Fishing with Family

Charlie has brought new adventures into the lives of my kids. He brought his fishing poles over, of which he seems to have an endless supply, and we went to Kleinline. Marin had never been fishing before and Andrew had gone once. They had a really good time. Andrew, Marin and Felipe squealed at the thoughts of baiting the hook with a worm or getting the fish off and throwing it back into the river. We are all about catch and release in our family. I wasn't thrilled about touching either fish or worm so Charlie and Keri did most of the work in that department. It was fun to see the kids enjoying themselves.

Our Yearly Trip to Utah/Idaho

Every year we make the pilgrimage to Utah and Idaho. It's like the Muslims going to Mecca. We go to Utah first, visiting family and friends and then we travel up to Idaho for the Phillips' Family Reunion. I drove with the kids to Utah. The kids were pretty well behaved on the trip. We always stop in Boise to split the trip up with me being the only driver. Neile, Cheyenne, and Grandma and Grandpa Fahsbender met us in Utah. We were able to go see the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House. I had never been to an open house before and I wanted the kids to see the inside of the temple. I think everyone had a good experience. While we were at Grandma Virginia's we did lots of eating. The kids played well together. They were so excited to see their cousin, Cheyenne who was not even 2 years old the last time we saw her. The kids enjoyed going to the playground almost daily, despite the high 90s and low 100s. At least Utah has a dry heat. Dad and I did our usual running. Well, not as much running as he probably would have liked. I was battling a bad chest cold and the altitude just killed me. Dad went out before me and then came home and ran with me. We also took Mom's death walks right up the mountain, hoping that we would have buns of steel after them. Mom walks at a pretty good clip. We went up American Fork Canyon to have a picnic with the Mehlers. Unfortunately I did not get any pictures of that outing. It was a nice visit with Grandma and Myron. Myron spoils us with fresh fruit and homemade bread daily. In fact, one day he made cinnamon raisin bread that was devoured within about 15 minutes of taking it out of the bread machine. We wore him out I think. We sure appreciate the hospitality that is always shown to us when we stay there, although I always feel a little, or a lot, guilty about not doing more to make their lives easier. We look forward to the next trip.

While I was in Utah, I got to see Laura and Carrie Moeaki and Sally Cannon (only briefly). It was fun to catch up and reminisce. It is incredible that we can pick up with each other as if we lived next door and saw each other daily. I love that about my friends. I wish that I did live next door and saw them more frequently than I currently do.

Kevin met us a couple of days before we headed up to Idaho. We drove up on Friday and went to the reunion on Saturday. It is nice to get to see two sets of grandparents on one trip. The reunion was fun, as usual. We always hold it at Downata Hot Springs so the kids get to go swimming. Marin didn't want to go down either of the big slides but Andrew went down one of them. They also went down on some of the smaller ones. We left right after the reunion for Boise and made our way back to Portland. It was a whirlwind of a trip that we do annually. That is about all the car riding the kids will stand.

Fourth of July

This year for the Fourth of July we (Kevin and I) started the day with a 10k race. Marilyn, Charlie, Keri and Brendan did the 5k run/walk. Marin and Andrew stayed behind with Lisa, Kyle, Emily and Grandpa. The weather was pretty warm. Kevin finished in around 49 minutes and my time was 54:44. I was a little disappointed in myself--I had to stop to tie my shoes twice during the race. I didn't follow one of the cardinal rules of racing which was to double knot my shoes. After the race, we hung around in Ridgefield till the parade. Andrew rode on the Sewer District float while Norm walked along side. Andrew seemed to enjoy himself. The rest of us just watched the parade, sweating, while the kids grabbed all the candy they could. After the parade, we went back to the Harker house and played in the pool, bocce ball, horse shoes, and ate. Everyone kind of did their own thing. We had a wonderful dinner--stuffed ourselves silly on fruit pizza and Charlie's chocolate chip cookies. When it got dark, we lit off fireworks. It was an action-packed day. Everyone seemed to have a great time.

Swimming Lessons

I have been bad about enrolling the kids in swimming lessons for the past few months. The last time they took them was back in October. I just got busy with the holidays and school and then baseball season came around and here we are and we are finally getting back to them. I mistakenly enrolled Andrew is the class that he already passed, although Andrew caught my mistake and I got it changed before classes started. I had Marin on the waiting list since her class was filled up. I finally got her in the weekend before her class started. Both of the kids are getting to be very good swimmers. Andrew's lessons are all in the lap pool. They swim laps of different strokes for the whole class. He thinks it's pretty boring, but he is getting much stronger. Marin's class is more fun. They chase after rings that are thrown into the deep end and other fun stuff. I hope to get at least one more session of swimming lessons squeezed in this summer.

End of Year parties with the Kids

Both the kids had end of the year parties in the park down the street from the school. Andrew's was on Monday (school got out on Wednesday.) They took sack lunches and played for about an hour and a half. It was pretty fun. I ended up pushing some of his friends on the swings and then playing the outfield in kickball. These second graders are hard core kickball fans. They are very serious about the rules and take the game so seriously. They don't like to get out. There were lots of tears shed when kids were out. I can't imagine playing kickball on a daily basis with this crew, but it was certainly fun for a one time thing. I couldn't convince Andrew to play though.

Marin's class also went to the park on Wednesday. We were not so lucky with the weather. It was sprinkling and pretty chilly. The kindergarteners didn't seem to mind though. Prior to going to the park, we had a graduation ceremony. Marin's teacher wrote a poem about each child that she read and then presented them with their graduation hat and a handshake. She was a wonderful teacher who really understood each child in that class. She created an environment where the kids were able to thrive. Marin's poem was called Marin Who.

Marin Who

Marin who
Is short blond hair
With delicate earrings
Sparkly necklaces
And vibrant bracelets
An accessories queen
With extra headbands, hair bands, and shoes
In her backpack
Marin who
Loves her family
Going to Publishing House
And writing about her mom
And many family adventures
Marin who
Works hard
And always gives her best efforts
With every task
Marin who
Is kind and helpful
To others
Eager to please
A gentle smile
And hand to help
A classmate or friend in need
Marin who
Has a generous spirit
Who I will remember
Because of her infectious laughter.

Thu Truong

What a great poem that really captures Marin. It was so nice to see her move on to first grade. She has really progressed this year. When we were at the park, I spent much of the time giving the kids underdogs. I was pretty tired after doing at least 40 underdogs. They would giggle and laugh each time. Some only wanted to go sort of high and others I couldn't get high enough. It was interesting to watch the different personalities come out. We had pizza and veggies and fruit in the rain. It was a fun day though.

I am so proud of both of the kids for doing their best in school. They are both well liked. They both excel in their studies. What wonderful children I have.

Taekwondo Purple Belt

Andrew tested on Friday night for his purple belt. He was really nervous on the way there. He gets very anxious before every test. He was worried that he wouldn't get his new belt. I knew that he would if his teacher told him that he was ready to test. He did really well on his form and with sparring. There were only two boys going for their purple belt. The other kid towered over Andrew, but he held his own. We are so proud of his progress. If all goes well, he will have his black belt by the time he turns ten. Good Job Andrew!

Newport Marathon

Eden and I have been training for 18 long weeks. We saw all our hard work end on May 30 in the Newport Marathon. It was really fun to follow the same training plan as Eden. Each week we would email each other about how our training was going. It was amazing how similarly our training went. We ran most of our runs at about the same pace so it was looking like it was going to be a fun run. Eden had initially said she would come out by herself. Then Jarrett wanted to come out with her. Pretty soon the kids were coming too and it turned into a family affair. Eden and her family got here on Wednesday. Eden had had a mishap with the neighbors' dogs before she left Maryland. She ended up having an infection on the top of her foot, right where her laces would be. It looked pretty nasty and was pretty painful for her. We went to the instacare Thursday afternoon and found out that she needed antibiotics. We were worried that her foot would really bother her for 26.2 but she was determined to race.
We left Friday for the coast. It was a long, crowded trip out to Newport. The kids were pretty well behaved, although they serenaded us with a little ditty that Ashton made up called "Ashton and Marin". By the end of the car trip, Jarrett was ready to jump out the window if he heard any more of that song. Andrew couldn't resist singing it though.
We went to race headquarters and got our packets for the race. Eden and I are in the same age category so I was looking for an edge to do better. I thought if I entered the Athena division (if you weigh over 145 lbs.) that I could potentially do better. I asked the lady if I could be weighed in. She wrote my number down, set the scale to 145 and told me to step on. I thought that with my clothes, a fleece, and shoes that I might be close. The scale did not budge and she told me to come back after I had eaten dinner and maybe I could be entered in the Athena division. Well, as Kevin was looking up race results, it turns out they kept me in that division, although I didn't make the weigh in.
Eden and I both were a little tense the afternoon before the race. Eden had a string of bad luck that included dropping two batteries out of her camera, right into the ocean as we were watching the sea lions. She was beginning to wonder if she was going to have any luck on her side at all. We both got a decent night's sleep, which can be unusual before a big race.
We got up and were ready to had to the start Saturday morning at 6:30 am. Kevin took us to the start. It is a pretty small race--there were less than 700 runners. There looked like a lot of seasoned marathoners there. There were two men who were running their 100th marathons and another that was well into the 200s. It was pretty impressive. We were anxious for the start of the race. It took about 30 seconds for us to cross the start line after the gun was sounded. We had decided that barring anything unforeseen we would run together. We were going to take it easy for the first half of the race and hopefully pick up the pace towards the end. It is a beautiful course that follows the Yaquina Bay. It is pretty isolated though. There is not much in the way of crowd support except at the turn around (15.5 mile mark) and at the finish. It was nice to have Eden for company. We were both feeling pretty good. Her foot was holding up pretty well. Newport Marathon is billed as a flat marathon, although we came to find out that from the turn around on, it is a gradual uphill. From mile 25-26 it is a pretty significant uphill with the last .2 miles finishing downhill. We stayed right on pace for the first 17-18 miles, maybe even longer. At about 20 miles, we slowed pretty considerably. We wanted to finish between 4:15 and 4:30. We ended up finishing in 4:28:55. It felt really great to cross the finish line. We ran the whole thing, except for the aid stations, which we walked through to stay hydrated. We both got emotional as we got close to the finish. It was really nice to have our families there. Norm and Marilyn drove out for the day just to see us cross the finish line as well. We appreciated all the support, especially from the kids who were great cheerleaders. What an amazing thing. We are already planning to race another marathon and beat our time. I guess we have the bug.