Fall is upon us!

I'm making up for not racing much over the summer. Scott's schedule didn't allow much time for racing: he worked most weekends, and when he wasn't working, we wanted family time. Last month Scott had a radiology elective rotation (nice hours) and for the next two months, he is doing research in the lab (really nice hours). So I am back to racing...

...just in time for cross country season! Last weekend I ran the Codfish Bowl cross country invitational. It was mostly local colleges, but there were a few old ladies like me in the race. All those young'uns sprinted at the start and slow-me had to play catch-up for the rest of the race. The 5k course was muddy from several days of rain, and race day was warm and really humid. I wound up in 8th place after coming into the mile around 60th, and the two-mile around 30th.My posse came with me this time. The cross country course was next to a cool playground (and also next to the zoo too!) and there were plenty of trails to wander.

In other Raymond family news, Bruce's school had "Back to School Night." Parents got to meet and chat with the teachers and see the classroom and such. All of the kids in Bruce's class drew a picture and wrote a one-line answer to the question, "What do you want to learn this year?" Most kids had normal responses like, "I want to learn to draw better" and "I want to learn how to read chapter books." Bruce's response was, "I want to learn how to make a suitcase spider droid." He drew an elaborate picture of a thing that looked like the multi-armed bad robot from The Incredibles. I asked him what a suitcase spider droid was and he referred me back to the picture. I told him he already knew how to make one since he had already drawn it, and he said he wanted to build it out of metal. I told him he may need a few more years.

On that note, he is taking a "pre-engineering class" once a week after school. He builds robotic Lego stuff and plays with it. While he is doing that, I take Phoebe and Baby J to a music class. Baby J sits on my lap and tries to eat woodblocks, Phoebe dances around with a tambourine most of the time, and I add my terrible singing voice to the choir of parents (who all sound like they're professionals, of course!).

Next up for the Raymonds: a half-marathon for me this weekend, and a few days of playtime with Scott's sister, Nancy, who is here for PA school interviews!