Umm, I know I said in the last post I would do this tomorrow....today is a tomorrow too! So, sorry, and on to July!
The Fourth was a ton of fun. I got Willow up early to go to the kids dash event of the Hillsboro CAT walk and fun run. That girl loves to run! Then she got a balloon hat, face painting, and successfully talked me in to staying for at least a little of the parade. Little did I realize that I had parked where I would have to wait out the entire parade and the clean-up crew in order to leave. We ended up being way late to visit my Cousin in Vancouver, but she and her family were gracious as always, despite my bringing along the world's grossest potato chips. I was suckered in by their really cool red white and blue color scheme, but good lord people, avoid the Terra chips. Ick! We had the kids do sparklers, then as it got darker we went out to the street to fire off a few fireworks. Now, before I go any further, one thing you have to understand is that in Washington state, or at least Clark county, just about any kind of firework is legal. So as we lit our little numbers, the beverage enhanced neighbors were lighting their big honkin' boom-booms. You could look in any direction and see some very impressive explosions. It was simultaneously cool and a bit intimidating.
The next week we started going to the parks & rec's all comer's track meets. She had fun at the one we went to last year, and this year there were more and they were much better organized. We went every Wed this month, except the first. She loves it all, the races, the field events and especially the relays. At the first meet we attended, she got first place in shot put! (it subsequently became her favorite event!) She also shocked us by choosing to run the 1500 (this is almost a mile) She stuck it out, and was the youngest running, so she got a blue ribbon for her age group! I've been very impressed with her spirit her summer.
The last two weeks of July were the most hectic. Willow had a week of p&r rockclimbing and two of swim lessons. She had fun at the rockclimbing, but as a parent, it was hard to watch because she really struggled. She would get a little way up and just freeze. Nothing could coax her higher. Fun was the point, so by that measure it was a success. Swimming was a different story. We had her assessed, and placed her in the class they suggested, but it really seemed too hard for the first week. She just kept trying though. The parents of the other kids in the class reassured us that she was correctly placed, they had had children in the one level down and thought that it would be too easy for her. She really suprised us in the last few classes by swimming the length of the pool and doing it quickly. She ended up passing the class when we had expected her to have to repeat it at least one time. That's one thing about Willow, she just dosen't give up.
