Friday, August 31, 2007

What did you do for your vacation?

I did a lot on my vacation! I relaxed, I read. I swam, I sunbathed. I panned for gold, I went running. I played tennis, I ate well (too well.) I knit, I hung out with friends. I went hiking, I went to a funeral, but a happy one. Let me elaborate on a few of these things.

I ran in a little race the first weekend of my vacation. It was the 5th Annual... so you'd think there would be a lot of people in it. Not so! We (my friend, my sister and I) arrived at the race and there were only about 25 people (or less!) registered. I've always worried about running in smaller races. Not that I am concerned about beating other people - I just like to race against myself. But coming in last, or close to last can be a bitter pill to swallow. So we lined up at the start, in total disbelief at how few participants there were, and off we went. We came in 1st, 2nd and 3rd... to last! It was actually pretty funny, I laughed about it for days. But I still matched my best 5k time, so I consider it a success. If coming in last is the worst thing about a small race, the best thing is the odds are in your favor for winning raffles and ribbons! I came in third place for my age group (out of 4 - my friend was fourth) and my sister came in 2nd in her age group. We all won raffle prizes - from fold up chairs, to homemade jams, to coupons on new running shoes and more.

There was a kids' 1 mile race and Helen and Sophie did it with their two friends. Hey, they got front page coverage!
Sophie is in the yellow sweatshirt/pink sweatpants (#8) and Helen is to the right in blue shorts and blue shirt (#7). They had such fun!

We did a very small hike - if you can call it that - and enjoyed some beautiful views of Mt. Blue and Tumbledown. Note the 2 American Girl Dolls in Sophie's backpack - they came too.
We went to a very special funeral on August 24th. My husband's great uncle was killed in WWII in Papua, New Guinea and they just recently recovered and identified his remains. Read more here or here. He received a burial with full military honors and I was so glad we were able to attend. It was really amazing, and a great history lesson for all of us, especially the kids. Here are some photos that were particularly meaningful to us:

More to write, but it will have to be tomorrow!

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