Speed

Last weekend Cole ran in the Thetford Woods Trail Run. Here he is warming up before the race.

(Click here to check out last year's post and see how much Cole has changed.)

Lining up at the start.

One hundred ninety four middle school boys in this race. Overall, including both middle and high school, 200 schools from 8 states participated in the event.

Sprinting to the finish line ahead of his nemesis from Hazen. Cole has been trying to get ahead of this speedy guy for two summers at the Craftsbury Tuesday Night Trail Races, and at every track and cross country meet this year and last.  They are the same age, but Cole is about twice the size.  Finally a race where Cole gets ahead! He felt like this was the achievement of a lifetime.

Keep in mind, the middle school "team" is thrown together with a handful of kids from different schools throughout Orleans Central Supervisory Union, they essentially have no coach and no training.

Earning 4th place out of 194 boys. Pretty good I'd say.

2700 meter run, 9:44 4th of 194

At the same time, Heather had an all day soccer torunament. We made it back in time to see the nail biter championship game. The game ended in a 1-1 tie which was resolved, not in Glover's favor, in a shoot out.

They had a great season and a lot of fun.

From here I went to Wayne's game at Lake region, while Wes dropped Cole and Heather off at Tangletown Farm for a pig roast party with their friends, and he came home to hunt. Wayne won his game against Stowe, but sorry - not photos! The sun was going down and so was my camera battery.

Saturday

Cole and Heather finished their Hunter Safety course today.  The course had met on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6-9 for the past 2 weeks. They had their written exam on Thursday evening, and today was the "hands on" part of the exam at the shooting range in Orleans. They first had to complete some field exercises during a walk through the woods. They had to practice safe fire arm handling and carrying. The instructors had set up scenarios in the woods with fake animals  and the students had to identify "safe to shoot" or "not safe to shoot" situations. 

Then, back at the firing range, they were observed following instructions to safely handle, load, and fire at a target.

 In this picture, below, Heather is obscured by the stocky fella in orange. 

 After passing the written exam and field excercises with flying colors, Heather shows off her test paper, target, and orange card (which they are required to have to obtain a license.)

 Cole also passed with flying colors!

 Then, after a quick costume change in the car, off to Heather's soccer game! What a change in weather from last week. At 42 degrees it seemed strange to think that last week I was dripping with sweat just sitting and watching Heather's and Wayne's games.

Can't Let Go of Summer

Autumn is turning out to be hotter than our summer. 86 degrees today. Heather had her friend Kelby over and I offered to take them to Shadow Lake beach. The peach and parking lot were packed, so I took them to Stuart and Emily's camp instead.

 It was warm but breezy at the lake. There were a couple of paddle boarders and a handful of kayakers enjoying the afternoon, but no motor boats so it was peaceful.

 Heather and Kelby swam, skipped rocks, and found a couple of water guns to shoot each other with.

Meanwhile, Cole has gone to the East Side to have lunch with members of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra and then on to the Haskel Opera house to see their concert.  This experience is called the "Green Room Project" Wayne participated in it a few years ago. You can relive that post by clicking here.

Wayne - Soccer

Yesterday Lake Region played against Montpelier. Lake Region won 1-0.

Heather had a game in the morning, but my camera settings were way off, so no good photos of her right now. I will try again next time!⚽

Time Warp

Same person. Same place. Different time.

Cole playing soccer at Glover School at age 4 and at age 13.

September, So Far

This post is mostly about September events, but the first day of school was actually August 28th. 

 During the 2nd week of school, Cole's 8th grade class went to Nature's Classroom at the Sargent Center in southern New Hampshire. 

 At Nature's Classroom, the students do a lot of team building activities and science projects. 

 Cole, wearing a green dress, learns about doing laundry the old time way.

Then on September 8th, Wayne turned 16. Where have the years gone?

 He requested Parker Pie pizza...

 ...and raspberry pie.

 Meanwhile, soccer season has begun. Wayne is on the Lake Region JV team but has been invited to some varsity practices and has played in a varsity scrimmage. Cole is on the Glover middle school team.  On game days, players are required to dress up to represent their school.

 Don't they look handsome?

 Because of my new job, working until 5:00 I won't get to see many of Cole's after school sport events this year.  It makes me sad to think that I will miss that part of his last year of middle school. 

 I will be able to catch a few of Wayne's high school games. I made it to this home game against Lamoille in time to see the 2nd half. Wayne will also have some Saturday games.

 Lucky for me, in addition to soccer, Cole is participating in a handful of middle school Cross Country meets on Saturdays. He ran in a meet today at U32 on East Montpelier. 

 The start of the race.

 Finishing the race.  His time was 9:09 (it was a 1.7 mile race) and he was 7th out of 144 middle school boys. Results are listed here on Athletic.net

Heather has also started soccer but I haven't taken pictures yet. She is also enrolled in a Hunter Safety course which will meet on Tuesday and Thursday for the next couple of weeks, ending on a Saturday at the shooting range in Orleans. 

In the meantime, Patches helps her with a homework project.