Firefly Frolic: a 1.6k run

For the month of July, Abigail trained for the Firefly Frolic, a 1-mile trail run in the dark that is an event for kids by our parks and rec department in town.  By "trained" I mean that she ran a 0.89 mile loop with me about 8 times before race day.  

The race was to begin at 8:30, so Abigail made sure to carbo-load for dinner.  She learned this from her Aunt Mary Jane. :)

Joseph LOVES to have his picture taken.
I cannot raise a camera without
Joseph jumping in front of the lens.  

With a headlamp and flashlight, she
was ready for the race!

At about 8:20, she complained that it was still "too light" outside.  

At 8:28 she confirmed that she really REALLY wanted me to run with her because she loves me and doesn't want to do stuff without me.  (Heck, this won't last forever, so I'll take it.)

At 8:30, the horn sounded for the start.  Abigail stood at the starting line and adjusted her head lamp for a while, before starting off.  We jogged around a field and then into the woods. The trail was covered in roots and rocks in places and it was, in fact, very dark.  It was so beautiful to look into the woods in the darkness because parks and rec hung yellow glow sticks from trees to line the whole trail.  It was a very cool atmosphere, but watch out, because kids were tripping on roots and going down all over the place.  Abigail just passed them and didn't break her stride.  Kids stopped to grab the stitch in their sides or walk and Abigail just passed them too.  From behind, I watched her silhouette, illuminated by her light, running in the darkness, pigtails bouncing.  She is such a beautiful runner.  Her form is graceful and athletic and perfect.  I could watch her run forever.

But I didn't get to, because she finished her mile run (over uneven terrain) in 11:01.  She was proud of herself for not stopping and as soon as we finished the race, she begged to go do it again.  She didn't care about the end-of-race snacks, all she wanted was to run in the dark with the glow sticks again.

Next year, Buddy.  I hope we can do it again next year. 

Tiny Dancer, part 2

Abigail posed with her flowers after her performance.
Her Aunt Steph, a former dancer, came to see Abigail's
performance and brought her flowers with
super-hero flags stuck into the bouquet!

A pic from the show

Today was Abigail's first, and maybe last, dance recital.

This was her best move!

She kinda' liked dance.  On Tuesdays-Fridays, when we picked her up from Junior Kindergarten, she always eagerly asked if she got to go to dance class that day and when we said "no", she would get disappointed.  But on Mondays, when we picked her up and announced it was "dance night" she would pout and protest as we cajoled her into a leotard and ushered her out of the house.  And when class was over, she would bound happily through the door and tell us about her favorite parts of the class.

At the dress rehearsals this week (yes, plural, 2 dress rehearsals), she was bored at best, resigned at worst.  She grumbled and pouted about it, but when she was on stage, her face lit up.  She smiled and did a great job.  Once back off the stage, she turned it off and begged to take Karate lessons.

We want her to take some type of lesson.  We don't want her to have to have multiple-night commitments at this age, but we want some structured activity in her life.  She liked dance, but clearly didn't love it.  We will look into Karate next, and maybe someday (after seeing some Broadway shows) she may want to try dance again.  But if not, that is okay too.  We love our little tomboy for who she is and Larry said tonight "It is amazing that we have this little person living with us in our house."