in the Wasatch Back Relay and my dad is going to be a volunteer for the race. Yesterday, Wednesday morning, at 9am the volunteer shifts opened online. My dad was going to be on a conference call so I was going to sign up for him. I asked him to email me his address, email address, age, and shirt size so that way I could print it off and have it right in front of me when I went to sign him up for his shift. I was a little stressed because I wanted to make sure my dad got a good volunteer shift and not be stuck working in the middle of the night. This relay race runs for two days straight.
See a copy of the email my dad sent me. I put ### where his personal information is but everything else is exactly how he sent it to me. Keep in mind I only asked for his address, email address, his age, and shirt size.
Name: Tom Zampedri
Email: ##########
Age: 56----Buy Presents on this Birthday
Address: #########
#########
Phone: #########
Race: Caucasian
Sex: Male
Shirt Size: XL
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Brown, with a touch of Grey
Height: 6’3”
Weight: Just Right
Looks: Good Lookin
My dad always says how busy he is with work, but I think maybe he has too much time on his hands. What do you think?
Where I work, I see what happens when kids don't wear helmets and crash while biking or riding a four wheeler. It isn't pretty. So when I noticed Gage and Landen playing a new "game" I told them they had to wear helmets.
They took turns pushing each other on my garden caddy and letting go as they hit the basketball court cement. Then they would go barreling into the fence. Thankfully, no one got hurt.
After Christmas, we found out that Mike's Grandpa Merrill had cancer that had spread all over. We were told he didn't have much time to live. Hospice soon stepped in and the last few months he slowly went downhill. On April 28th, 2009 he passed away at the age of 85. This picture was taken in January and every time I look at it I am amazed at the fact that all of my children are looking at the camera and it only took one shot. It was like they knew this picture had better be good.
Mike was asked to speak at his grandfather's funeral today. I am always amazed at Mike whenever he gives talks. I think he had the entire place in tears.
We have been so blessed to have had Grandpa Merrill in our lives for as long as we did and look forward to the day when we will see him again.
After trying to force Gage to play soccer when he was 4 (and it not working out), I bribed him into taking another shot at it. I was his coach and we named our team Blue Lightening. Coaching has been an interesting experience. I need to call all my coaches I had over the years and give them a big thanks because coaching isn't easy (thanks dad). I had the cutest kids on my team and they would say the funniest things. One kid came up to me and said, "Coach, my mom said that if we score a goal we get a point!" I couldn't stop laughing.
We had a rough season not winning a single game and tying one. All I cared about was making sure the kids had fun and I think they did. Gage especially had a blast. He really enjoyed himself and I am so proud of him. I think he did a great job for never playing before.
Gage is number 7 and I didn't realize how much taller he was than everyone.
I had Mike coach a few games so I could actually get some pictures. You can see Gage running with his eye on the ball. Gage was great at cutting off the breakaway.
Gage taking a much needed break.
Tanner has a new obsession. A new house is being built across the street from us and everyday Tanner has to look out the window to see what kind of truck or tractor is currently there. He spends a lot of time watching the action. He is way more entertained with this than he is with tv.
Today, there wasn't any machinery.We have had some nice weather this week. It has maybe reached 80 degrees at one point. The kids have been really looking forward to getting out the new swimming pool and playing in the water. I tried to explain to them that it wasn't quite warm enough. We did turn on the hose and let the kids jump on the tramp with water. They still were wanting some pool action so here is what we ended up with.
My kids are definitely spoiled. In our last house, they would always want to go play in the water. After setting everything up, they would barely go in the water because it was so cold. In this house, I made Mike put a hot and cold hose bib in the back so the kids could swim in warm water. So the tub they are sitting in is more like a hot tub. Benefits of having a plumber for a husband. Of course, my kids will have a reality check whenever we go to Lagoona Beach this summer. That water is freezing!