Thankful-- Part II

Dear Brother,

We missed you here at Thanksgiving holiday. The family, minus 1, got up and out to the park in the morning, ready to run. The weather was amazing. I had been praying for "no rain" on this morning, and with grateful hearts, we were able to run/walk the 5k without a rain drop. It started pouring just as we were heading back to the cars to go home.

The girls really impressed me at this run. The youngest ran almost the entire thing. She did the walk/run sequence but more running than walking. The neighbors were there and their son motivated her by just being in front of him .She wanted to pass him and finish before he did. So, I stayed with her the whole 3.1. Once she passed him she would walk a little and as soon as she heard him coming, she would take off running.

Our older girls made me proud. The Girl who Swims had caught a cold ((hmm, perhaps her earlier weekend travels contributed to his. more on that later)) but she walked the entire 5k with The Mr. The other two girls kept each other going, walking and running. I think my Girl who Sings has the running gene in her - she just doesn't want to own it yet. I'm hoping that even after this past cross country season, she will continue to run. I know she wants to do Track in the spring; I'm just praying she will embrace her inner Paula Radcliffe and keep at it.
The Boy - now that he is of college age, we're giving a lot more freedom to him and his choices. He chose to play football that morning with friends, which is totally fine. He made it home in time to get to the Family Feast.
Ah, the Family Feast. My sister says she counted 42 of us there. I'm thankful my brother has a large home! Everyone brought food and drinks to share - there were plenty of leftovers too! After the feasting we gathered around to watch a slide show on my parent's slide projector. (My youngest was fascinated by this vintage piece of machinery.)
We had some fun times with "Who is that?!" and,
"What are they doing?" and,
"Oh, remember that."

As I mentioned earlier, our Girl who Swims was traveling the weekend prior to the holiday. She had her first ever visit to Disneyland with her swim team. They had a training trip to SoCal, which she raised enough money to go on. And she had a fun time! I know she wants to go back again, since she didn't get to do everything she wanted. I wonder if they can convince the coach to do it again.....