End of a Season

A season of driving maybe?  Actually the cross country season.

 I know people thought we were crazy, but we decided to have Anna and Grace run cross country with their team back in VA.  Since we really weren't in Ohio until August, there was no way to make anything happen with a team here.  We've been running with this VA team for the past 7 years (through several name changes), even since Nathan and Luke started running with them.  We have so enjoyed the team members, and the coach is one of the godliest people I know!  The older girls on the team have been such good examples and role models for Anna and Grace.  I am often saying things like, "How would Tess talk to that person?"  or "Do you think that is the attitude Annie would have?"  or "How do you think Carol would act in that situation?"  It is such a blessing to have older girls in our lives that demonstrate such wonderful character qualities!  I wanted to keep that connection as long as possible.

 But it wasn't all easy.  We drove back for meets and a few practices, but mostly the girls were running the workouts of their own back here in Ohio.  Anna and Grace are not really the same pace, so Anna was definitely by herself.  It is hard to really push yourself when you are running on your own!  That led to some frustrations in the beginning of the season for Anna, but she was able to push through, and by the end of the season her times were faster than the ones for last season.  And it definitely made her and Grace appreciate all the more the times when they were able to practice with the team!

Faith was the rock star for Grace.  She ran with Grace for pretty much all of the workouts, which was a huge help and motivation for Grace, who was much less enthused about this long-distance running plan than Anna was.  Faith is going to be an amazing runner, I think!  She's got a good start anyway.  Grace really is a social runner, it turns out.  In the meets, she always chose to run with a friend of hers because "we have really good conversations, Mom, and she's just so nice to talk to."  Hey, that sounds like fun to me! 

 The last meet was last Saturday, Nov. 3, and all the little kids plus Luna came with us!  Bob, Caleb, and Jonathan were at a VT football game with Nathan and his girlfriend, so we couldn't leave anyone at home!

 It was a really great experience for Luna.  She got to meets TONS of people, as well as some other dogs.  Pretty much everyone stops to pet a cute puppy, and Luna really does like people a lot. She's scared of other dogs, so all the more reason to have her meet a lot!  She was pretty tired after all  the walking around though.

 The meet was held in a park with a lake, so there was a sandy "beach" part.  The kids had so much fun digging and building sand castles, even though it was actually a fairly chilly and windy day!  When the sun was out, it wasn't too bad, but Verity (of course) got her shoes and her jacket sleeves all wet, and then she was less than happy.

 Luna enjoyed digging in the sand, and she kept gazing out over the water like she was thinking about diving in.  I had no desire for a wet, sandy dog in the van, so I kept a firm grip on her leash, lol.  Some other time she can explore her water dog ancestry!

You can see Faith here acting like it is a warm summer day.  Do not be fooled!

The season was a good transition help for the kids, I think.  It really was so nice to go back to VA so many times to see friends, and to work on the house.  It made the move seem like a much more gradual transition process.  I will say I am glad for a bit of a break in the driving now.  In less than 3 weeks, we drove 54 hours of long-trip driving, most of with lots of kids and a dog!  Good thing Luna turned out to be such a great traveler!