Eleven!

My little boy is 11? How did that happen?

We had a wonderful birthday weekend. Yesterday was spent at the local amusement park. Ryne and Anna are roller coaster buddies, while Marc and I take turns riding with Grace. Thankfully the kids voted for no upside-down rides, but they are already promising that next year they'll be brave enough. I'm not sure I will be though!

Ryne was a little bummed when he first learned his birthday fell on a Sunday, but I think it was perfect. He enjoyed having so many people at church come up and wish him a happy birthday. I had to smile again at God's providence when we sang Great Is Thy Faithfulness (to read about our history with this hymn read this old post). What a perfect moment for reflection and to thank God for His faithfulness in Ryne's life. And I didn't cry this time, so I actually sang with Ryne. : ) After church he opened presents, had his favorite meal (spaghetti), enjoyed an extra large piece of cake, and spent the afternoon putting together his new Indiana Jones Lego kit.

Ryne's birthday has been another great day in a fun-filled summer. The above picture shows him after winning a heat for the first time in a swim meet. He improved a lot in his swimming this year and he interacted with the other kids better. He took a few days off from swimming to go to Webelos camp with Marc. This was his last summer as a Cub Scout. This year he crosses over to Boy Scouts and camp will be 10 days long next year (gasp!).

He's growing up so fast -- 2 inches in less than 2 months! He's even growing out his hair and is actually interested in how he looks. It's kind of a mess right now, so we need to figure out what kind of cut to get him. Any hair stylists out there?

Eleven. I can't believe it.

But, oh, what fun it is watching him turn into a young man.

P.S. Sorry for the long delay on the Brain Balance post! We had 6 straight days of swim meets and I've misplaced the final evaluation results, so I will finish up the post this week.