Despite warnings to pace himself, he started strong off the line, heading into the park in second place.

He was beat after that first 0.6 miles and had fallen back a few places, but he persevered.

It’s helpful when your mother is teeny, tiny and has an equally small road bike. Then you can steal hers for races to be faster.

This is the look that wonders who designed a course that ends on an uphill…

…that you have to do twice.

The race was so well-run with great volunteers to guide the kids.

And off to the second 0.6 mile run.

This kid gave his all just like a good endurance athlete.

And his hardwork earned him 4th place!

Not bad considering we forgot about the race until 3 days before. Yup, no training. Like 10 year old boys need training.

FREE RITAS!

We learned a lot of cool things on our tour of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

If you clean out your work area, you may just get motivated enough to do a project.

I love when this kid gets creative.  He’s been on a Construx kick lately.  You know he’s proud when he lets me get photographic evidence.

I know I’ve said this before, but I really love the Essentials of the English Language that PJ is doing this year through CC.  He just finished a 5 paragraph essay on Ancient Rome and is getting ready to tackle an independent research paper at age 9.  I recently found out that you can enroll in just Essentials without being in the morning session of Foundations.  This is a great tool for moms who are baffled by grammar or who do not feel confident teaching their child to write.  If you’re local, we have many slots left for the 2013014 school year, and you’ll get to have me for your tutor!

PJ participated in his first spelling bee.  He got out in the second round spelling “rustick” instead of “rustic.”  He showed great sportsmanship and took away some life lessons for next year’s competition.

So maybe a chocolate factory tour was less than considerate given Ty and Grace’s dietary restrictions.  Redeeming factors–1) We learned a lot. 2) Homemade caramel was on the sample list which is not a banned substance. Also, don’t miss the look passing between Grace and PJ.  This pretty much defines their relationship.