The Rest of the Trip Part 4

Every year a church in Minnesota hosts a homeschooling track meet.  The Lances's got permission for us Alaskan homeschoolers to join them.  My kids were a little reluctant because they hadn't been training, but Tracy assured us that it was very low key and would be fun.  Besides it was a great excuse to go visit the Lances' again, who are a lot of fun :)

We played some good volleyball games.  Their Dad, Shannon, is very good.  He used to play a lot of beach volleyball in Florida.  

The homeschool track meet was an all day affair, so we took a picnic lunch and got to do lots of visiting.  This was Abigail's last sports event as a high school student.  She almost didn't participate because of the excitement of her upcoming wedding.  But she's glad she did.  She had a lot of fun and she did well.  Running from all the bears in Alaska must be good training (just kidding, you're not supposed to run.)

 You were allowed to enter five events.  Abigail won the shot put, the 1/4 mile run, the running long jump, the softball throw and she and Deborah won the 3 legged race.

Deborah also won the 50 yard dash and got second in the 1/4 mile run and the softball throw.  She would have gotten third in the shot put except for a clerical error by her mother.  Like I said, it was very low key so they let her throw even though I didn't sign her up.

Quentin got third in the 1/4 mile run.  Have I mentioned that Quentin is now taller than Paul?  He grew many inches this summer.


In the picture above, Anna is jumping onto some old mattresses for the High Jump competition.  She got first place but she said that every time she landed it hurt because the edge of one of the mattresses was hard.  She also got third in the shot put.  She didn't place in the hurdles, but she had a lot of fun running them.

Joshua got first in the hurdles and running long jump and second in the 1/4 mile run.

Caleb got second in the standing long jump.

David had a lot of fun and got the sportsmanship award (given to everyone who didn't get a ribbon for placing).  After awhile he noticed that he wasn't getting any ribbons while everyone else was and he wanted to know why.  So, Benjamin (who is very generous and loves his brother) offered him one of his.

Benjamin got first place in the 100 yard dash and tied the record.  He also got first in the 50 yard dash and the standing long jump and second in the softball throw and running long jump.

 They posted ribbons on the board for the various events all day.  At the end of the day everyone that broke or tied a record got a special ribbon in front of the crowd.  Below, Benjamin is receiving his ribbon.

Sarah practiced the long jump whenever it wasn't being used by real competitors (you had to be 5 to compete).  She can't wait for next year so she can compete too.  We told her that Minnesota is a long way to go for a track meet :)  

 Just a few days after the track meet we headed back to Kentucky for the wedding which I've already posted about :)   It felt like we were starting our original trip all over again.