Monday, June 21, 2010

Weekend Away in Alborada

Thanks to generous relatives we had access to a very comfortable home as a weekend retreat. We held a family "Squirt Quadathon" Including, running, swimming, biking, and shooting baskets. Bobbi and Grandpa hadn't seen the kids for a really long time due to Bobbi's Chemo schedule, work, and the kids school. It was so much fun to see Mom feeling great and growing some hair back after finishing chemo and being declared a SURVIVOR.
Charlie lost a tooth (he loves to lose teeth!). The Tooth Fairy found him at Alborada.
Charlie, with an extra hole in his mouth...peeking through a hole in the rock.

Weekend Away in Alborada

We had a great time away for the weekend with Bobbi and Grandpa John. We all stayed in Ivins, UT, only 45 minutes from home but it was a much needed get-a-way with Mom and Dad and the kids. We swam, rode bikes, hunted for endangered turtles and had fun playing Uno and just being together.
Cairo, Jack and Charlie went out early one morning with Bobbi and Me and they decided to rock climb. All 3 of them conquered fears and got really high up the rock wall. The fears came when they didn't know quite how they would get down. It was a great exercise physically as well as problem solving. It required them to take deep breaths, relax and pick their foot holds and hand holds carefully. They all got down safely and felt the joy of overcoming fear and achieving a goal.



Opening Ceremonies for Utah Summer Games




The Opening Ceremonies were breathtaking. After a very windy day the air became calm and the ceremonies were perfect. Fireworks, a live band (that had Cairo swooning at the band-stand), and the march of all the athletes.
Prior to the ceremonies we were privileged to have dinner with a few Olympic Athletes that are from Utah. They were honored as inductees to the Hall of Fame for the Utah Summer Games.

Cairo Competes at The Utah Summer Games

Cairo is finally back in the pool. We love watching Cairo swim. After moving from Abu Dhabi she couldn't get excited about swim team. She missed her friends from swim team at ACS and the beautiful pool and palm trees that graced the surroundings at practice.
After she registered for 2 events in the Summer Games we started swimming together twice a week and she had 2 weeks of practice before her events.
Given she hadn't been swimming for over a year, she competed very well. She finished in the middle of the pack on both 50M Butterfly and 50M Freestyle events.

Mom and Charlie with his Silver Medal

Charlie Wins Silver - Arm Wrestling

The Summer Games continue and Charlie competed so well. He took the silver medal in Arm Wrestling. He has never been in an official Arm Wrestling competition before but he knew the rules and understood how to use the special table to his advantage.
Way to go Charlie!