Thanksgiving in Indiana

 On Tuesday we dropped Sadie with a friend, packed up, and left for Indiana as soon as the boys were home from school (Hannah was off that day).  The Frahers had flown out from Colorado earlier in the week, so we wanted to get there as soon as we could to have maximum cousin time.

Matthew and Ezra spent every waking moment together - playing sports, lego, trains, and wrestling.

On one of the first days, Micah was talking smack to me, so I tackled him to put him in his place (as one does).  For the rest of the time, little Ainsley would periodically ask Micah if she could "take him down", and he would oblige. 

We did the town's "Gravy Chase" on Thanksgiving morning.  Crazy Micah ran the 4-mile loop, while the rest of us jogged or walked the 2-mile loop.

Ainsley ran a beauty parlor.

Besides the normal Thanksgiving football and parade (and an IU game for Nana), we all enjoyed watching World Cup soccer.  There were a lot of side bets going on with Uncle Scott, none of which played out since the game ended in a tie.  However, Aunt Julie still took the cousins for ice cream.

Apparently, one of the bets was that Scott told Caroline he would buy her a blizzard if Pulisic scored a goal.  He didn't score in the game we watched together, but he did have the game-winning score in yesterday's game.  True to his word, Scott sent Caroline a blizzard (via Door Dash) in Virginia last night.

One More Thing

 I know I already wrapped up the fall sports, but then we had Micah's sports banquet and Hannah's national race.

Micah earned a varsity letter and a scholar athlete award.  (Actually, the boys' cross country team had the highest average GPA of all the fall sports at 4.1!)  His coaches praised his hard work and dedication and said they are excited to see him accomplish even more in the future.

Hannah's regular season for cross country ended in October, but she decided she wanted to train to compete in the youth national meet in Indiana. She created a workout schedule and (mostly) stuck to it.  She often ran on her own, even in miserable weather; occasionally Micah would jog or bike along side her. So, although the result of the meet was not a spectacular time or finish, we are proud of her discipline.  She set a goal for herself, made a plan, and stuck to it.

Micah was at a church retreat for the weekend, but the rest of us enjoyed a fun road trip.  The weather was very cold and windy, but at least there was no rain or snow!

Friends of ours also made the trip for their son Austin to run.  This is the before picture.

the weather at race time

Here's a video of the start.  There were 199 girls in the race.

the after picture

Oysters watched Sadie for us (on the left).  She loved having a buddy to play with!

Micah Cross Country

 What a season. There is so much I could say, but I think the bottom line is just that we are so happy for Micah.  Happy that he was able to stay healthy and have the season he was hoping for.  Happy that he has wonderful coaches and teammates.  Happy that he was able to see his hard work pay off. I can't imagine a much better start to his high school career.

The biggest highlights of the season were probably his first and last races.  His first race (as I posted previously) was a fast, flat course that gave him his best time of the season: 18:19.  The last race was the regional meet.  Micah finished fourth for his team!  And his time was great (18:33) for a challenging course.

[There is a wonderful gentleman who goes to all the high school meets and takes amazing pictures.  What a gift!]

Almost all of their races were invitationals, which means a LOT of runners!

Usually to identify Micah, I say "he's a red-head with glasses".  That description did not narrow it down enough on this team!

And just for fun:

Micah and Ally at middle school states last year...

versus Micah and Ally at regionals this year.

Only the top 7 athletes are allowed to run in the post-season, but the rest of the team still shows up to support in big ways.

While they did not qualify for states as a team, their top runner qualified as an individual.  Congrats to Joey finishing 23rd and being named "All-Ohio"!  Hopefully more teammates will join him next year!