The Final, Final Mile!

It's that time of year again for The Final Mile. Emily has participated for three years and unfortunately this is her final year. Each of the three Elementary Schools in our town participate in Marathon Club during the first couple of months of the school year. The kids run around their track at lunch time a couple of times per week making their way up to 25 miles. At this point they are invited to participate in the final 1.2 miles at the track at the local high school. It is a very big deal for the kids and more importantly, it gets them very excited about exercising! You can see Emily's previous two years here and here.

It's hard to believe that only 10 minutes before it was about to start it wasn't even raining. Boy did it start and so did the wind! You'll have to excuse the graininess of my pics as I stayed up in the bleachers and it was so wet that I forgot to check the settings on my camera! Apparently I didn't care at the time!!

Here's the first group coming around the bend.

This is what it looked like off to the side of the bleachers. Don't let it fool you because the bleachers didn't keep us dry!
Our town's fine football team was practicing for a very important playoff game tomorrow night! Go Lions!!!
Here's Emily in the next couple of shots checking in with her card to make sure that she does every lap!

And finally her teacher, Mrs. Lee, giving her her medal! Congratulations Emily! By this point my glasses were so wet that I couldn't even tell if the pic was in focus!!

These are what drowned rats look like!

What we've been up to!

Once again, its been a bit since I've posted but I had the time to update today!

This year, for the first time, Katie decided that she didn't want to go Trick or Treating and since Gord was working there wouldn't be anybody home to hand out candy, she opted to stay home and do that. She did a great job with the kids and seemed to enjoy it. Emily got invited out for a party first and then to go Trick or Treating with them. Emily's the witch in the purple!
I'm including the next picture, even thought it's not a very good one, since it was the 10,000th picture with my big camera. I got my camera in May 2008 so I've taken 10,000 pics with it since then. I just wish that my 10,000th picture was a much better one!
Katie had her first band concert of the year the other night and they did a really nice job. Unfortunately I never caught a picture of Katie but here's the 7th Grade band as a whole!
I know that it's not the kids' birthday until December but I tried to be proactive this year and think about their birthdays much earlier. Unfortunately it wasn't earlier enough and all of the weekend slots were already taken so we decided to take advantage of no school on Veteran's Day and have their party then. We invited about 27 kids between Katie and Emily and I think that there were about 23 kids that ended up coming. They were a wonderful group of kids and everyone seemed to have a good time!

Gotta love Costco cake!!
I found some funky candles for the cake and they worked out well!
Gord helped me light them.
Katie and Emily blowing out the candles!
Here's the group shot although I discovered after taking it that there were still a couple in the changing room and they had all skidaddled before I could retake the picture!
Last night was Emily's Father Daughter dance for her school. Gord was able to take the night off in order to attend. This was taken right before they left. Emily looks so grown up!
Gord got Emily a very pretty corsage for the night!
Boogieing the night away!

Gord was having a great time!!

This was taken as the night was ending. They both had such a great time!

Here's a picture of Emily with her friends at the dance!

Before I end the post I need to express an area of concern in the neighborhood. Gangs have moved in and I think that they're about to take over the neighborhood. We now have the Scooter Gang! I'm scared ~ how about you??!!

Fun with Fall Leaves

I went for a really nice walk yesterday on a rare November sunny Northwest day and I decided to come home and get my camera out to take some pics of the girls playing in the leaves!

Last Meet of the Year!

Katie had her last Cross Country meet of the year today. All in all I think she did really well with it and I'm proud of her for trying something new. The top 2 girls all year were from different schools in our town and let me tell you, those 2 young ladies can run!!

Katie may not be the fastest girl in the group but she can definitely kick it in the end when she needs to. You can see her switching into kick it mode in this picture.

Here she is just a little closer.

Almost there Katie! Check out the signature hair!!

This event is hosted by LC and it is called the LC Ice Cream Invitational because they provide everyone with ice cream for the end of the year send off! Katie looks like she thinks it was all worth it!

Here are all of the ribbons from the girls that raced.
These were Katie's official Cross Country pictures.

Clarkenhoven Christmas and more meets!

This past Sunday (which just happens to coincide with Canadian Thanksgiving) we celebrated the Annual Clark Christmas! I managed to grab a picture of all of the grandkids with Nana and Papa.

Katie & Emily loved their new throws that they got from Auntie Pat along with all sorts of other gifts from other Aunties and Uncles!

Last Thursday was another beautiful fall day and Katie had a Meet out at Nooksack. She shaved more than a minute off of her time to get a Personal Best time for herself.

Unfortunately it's hard to be a Mama cheering and taking pictures at the same time so the next two are all I ended up with. Katie prefers to wear her hair down and I think that they turned out to be cool pictures anyways!

Now, a week later, today's meet was at Cornwall Park in Bellingham. We lucked out with the weather again and it was dry and warm. Katie didn't PB today but she was only 5 seconds longer than last week and this was a more difficult course so I think she did really well anyways!

This picture was near the beginning of the race.
This one isn't focused real well but she was just coming out of the woods and ahead of her friend Morgan.
She's just about to step over the Finish Line. Congratulations Katie!

Mt. Baker Invitational Meet

Wow! I haven't posted in awhile and now twice in one day!! I'm just so excited that my kids are feeling better. It was a very long haul for Emily. She was sick for 10 days and missed a whole week of school. She has dropped about 10 lbs since she's been sick. She's still going to be weak for a couple of days but I'm so glad for her that she's feeling much better!

Yesterday was the Mt. Baker Invitational Cross Country Meet. This seems to be the big one of the year. It is the only one held on a Saturday and all of the High School Teams compete too. What a wonderful fall day it was. Very cold though!

This is the view as we drove up. You can see the fog still lingering around and the frost on the ground.

This was our team's tent! The Middle School kids are in the lighter green and you can see some darker greens in the background that are the High Schoolers.

This was the start of the race. Again, you can see them running through the fog!

Katie got a great start. She was running off to the side and out of everyone's way.

Unfortunately this didn't turn out to be a great race for Katie. I was told that it was a tough course and coupled with her being sick this week it wasn't mean to be but she took it in great stride and she will get her turn again on Thursday.

Our town took first and second in the Girls' Middle School race. A gal from a Christian School in town took first and a gal from Katie's team took second. They are fantastic athletes! They ran the 1½ miles in 9 minutes and change.

Gord the Graduate!

On Friday, after spending 4 weeks down at the Academy, it was time for Gord to Graduate! He was just a little nervous here! I am very proud of him!A contingency of people came down from the Sheriff's Office, including Sheriff Bill Elfo (to Gord's right), to present him with his diploma. I've never considered Gord to be a tiny guy but check out the gentleman to Gord's left. Gord is teeny, tiny next to him!!!
Here is Bill Elfo presenting Gord with his Diploma.
I got to pin Gord's badge on his uniform.
The man to the left of Gord in this picture is the other Deputy that went through the Academy at the same time.
Gord and his Mom.

His mom and me!

And that's Gord's sister, Cathy in this picture. The kids weren't able to join us for the ceremony because Emily in particular has been very sick.

I was able to get a picture of Gord smiling when we got home!