Little Miss Fleet Feet

Something extra fun happened here at CK today. A package arrived addressed to Grace Doyle care of Camp Kreitzer. There was no return address or anything else to identify the sender. I was curious. I had no idea what it could be. Her birthday isn't until September and no one had mentioned sending anything. I waited impatiently for the end of VBS and as soon as the girls walked through the door, Grace and Mia went to work to open the package.

What a surprise when out of the box came her very own trophy! It is a winged foot, personalized to commemorate her first place performance in the 100 yard dash on the fourth of July. The giver? Her dear dad and running coach. It touched my heart that he'd thought to order the trophy she desired. Grace was thrilled and I was filled with gratitude that my kids have such a great daddy who's full of surprises that delight us. (I'm hard at work on a few things to show my appreciation... :)

God's Hands

No meanness, no injury, no injustice

only kindness, compassion, mercy and love

from Hands

by Jewel (love her)

If I could tell the world just one thing

It would be that we're all OK

My hands are small, I know

But they're not yours, they are my own

We'll fight, not out of spite

For someone must stand up for what's right

'Cause where there's a man who has no voice

There ours shall go singing

In the end only kindness matters

We are God's eyes

God's hands

God's mind

God's heart

We are God's hands

We are God's hands

Runny People

The runners

(Tara, Mia, Brendan, Chris, Sophie, Ella, Madeleine, Ryan, Alice & Grace)

Our group was a little smaller this year because Jes and Dave left for St. Maarten on the 4th

(making it easier for Chris to snag 2nd in his age group!)

Here comes Mia finishing the mile

Go Grace Go! She took first place for the girls in the 100 yard dash.

And was very disappointed that her prize was not a trophy.

Maybe next time.

Brendan ran with Ella (who had to hold up her skirt).

When she ran past me, she was chugging along and looking a little perplexed by the whole thing. She's been asking to race again though so she must have enjoyed it!

This was the 13th year for the Liberty 5K. We think 2002 may have been our first year to run it and that a representative from the Kreitzer family has been there every year but one since then. The course is grueling but I love it. The first mile+ is on the road but after that, the course winds through the park, up three hills, past a lake and to the finish line. This year, Tara ran a personal best, Chris took second in his age group, Madeleine and Brendan ran the 5K (Madeleine and I got in a little mother-daughter bonding along the race course again this year minus the vomiting--Yay!), Mia ran the kids' mile and Ryan, Grace, Sophie and Ella ran the 100 yard dash with Grace taking first for the girls and beating most of the boys as well. As for me, I finished and ran the whole way which was my only goal given that I have not run much at all since January. I'm pretty sure I did it faster than the year I walked it seven months pregnant with Baby G. All in all, a great time. Which is why we keep coming back for more.

Bing Bang Boom

I think I covered my love of July 4th in last year's blog post. So I'll avoid repeating myself and just say--I really love the 4th of July. This year was no exception. Our celebration started on the 3rd with Woodstock's fireworks display. I have said before that they are the most impressive I've seen, which isn't entirely true. I think the ones I saw during Fallas in Valencia, Spain were better. They had varieties completely new to me. Their fire code must be different though (if they have one) and it is quite possible that I risked my life watching them.

This year's show went on for over 40 minutes, so long that the kids actually started to get bored. The finale got their attention though and was worth waiting for.

The morning of the 4th, everyone got up early and trekked to Winchester for the Liberty 5K. I'll write more about that and post those photos next time. Later, back at CK, there was swimming and lots of eating. We had a houseful with the Doyles, Lauderdales and Fullers, my Aunt Carol, Uncle Doug and cousins Paula and Rebecca. Paula is Madeleine's age so that was a treat for her and Rebecca and John's two daughters have hit it off very well with Mia and Grace. They're homeschoolers too so we have a lot of notes to compare.

We had planned to take our crew to more fireworks after everyone left but we had tired babies and Chris had a trip to pack for.

Enjoy the photos!

Ooooh Ahhhhh

Back at CK

Little Birdies

You never know what you'll find down country roads. A few weeks ago, my parents discovered a little family of phoebes nesting near the ceiling in a corner of the pool house. We arrived just in time to see the babies peering cautiously over the top of their nest, then easing slowly up to the edge and finally taking the leap away from safety and into the wild, blue yonder. The thing that interested me about the whole process was the way the babies left. You would think when it was time to go, their instincts would tell them all to go, fly away, together. That's not how it happened though. They went one by one, the last one edging along the board away from the nest for hours before finally leaving. I wonder why and what he was thinking.

The girls loved the whole process. They would stand on tiptoe and peer up at the nest, carefully counting the babies and giving us a daily tally. My little niece Anya set up a chant of, "Fly birdies, fly" that Ella quickly echoed.

For me, it was a perfect opportunity to remind the girls of a favorite line from Little Women, Beth's counsel to her sisters that "little birdies in their nests agree". I showed them how small the nest was and I think they got it. Just in case though, I followed up with my usual question, "and what happens if they don't agree?" "They fall out and get eaten." (Raise eyebrows and stare pointedly) "Exactly".

Family bonding

And then there were three

I'm outta' here

Musings on 40

My youthful self with sweet Brendan

So, I've probably been thinking about turning 40 for a few years now. Not obsessively. It's more like a thought in the back of my mind reminding me every so often, "it's coming". Most of my friends are turning 40 this year as well, a handful of whom I've known since first grade and it's been interesting to hear people talk about it. Not surprisingly, the guys mostly shrug it off with only a couple insisting on re-celebrating their 39th year. In contrast, nearly 100% of the women talk about struggling with turning either 30 or 40 and many laughingly boast of hearing comments that they don't look anywhere near their age. Of course, behind that statement looms a dread of the day when that is no longer true.

For me, 20 was strange, 30 was easy and 40 took a bit of getting used to but now that I'm here, I'm sensing the winds of change bringing some very good things in the next decade. My 30s were actually pretty hard. Chris and I got married three weeks in to them and weathered a lot together over the next ten years. (We celebrate that milestone anniversary in two weeks!) We've been through two miscarriages, two moves far from home, major health issues as well as all of the normal struggles of raising a gaggle of young children. We've done a lot of searching for our identity as a family--our roles, how to run the household, how to educate and discipline the children, how to spend our time and our money. We read a lot of books and had a lot of talks about all of those topics. At the same time, I struggled with the loss of my "career". I had always loved work--the structure, the routine, the tangible results. Staying home was something I did for the good of the children, not for my own fulfillment but I have grown to love it and to see that my choices do not have to be as black and white as I used to think. I have found ways to do the things that matter to me.

In reflecting on turning 40 and moving toward middle age (yikes!), my thoughts keep drifting to the summer I spent at Triple C Camp in Charlottesville as counselor for the 10-12 year old girls. It was a truly magical time. The camp was very laid back and although our group had a schedule of activities every day, I had a lot of time to fill with my own ideas. So, we headed into the woods, swinging on vines, sliding down mud slides and creek walking. I read aloud to the girls as they lounged in the grass beneath the trees and I sang to them. They loved "Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Old Oak Tree" almost as much as my girls do now. My uniform at camp consisted of my camp shirt, old, old shorts and Tevas. I was always dirty. And I was carefree in a way I hadn't been since I was a kid.

I am hoping that getting older will be a little like that. That I will let go of the unimportant things, of vanity, of the illusion of control and lose myself in doing what I can to love the people God puts in my life. I want to serve my family and extended family. I want to be there for my grandkids, in-laws and parents. I want a lifelong, close relationship with my siblings. I want my nieces and nephews to know that they are the best kids on the planet. And I want to keep running forever--or until I find a cool group of old women to laugh with while doing water aerobics! I have a few other goals I'd like to check off my list as well but none as important as these things.

And if I ever do need a little shot of youth, I can always jump out of another plane. That pretty much set me up for the next few years! Thanks again, C! You are número uno and I do want tickets to the show (Tony Hortonism).

OK, take good care and see you here next time! (And if you have any thoughts of your own on turning 40 or aging in general, please leave a comment or shoot me an email.)

More Birthday Fun

So, after our exhilarating jump, I really wanted to go again but by then it was lunch time so we headed over to Rice Village, ate at Le Madeleine and wandered around Half Price Books. The kids were troupers the whole day. I was so proud of them. At about nap time, Jack and Barbara herded the girls into our van, said goodbye and Chris and I had two days to ourselves for more celebration and downtime before going home to prepare for the trip to Virginia.

We did quite a few fun things--we spent some time hanging out talking and drinking very good beer at an Irish pub, we stopped by a Poor Clare monastery where they raise miniature ponies, we played mini golf, saw a movie and, the biggest surprise--Chris suggested we shop! Unbelievable. Not only that but he played personal shopper and found me a very cute t-shirt that says "Girl Mom" which doesn't mean that I'm girly as one person asked but that I am the mom of girls. I have been wearing it proudly. They have a "Boy Mom" version too for all of you boy moms out there!

The best part of our mini vacation was the B & B. It was very pretty, comfortable and we had it all to ourselves, even the private pool out back. The owner came over every morning to make us breakfast but otherwise we were on our own.

We met Jack and the girls at Texas A & M before we went home where we toured the George HW Bush Museum and Library. As it turns out, the library is not for tourists, only serious researchers which I suppose makes sense. Jack has been wanting to make this trip for about a year. I'm glad we finally did it because we learned a lot and had fun too.

Now, just a couple of days later, we're in Woodstock, VA. Life moves fast, no? I've already taken a lot of pictures of our happenings here and since I'm on vacation, I suppose I'll have more time to blog. We'll see. Tata for now.

Madeleine made this shirt in honor of my special day.

The back had a picture of Pac-Man in honor of my Ms. Pac-Man obsession and it said "Feliz cumpleaños" and "go Alice, it's you birthday"

I loved it.

One of the miniature ponies

Looking down the driveway from the front of the B & B

The trees were beautiful

The front of the B & B

The George Bushes

I really liked this quote and I think it applies well to parents. I'm going to put it up in our homeschool room to remind myself that I should be serving my children, not controlling them or making decisions for them that they could be making for themselves

We visited the White House

Ella the rapper--someone had dressed her in Grace's shorts

In this photo, she is standing near George and Barbara's cemetery

The grounds were beautiful

Taking Flight

So tired