Treasurer - Maybe

Today, Elizabeth came home from school very excited.

She ran in the school elections for the position of Student Council Treasurer and today she found out that she was voted into the final round.  

All candidates presented a speech to grade 3,4 & 5 students.   The students then had to vote for the person they felt would be best for the position.    I read her speech, and I have to admit that I was impressed.   She spoke about how she loved math and she was good at math, and that a good treasurer needs to be good at math.   She told them that she ran a lemonade stand during the summer vacation and made more than her goal, and she told them that she earned pocket money and then divided her money into spending, saving and giving.

Now she is madly making posters, encouraging students to vote for her in the election.   She's also made bookmarks which encourage students to vote for her, and they are in a little pocket on the poster.

Final voting happens again on November 5th.    I'm cheering for her - but alas parents can't vote :)

Stay tuned.   We may have a treasurer in our house :)

Junior Varsity

For the past two months, Isaac has participated in his school cross country team.   With cross country, there are no requirements to join.   You simply pay the fee, turn up and train hard. 

 

I was so surprised at the beginning of the school year when Isaac announced that he wanted to do cross country.   He has never shown any interest in sports.   I have to admit that I was slightly worried, because he's not athletically inclined and I was worried about how he would go.   I didn't want him to become discouraged about his abilities.  

 

It turns out though, that by being worried it was really me that was discouraging him.    He has shown such a great spirit and got a lot of enjoyment out of running.   He would come home from an interschool meet, and be excited because he didn't come in last.   He was fully aware that he was the slowest in his school but it didn't dampened his spirits.  

 

Today was the Junior Varsity Cross Country finals.   

 

I must admit that I had to look up the definition of Varsity.   It means "a sports team representing a school or college".    It's not a word we ever used in Australia and middle school is the first time I've come across it as they don't do any interschool sports in elementary grades.  

 

So Isaac was representing his school at the cross country finals today.   And I am so proud of him.   I'm proud that this is my boy who has struggled physically.   My boy whom I was told at 2 that he would never be an athlete due to his physical delays.   My boy who could not jump at 5 years old.   My boy who was always the slower runner at soccer.   My boy who we needed to do physical therapy with to help with muscle tone.   I'm so proud of him because he doesn't care that he's slower than the other boys but he still went ahead and joined the cross country team.   My boy whom I have seen improve over the past 2 months.   My boy who hasn't been discouraged.

 

I have to admit as I saw him run across the finish line today, my heart swelled and I cheered not just for him but for what he has achieved. 

 





All Thumbs

Elizabeth saw the orthopedic surgeon today, as we were told that her fracture was on the growth plate and that it was important to have it looked at further because it could affect future growth of her thumb.

The good news is that it is only a small fracture and her thumb is going to grow just dandily. 

Even though they call it a fracture - it is more like a bone displacement.   This is her thumb x-ray.   If you look at her thumb, the small bone at each joint is the growth plate.  The top one is perfectly in line but the second one has been pushed to the left and is slightly out of alignment.   That misalignment is the "fracture".    

She needs to keep her splint on for four more weeks, and we have another appointment on the 21st November to make sure the bone has gone back into place.

The doctor today said that she'll probably hurt for another 2 more weeks and then not understand why she needs to keep the splint on for the next 2 weeks but that it was critical to keep it on for the full four weeks to ensure complete healing.

She can swim and play piano in two weeks time but has to keep the splint on during those activities.

All in all - a fairly minor break - but one that's giving her considerable pain especially when she accidentally tries to use her thumb.

She Won

Unfortunately, Elizabeth won first place for Child with a Broken Bone in Our House.

She has fractured the growth plate on her thumb.    She'll be getting a custom made splint for her finger soon, which hopefully will be more comfortable than the stock one her doctor had  to keep it still.

Poor baby.   No wonder it hurt so much.

Broken Bones

Elizabeth is currently competing for first broken bone for our children.   We will find out if she is a winner tomorrow (apparently a trauma came into the radiology department just after we left) and our doctor's office closes at 6.30pm.

She fell off a climbing rock and has a nice swollen finger.   Her doctor has put it in a splint until we know the results, for as he said, if it's broken she'll need the splint and if it's sprained or a torn ligament it's good to have it splinted until the swelling goes down.

Glacier National Park

Tonight I have been reading over some old blog posts and I noticed one from about 3 years ago where Isaac mentioned that he wanted to visit Glacier National Park.

It just so happens that we did visit Glacier this summer.    It was a spectacular part of America, with the most amazing road to drive on (although Ben did all the driving).

Here are a few highlights of our trip...

This first photo is a view of the Going to The Sun Road - if you look very closely you can see the cars on the road, in the distance.

This was a fairly tame section of the road - in some places the road was very narrow, with rock overhanging on the left and a drop off on the right.   Ben thoroughly enjoyed the drive, and says this road made the trip.

 

The kids all earned their junior ranger badges for completing work books about the National Park.   Kai jumped up and down with excitement as he was awarded his badge, even though he was my most reluctant participant.

 

I'm just throwing this photo in because I love my boys...what a handsome lot!

 

 

We all went swimming in the freezing cold Lake McDonald.   Ben and the kids swam every day.   I only did it once :)

Proof that we really were there!   Although Ben rolled his eyes at me, I insisted that we had a photo at the entry of the park.   Luckily for us, we went animal spotting one evening and found a little used entrance so we didn't have to compete with the crowds trying to get their photos.

 

And yes - we camped at Glacier National Park.   No 5 star hotels for us!   And yes - it was freezing cold in the mornings despite that fact that it was in the middle of summer.

And the holy grail of National Park vacations....the bear!    We saw this Black Bear (yes - it's a black bear despite being brown) on our last day.   I was told by a park ranger that we might see a bear at Many Glaciers, so I directed Ben back over the Going to the Sun Road, on our way home through Canada.

 

Little did I realize that, by going this way, we had to go through Alberta and that it was going to make our 5 hour drive to our first stop a 9 hour drive.    Let's just say we saw more of the country than we expected too.    I must admit that Ben held up remarkably well as the designated driver.

A Family of Readers

Conversation around the dinner table tonight came back to my 40th birthday.   Ben had mentioned that we should do something big for my birthday.   As I don't really like parties, I asked the kids if there was anything "big" they could think of that I would like but the family would enjoy too.

Isaac came up with the idea of a day of reading, where we would all sit around the house reading books.   I love that he recognizes that I love reading, and that all our kids have followed in our footsteps.

Before that sounds too braggy - I will mention that his first idea was a day where we all play computer games together.

Freak Out

We were driving in the car the other day, when Ben bought up the topic that I was going to be 40 next year.   (Great way to make me feel good, dear, especially when I'm still 38!)   Ben was joking that I could have a midlife crisis at 40 and buy a sports car and get a tattoo.  

Elizabeth asked what a mid-life crisis was.   Ben started explaining, when suddenly Kai yelled out "Guys - you're freaking me out right now.   It's just so crazy about cars and tattoos!"    

That kid cracks me up!  

Rain

It is now Autumn here in the US.   For us, this means it's the beginning of the rainy season.   The sky's will be mostly gray from now until May, and I often find that a depressing thought.

However, Kai has a different outlook on life.   Yesterday he announced, "I love the rain because I can jump in puddles".

Oh to have the outlook of a four year old.