Why Not Tri

 
This was the kids first year to run a triathlon! Here in Wasilla, Ak, sports are very important. Health is something that everyone seems to work on, most people have a sport(s) and so do their kids, many have several sports! Tad has a number, but not pinned to him yet. 
   
Yes, he is purposely not smiling! He had not expected to do the bike or running part because of his broken foot/ankle, but he was able to do the bike part after swimming. Nathalie was more excited about new clothes (shirt and shorts-they owned no running clothes...they own swim gear!) than any part of this running/biking nonsense. she is a swimmer through and through!
   
Finishing the run! Tad was disappointed that he was not able to do the run. A friend of ours who is one of the 3 ladies who coordinate this tri came over and asked him to walk through the finish anyway and he said, "No thank you, the finish line is for people who finish, or small children." So he did not, she still took him to get a t shirt and a participation medal. The child who won the tri got a new bike, I think it was neat that they had 1st, 2nd and 3rd place prizes. Sometimes everyone gets the same thing and I think the children who worked hard and made it in the first few should be celebrated. 
   
Nathalie total thought she was going to die...The run was super short, she said 5 yr old's were passing her on the run and bike ride! Many of these children came from hrs away and have practiced and prepared all year. It was a fun first time experience!  

Smores in the rain

 
Frank agreed to make smores with the kids the last wkend he was here, and naturally on Saturday (day before he left) it started raining. Heavy enough that no fire was going to work out. Sunday-still raining. So Nathalie tried to cover the fire area, and I suggested the bbq grill. 
  
It took Tad and Nathalie-with a little help from Frank-about an hr to get a small fire going. 
   
But I guess its worth it right? If you like smores. 
  
You like this nice fashion statement my love is making? Yes he wears his jeans rolled up because otherwise he has "short people jeans" in the house when bare footed. Meaning-they drag. 
  
They discovered that a resees cup  in a smore is yummy. Eww.
  
Standing in the rain in pursuit of processed sugar.
  
Just ONE more to make SURE they are not poison! 
  
"I never gets ANY smores! I never gets any treats at all... "

A dog's life

 
Bully has so many trials. We expect her to be on guard, and other than that she gets free food, good water and enough love for 3 dogs. 
   
This has been a huge work in progress. Most of her life Nathalie has wanted to be able to turn a flip. she started diving a few months ago and can do back and front dives, and a front 1 and almost a front 1.5. It has given her a lot of confidence. 
   
Frank leaving caused her to be determined to get a flip within a wk so I could video it. Each time I video so far, she does not land on her feet. But sometimes she does when I DONT video! We will get there... 
   
She finally has a rotation!
   
She wants to land more straight up and also learn a back flip, something that Tad has been doing for awhile. 
   
He is so excited still over being able to walk, he calls it his "walking trick" and says its a magicians dream.
  
I would personally be afraid of a back flip, he has several ways he can do it, including coming out a roundoff like he is going to do another cartwheel, but going backward instead. 
  
He gets a lot of height and it really freaks Nathalie out! 
  
This is how she wants to land... He is steadily coaching her through this, giving her valuable feed back. 
  
Just a cool upside down shot! 
  
start of a back flip, I did not get the complete set but I still love the photo.
  
These area actually out of order, this one came first. 
  
getting ready to try her back flip. 

Its Friday!

 
I know, not a great title but I mean, its Friday! I am trying to blog regularly for Frank, and I do not really have a subject here. This is a photo I found on the card, I assume Nathalie took it.
   
Excuse the laundry... We can hang laundry this yr in Ak, we have a sunny summer! Last summer we had 8-10 days with no rain and it took days and days for any laundry to dry if at all. 
   
Haha I guess he is all done... 
   
And now the camera is in Tad's hands? My best guess, unless the dog had the camera.
   
"Hey guys, come over here and help me."
   
We had a great plan this winter, put some frozen hides in the loft of the shed... we forgot about them. 
   
"Daddy can I stand up right now?"
   
"Not yet baby girl, get the door first."
"Um, daddy? Something smells bad here!"
   
"Daddy, this is vile! Smells like something died..."
   
She climbed in and there the photos end for she changed her mind and came RIGHT back into his arms. She wanted to be helpful but that smell... I do not have smell issues and was not actually aware of what she was trying to help him with at first, once I saw I put down the camera and climbed up myself to fetch the hides. They were in bags, but had rotted because we forgot! Yes, I know that is super gross. But really, there are worse events. on a farm, nothing is really all that gross. We learned our lesson, make SURE yout an the hides over the winter! 

Delight

 
This is delight! He was so, so happy to be able to jump. We did not jump all winter because the trampoline was snowed/iced in. Then Frank had surgery, and then Tad broke his foot so jumping either did not happen or in Tad's case-was on 1 foot! Uncle Jacob got a new trampoline while we were there on vacation, and it was hard for Tad. 
   
We flew to Seattle Wednesday June 5th at night, (yesterday) and then flew back same day... Needless to say we were completely exhausted. Tad saw an orthopedic specialist who cleared him to move to a brace, and physical therapy. His broken growth plates are healed. 
   
Next we saw 2 Rheumatology specialists, they are convinced that Tad has arthritis. They think that he has a genetic form of arthritis called Sticklers Syndrome, meaning that Frank and his dad likely have this as well. Interestingly, it is usually accompanied by severe hearing loss which both Frank and his dad have. So does Tad incidentally! We have reasons for all 3 to have hearing loss, but what if our reasons are not correct? Or what if it was going to occur regardless of life? Tad's joint pain and swelling, hearing loss and severe, constant sinus infections could be all related to this new diagnosis.
   
And today, he got to jump! He was so, so excited. He turned front and back flips until he was tired and had to rest the newly healed ankle. He will have physical therapy for months, be in this brace for even longer and possibly forever if he wants to do any running. He wont be a runner, it will be something that he simply cannot do but he can run around.

We went shopping for shoes today, Tad has always loved pull on leather work boots but those are a thing of the past. He has to wear good, sturdy hiking shoes. We bought Merrel as they are supposed to be the best, he complained some and was generally miserable about the change but he can handle it. Shoe tying is NOT his specialty so we will attach bungees for quick tightening. These will be for most applications, expeically barn chores. Then we went to a tiny, local store for shoes to wear around the yard, to swim and in the house. Right now it feels better to have shoes on than off as he has been in a cast for wks and he is used to the fit. The shoes he is wearing on the trampoline are called toe shoes, they literally have spaces between each toe! Nathalie was dying to have a pair too which I could see, and she did not ask. They are not cheap. I knew Frank would buy her a pair so I told the lady to check her size too and her delight was wonderful to see. So easy to please. I somehow felt a little better though Frank is gone, to do something he would do. I am too practical, and he pays attention to what makes them happy even if it is NOT practical. I miss him so, so much and I will continue to blog to feel connected to him. 

Traditions

 
You know it is a tradition, not that I will completely stop blogging for months at a time, nor that I will forget how to blog or make a mess of it. 
   
No, the trampoline is the tradition. Despite the fact that my son has a broken foot and ankle, in a cast and my husband just came out of a cast after ligament repair surgery. This tradition, cannot be broken. 
   
I wont say it did not result in the need to take a few Ibuprofen. That would be a falsehood... But when he leaves for another deployment, the trampoline is one of our traditions.There were many more things that we did the last few weeks in preparation for our loss, for our suffering. To build a few extra memories to try to go on for as long as we can. I did not get pictures of everything, because a lot of it I was just hanging out with them. I will blog again now, I have been so busy and not been on here but now I have hours of time that I will not be spending with my best friend, I will devote some of those to showing him what we are doing here.