Cross Country Memories

A ran for the cross country team this fall. This was a first for him in so many ways. It was the first time he played on a school team and the first time he has run cross country. It was also the first time that A has been on on a coed team.

It started in the summer with him participating in weekly ultimate frisbee games. This was a chance to meet the coach and some of the players. The next event was GO camp in August. It was like a retreat. He was paired up with another team member and they got to know one another. A was teamed up with the best runner on the team whose name is Grant.

The group photo above was taken at a meet in Sultan that A attended but didn't run in because he hadn't attended enough practices to run.

A's first meet was on September 13th at McCollum Park (hosted by Arch Bishop Murphy High School). It was a very small meet which was a good way to get his feet wet. I am proud to say that I was at every one of the five meets that he raced in.

The meet that was the farthest away was in Port Angeles and A didn't attend that one. The largest meet was the Nike Invitational held at a golf course in Marysville. There were 269 runners in A's race.

Some teachers from the school came to this meet with signs to encourage the team.

Here is A running in the rain:

The team had practices every weekday after school from 4 until 6 pm. When I would pick him up, I'd wait to see the big yellow school bus (with the school name on the side) pull into the parking lot and then I'd know he was back.  Most of the practices were held at a nearby state park.

One fun memory is the pin awards. At the team dinners the team leadership (a small group of  seniors) handed out wooden clothespins with something written on them. They were usually funny. One pin that A received was for being a jester and another was for his one-handed catches.

The team dinners were potluck and were a good chance to meet other parents. A's coach was very dedicated and a fun guy to be around. He is super positive and encouraging.

One fun thing about cross country meets was running into A's former classmates from NCA who now go to other high schools and also run cross country.

Here is A at the South Whidbey Island meet on October 5th.

nearing the finish line:

A's fastest time in the 5,000 metres was 21.22 at his last meet of the season which was held in Carnation, in the rain. This was October 19th. He started the season with a time of 24.55.

The school's team sent one young man to the state championship which was held in Pasco in early November.

I hope that A runs cross country again next year. He made many friends in his grade and challenged himself to persevere.


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Thankgiving 2017

This year was a first for me. I hosted American Thanksgiving. We have lived in the US for almost 18 years now. We've spent Thankgiving in Victoria, at other peoples' houses here in Seattle, and we've spent it alone but this year we had guests over for the first time.

Our guests were friends from our church - the Chases.

We had a 20 pound turkey which I brined the day before, gravy, mashed potatoes (which I made the day before), cranberry sauce, and two different green bean side dishes. I made one green bean dish and E made the other. We had pumpkin pie from Costco and E brought apple dumplings which she made with her son's help. I used lots of recipes from the Pioneer Woman. Here's the turkey. It had great flavour.

Here is my table before the food was ready. We put another leaf into the table. I needed to buy some new plates since I don't have a complete set of china to serve 8 people.

My hubby helped me a lot with cleaning and cooking. Here he is peeling oranges (with A's help) to make the brine.

It was a lot of work getting the house guest ready. One example is I took out all the books out of the bookcase in order to dust. It is really nice having the clutter gone.


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