We Did It! My First Race

WE DID IT!  This is us at the finish line of the Butte to Butte race (pronounced "Byoot").  Shark and Didi were able to walk the race accompanied by a favorite babysitter, and I was able to run the race the whole way--my very first time running a race!  I was so proud of completing this challenge, as it was something I never thought I could do (running is hard!).  This was on the 4th of July, and it was a fabulous way to start off our holiday, with our community. 

These friends helped motivate us and inspire us to take on the challenge of the race.  What a great experience for us all--if you've never done a race, I highly recommend it!  Just look at our happy faces :D!

Jazz and Didi by the river that runs through our town. 

This one is just for fun.  One of the great things about packing up a house for moving is finding Halloween costumes and other such hidden items that had been tucked away--things that you didn't remember you were missing.  Tootie had fun scaring the whole neighborhood with his mask and tutu--I thought it was hilarious.

Of Lovells and Lions

"the twins"   : )

We got to spend the day with our friends Kendall and Lainie and kids, so that made it extra fun.

Since the lighting of the big bear picture wasn't working out, I just zoomed in on Goldie, and I just love how the closeup of her turned out. 

We finally made it to the Portland zoo on a good day (our last trip got rained out).  With the weather being so perfect we were optimistic-- our main goal was for Shark to get to see the lions.  Technically we met our goal, but only barely.  Shark was the only member of our family that managed to see any lions at all--he spied one lioness for about 3 minutes before she disappeared and took a cat nap in hiding.  The rest of us never saw any.  Oh well!  I thought it was fun to take all the pseudo-lion pics that I could instead.

One of Each

Here are a few photos for you--one of each of us.

Jazz wins the prize for bringing Shark the best birthday surprises this year. He traditionally takes each of the kids out for lunch on their birthday (and as we have in the last few years, this year we celebrated Shark's half-birthday instead of his actual too-close-to-Christmas birthday).   Shark was caught unaware, however, when during their lunch date they ended up at the movie theater--he had been dying to see the movie African Cats and was elated with the surprise.  When he got home that afternoon, he was heard to say, "The euphoria of this day is almost more than I can take, and I haven't even opened my presents yet."  Way to go, Dad!

Here is Shark with his 5th grade teacher.   Shark's favorite activity during his 5th grade year was the overnight field trip to the aquarium when the kids got to spend the night in the shark tunnel! His favorite things about his teacher this year were "her ideas and her enthusiasm."  She really was a wonderful person to spend the year with.

Here is Didi with her 4th grade teacher.  Her favorite things about being in this teacher's class were taking the field trip to the state capitol, and "at the end of the year when she visited us [she had been absent quite a bit due to her foot surgery], when I told her about our move, for about half an hour she spent time with just me, teaching me about Pennsylvania."  That meant a lot to Didi, naturally!  Also from Didi:  "Even though she wasn't there for the whole year, she helped me and my friends a lot, and she helped make my year a really great one.  It wasn't until we got a lot of substitutes that I realized that I missed her a lot.  Everyone was tired of having substitutes for the whole year, and when she came to visit, we said, 'EVERYBODY, CLEAN UP, REALLY FAST!'  and 'SHE'S HERE!  SHE'S COMING!  EVERYBODY GET IN YOUR SEATS!' And when she came, she brought us with banana splits because we had fulfilled our goal of 45 points.  We were all so glad when she came to visit us one last time."  {And my mom is so cool for making a special trip to the school that day at the end of the year just to take this picture!}

Here is Goldie with her 1st grade teacher.  Her favorite activities of her 1st grade year included drawing and recess.  For her caption, I quote the following from her:   "My teacher was awesome.  We can both get a little bit crabby sometimes, but that doesn't matter.  What really matters is that she's a good teacher and I love her a lot, and she's meant a lot to me for the whole year that I was there."  And, "It's been a really fun place at my school, and I'm going to miss this place sooo much when I move.  I only have 3 weeks left.  But since that time, the same picture that I had, right there that you see, that's just one life moment that I'm going to remember for a long time.  Bye,  Goldie."  "(Not Goldilocks, 'cause I didn't have long hair at that time, ha ha.  Bye!)"

Are animals allowed at your school?  Because they let this one with a big long tail in to attend the 5th grade graduation ceremony, without question.  Tootie had been sporting this type of tail everywhere he went for several days (a couple of weeks even, perhaps), and I thought it was the cutest thing.  Each time people would ask him what kind of animal he was (and yes, he'd make the appropriate growls for you upon request), he'd give a variety of answers such as a lion, a battle cat (as in He-Man), or an "owl cat" (that one is still a bit of a mystery to me).  Our son with the tail--so funny.  : )

Here I am with one of my favorite friends, Daisy.  She and I are posing in the hallway of our local movie theater (in front of my favorite Audrey Hepburn poster), where they broadcast the opera productions from the Metropolitan Opera of New York.  She's been going to the opera her whole life, and goes to these local theater broadcasts regularly, and I'm so glad she introduced me to them!  She's also been a big fan of stamping and comes to my card classes, and I love visiting and laughing with her.  It's friends like Daisy that have made my stay in Oregon a wonderful adventure.