This was Austin's first time with his new racing bike. He did pretty well on it considering it is to big for him. We could not find a micro at a decent price so we went with a mini. It may hold him up in the beginning but, he will get the hang of it.

He is the youngest and the smallest at both tracks that we have gone to, but not to far behind. There are a good amount around the age of 5. Some are in his class and some are above him.

The week of this video, he got a trophy for his first time competing. It was a surprise to all of us, but we were all equally excited about it. The following week we were preparing him of the possibilities of not getting a trophy the next time. To our surprise he actually almost had a trophy, he lost it at the finish line. He stops peddling before the white line and the little guy behind him caught up. I don't think that will happen again. He handled the no trophy thing pretty well until Valerie got in the car with one. The funny thing was, he said "but her trophy is even cooler than mine". Because it was her first time and she placed, she got a bigger trophy than he did the first week.

He is excited for this week (3rd week). We are trying to prepare him for all possibilities so he doesn't get discouraged. When you ask him what happens if he doesn't place he replies, "than I jut keep trying, because I will soon."

Valerie's 1st race

Here is a video of Valerie and her 1st race last week. Sorry about the time of the video, I have no idea how to edit and make them shorter.

The races are broken into "motos" each moto is made up of at least 3 riders in certain levels (Valerie and Austin beginners). Each moto races 3 times to get the top 3 to run the final race. The 1st person across the finish line in each moto moves on to the final race. When there only 3 people competing you do 2 motos before the finale.

For this race, they placed Valerie way out of her moto. Notice the other two are all decked out in "gear"? Valerie would not have been able to race and neither would the boys do to the lack of people in their level so they combined them.

I am sure I am missing some rules and such, but we are learning as we go. I know first experience, then age, and gender come into play.

She got a trophy for finishing 3rd and for competing for the first time. Each person can chose a trophy or stamps if you place in the top 3. Stamps are traded for money to use on the web site to get gear to wear or for you bike.

Austin's movin on up

Austin's movin on up to Kindergarten that is. The school had a cute little graduation ceremony for the graduating class. The school that Austin attended was brand new as of October 2010 so this was the first graduation class.

They put on a little performance for the parents, then they called each child buy name and handed them their certificate, with refreshments afterword. They even got to keep the tassel on the cap. To cute!

We took a tour of his elementary school last week and he seem to love the idea that he gets to eat lunch at school. I can pretty much bet Austin will be down 10lbs the 1st month.

note: I have to say I am sorry about the pictures. I am trying to learn how to use my camera, it is a slow process, but I am getting somewhere. I have no idea what happened with some of these, and others I couldn't get it to focus on the right object.

Walking out...I was a mess

One of the songs they sang...Sunshine day

The only picture of him getting his diploma

They taught the kids The pledge of allegiance of in Sing language

Savannah's boyfriend Josh came to sit with us for a little. Austin and Blake (Josh's brother) are attached at the hip and have several play dates a week

the garden

at the begining

back when we planted our orange tree I got a few plants and the deal was...if I could keep them alive we would do a bigger garden without pots.

We ended up with 4 tomato, 3 watermelon, 2 spaghetti squash, 3 zucchini, 1 min, 1 parsley, 1 sweet basil, 3 strawberries, 1 red pepper and 1 banana pepper.

I will have a picture of the current state. But it is on Valeire's computer. I have stopped downloading pictures on our computer since I totally messed up the colors.:(


The kids really enjoyed Helping. They really seem to enjoy picking something everyday. Well most every day. They seem to love zucchini right now, but by the end of the summer I am not sure how they will feel about it. We have enough to eat zucchini about every other day. I have gotten a few banana peppers. We given away 1 spaghetti squash because there were to many growing and I must say nobody is to excited to try it. I am hoping to cook it (we have 3 at about the same stage) one night this week. I think it is just about ready.

Several times a week the kids pick basil and mint for me and seem to enjoy it. they pick the mint try some and then spit it out.:(

Savannah pulled a very young unripe watermelon the other day, I must say it did make us all very sad. We only have 3 growing and I believe it is the most wanted item out of the garden.

We also decided to do a blue berry bush, which is starting to produce blue berries. The kids each got 4 this morning. I was killing it in the beginning. I research how much water to give it and followed, but it was loosing all of it's berries, then found out that I was not giving nearly enough water. Now they are coming in full swing.





back when we planted our orange tree I got a few plants and the deal was...if I could keep them alive we would do a bigger garden without pots.

We ended up with 4 tomato, 3 watermelon, 2 spaghetti squash, 3 zucchini, 1 min, 1 parsley, 1 sweet basil, 3 strawberries, 1 red pepper and 1 banana pepper.

I will have a picture of the current state. But it is on Valeire's computer. I have stopped downloading pictures on our computer since I totally messed up the colors.:(