First Race of the Season

And so the cross country season begins...unlike some other years, the late start to the school year means that Finny didn't get much of a chance to train before her first race. Normally, she can cram in a couple of weeks of practice before she heads into competition. This year, school went back late and we stayed in Point Roberts, so she only had a couple of training sessions under her belt before the Pinetree Classic.

It is also the longest race in the series, which is normally a good thing for Finny, but that's made a little tougher by her lack of training...

It was pouring rain, but that wasn't going to dampen her enthusiasm for running or for hanging out with these two great Sophie friends!

She was pretty happy with her race overall. 

Here she is on the very damp podium getting her 6th place ribbon:

First Day of School 2015

A new stage: two different schools!

Molly: Grade 8 at Magee
Finny: Grade 6 at FC
Lukey: Grade 4 at FC

Cider House Rules!

In this case, it's the house where we made cider that rules! At the end of the summer, Rose and George invited us to their place to make apple cider with their super fancy press.

It was magical! It's so great to have wonderful adults in my kids' lives...people to teach them all the millions of things we can't, people who care enough to give them experiences and knowledge in unfamiliar areas. This sort of opportunity is priceless.

So, here are some shots of our apple juice odyssey.

Downtime

We never label posts "Downtime"...mostly because we don't have very much. The summer felt full. Between basketball camps, two trips of nine days away for Lukey (the Chilcotin at the start of the summer and Southern California in the middle), sleep away camp for Finny, a trip to the Sunshine Coast, trip to Whistler, and our early summer boat trip to Seattle...we weren't exactly twiddling our thumbs much.

That said, we have had some really nice evenings at my parents' cabin with sunsets, henna sessions and waaaaay too much Disney Channel (man, do I ever hate that junk).

Here's a shot of the kids playing the most ridiculous game ever: Quelf. That's Kate who had to wear the helmet and hold a spatula for the whole time. And apparently Lukey didn't enjoy me taking that picture...

And a quick sunset shot on mom and dad's deck:

It's been a great summer. Back to school in exactly one week.