Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Jr. Olympics, birthday celebration, and a convention all in one week {whew!}

Back in March I wrote about how Anna decided to focus on running over swimming, and we were all looking forward to how she'd do in track now that she could concentrate on one sport.  She got off to a good start, breaking a team record in the 300 hurdles the very first time she competed in the event. But by the second meet, things weren't looking good. Her times were slow and her right foot was hurting. We debated whether we should take her to the doctor but decided to wait another week.

The following Monday when I picked her up from school, she was in tears. A boy had jumped off a staircase, accidentally landing on her sore foot. It now hurt enough that Marc took her to an urgent care clinic and we found out she had a chip fracture. The doctor said it probably started as a stress fracture, but the staircase incident caused part of the bone to chip off. So she wasn't able to run for almost a month and missed most of her spring season. She was able to come back for the last two meets, but had to drop hurdles and run shorter distances.

The summer club season started off rough -- slow times in her favorite event, the 800 meter run, and she still wasn't able to run anything longer. But eventually she started to heal and ended up winning first place in her national qualifier in the 800 by a pretty big margin.

Photobucket


So we began planning a trip to Houston for the AAU Jr. Olympics. Marc's mom and two sisters surprised us by saying they'd be flying out to Houston to watch Anna. They get the best fan awards for making the trip and because they came armed with "Team Anna" t-shirts, hats, and even a large banner!
Photobucket

I got the bad mom award because we almost missed seeing her run the 800, so I have no pictures. She did very well, placing 23rd out of 73 runners, but her goal was to make the top 12 and advance to finals, so she was kind of disappointed. If she had matched her personal best time (from a small meet a few weeks prior), she would have made it.  

She also got to compete in the high jump, but I'm not allowed to talk about that. Let's just say it wasn't her best day of jumping, although she doesn't look bad in this picture.  I don't care how high {or low} she jumps -- I'm a proud momma no matter what.

Photobucket

And then it was birthday time! I am now the mother of two teenagers {help me!}. Ryno didn't seem to mind spending his second birthday in a row in Texas. We celebrated first at Pappasito's and then had a little party in the hotel lobby.

Photobucket

Next, we had a day to sleep in, shop at Ikea {so wish we lived near one}, eat ice cream, and watch more Olympics {the real kind this time}. A day later, I headed to the THSC Homeschool Conference while Marc took the kids to my hometown to hang out with my dad's former neighbors. This family practically adopted Grace last summer when I helped my dad move, so it was a sweet reunion. Grace adores their daughter and says it's like getting to be a big sister. : )

Photobucket

They hung out at the beach and had another birthday celebration for Ryne while I sat in awe, listening to SWB for two days.  Before Anna even qualified for Jr. Olympics, I noticed this convention was the same week, so I was really hoping it would all work out and I could attend the conference too. SWB is taking a break from convention speaking, so this might have been the only chance I'll get to hear her speak.  

My local homeschool convention is very nice, but I think the whole "everything is bigger and better in Texas" saying is true in this case. I was pretty impressed with the speakers and the vendor hall. At first, I worried it would be awkward not knowing anyone there, but it was actually kind of nice just having some me time. In the evening I shopped at another store I don't have access to, The Container Store, and chilled at the hotel, watching the Olympics and chatting with my sister on the phone. I had to laugh though when I was checking into my hotel, because it turns out all the hotels in the area were full with two very different groups of people; check out SWB's blog for details and a funny picture.

Now we're back home and enjoying the last couple weeks of summer, even though I have a million things to do before school starts. I'll try to give you a sneak peek at one of those things before the week is over.

Hope you're enjoying your summer too!

2 comments:

  1. Oh, I could feel Anna's pain as I read about her foot. How great she qualified after all that. She has a lot to be proud of, and you do too, Mom. :)

    Happy birthday, Ryne! Orville will be 13 in less than 2 months.

    Now, I have to go read SWB's blog. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. HA! I'm glad you did not die in a matter/antimatter explosion. I guess I'm thankful we all survived. :) LOL!

    ReplyDelete