September has been filled with plenty of softball, kickball, basketball and cross-country. Each evening during the week we likely have 2 or 3 things to coordinate so the girls can make to their respective sports. During the middle of the month, I was able to go to a leadership retreat and hike in the Grand Canyon. For Labor Day weekend, Julie and her family came to visit for a few days and all of the girls got along and had fun. We enjoyed watching some football and going to the pool while they were here. We also built a fire out back and had some smores while the kids played in the backyard. Julie, Deb and I went to OrangeTheory for a few workouts while they were here. I know Deb was excited about the possibility of these quick visits as it has been since college since Julie and Deb lived this close together. For the trip to Arizona, we left in the afternoon on Saturday the 17th. We got to our hotel in the late evening and after checking in, everyone went to bed. On Sunday, we went to see the Grand Canyon during the day and also at sunset along with having some leadership meetings. We checked out of our hotel on Monday and took a shuttle over to the north rim and arrived around 6PM. We had dinner and went to bed as our alarms were going off
at 2AM so we could get ready for our shuttle to the trailhead. We started the hike a little before 4AM in the dark and started our decent into the canyon. After 6.5 hours, we arrived at Phantom Ranch and took a 30-minute break to eat lunch, change socks and get some water. We had 10 miles remaining and most of it was ascending out of the canyon. We slowed our pace to make sure we didn’t over do it.When we had some members of our team begin to show signs of fatigue, we would take a break and let them get some water and food. We completed the hike around 7PM so the entire hike took the 10 of us about 15 hours. It was quite an accomplishment and while I have plenty of pictures, those won’t do it justice. The hardest part of the hike for me was the mental side as I was getting tired and knowing we weren’t close to being done. The weather was perfect as it didn’t get as hot as it could be toward the bottom of the canyon. We enjoyed some pizza after the hike and went to bed. Some of us had an early flight on Wednesday morning so we got up early and left around 5:30AM and got home without any travel issues.
At the end of the month, Deb helped organize another successful Grandparents Day at the school. This event is for all
KG, 4th and 8th graders and their grandparents. Randy and Anna came to visit a few days beforehand to see Sarah play softball and basketball games. My mom wasn’t able to travel due to her broken ankle and her recovery from surgery. The girls enjoyed shooting hoops with Nana and making cookies with Granddaddy. Sarah helped Nana make a lasagna and we watched some football in the evenings.
Sarah’s Things of the Month
Sarah’s kickball season came to an end with a victory along with an end of season team party. She has continued so have some softball practice and games and even got to pitch a few innings. Basketball has gotten started and her grade was divided up into 2 teams. I’m coaching one of those teams and we have started off the season with 2 wins. Sarah also had fun at a sleepover with Reagan Moran.
Allison’s Thing of the Month
Allison’s kickball season concluded and they didn’t win a game. They seemed to have fun and the coaches did their best to keep them engaged, but they were simply outmatched in most of the games they played. Allison has improved her times this year with running cross-country and has set a personal record a few times. Allison has also started basketball and is playing on the 56A team with several of her friends. They won the first game they played. A few more items from this month:
- We have gone to several Chatard football games this year as it has become quite social gathering for our girls. It is fun to go and catch up with some of the parents while the girls hang out with their friend
- We had our annual neighborhood progressive dinner. We let the girls stay home alone and Deb and I would alternate going home every 45 minutes or so to check on them. They did great and we look forward to letting them do that a little bit more.
