I think Rachel wanting to do a triathlon inspired Robert to do one! Since he had been training with her, he did some additional training and was ready!! His triathlon was today in the rain. It consisted of a 350m swim, 10 mile bike ride, and 2.6 mile run. He did awesome!! So proud of him!!!
Rachel decided she wanted to compete in a triathlon. She actually first mentioned it last year, but we had missed all of them. We told her that if she still wanted to do one this year, we'd find her one. We thought she'd forget about it and not say anything else about it. But we were wrong! So we found her one to compete in and told her she had to train for it. We weren't going to sign her up for it if she wasn't serious about it. She trained for it so we did as we had promised and signed her up. We did find out when we signed her up that she would have to compete in the 9 & 10 year old division because she turns 9 this calendar year. So even though she is 8 and won't be 9 until September, she had to compete in the 9 & 10's. We were a little bummed about that, but it was okay. For the kids 10 and under, the triathlon consisted of a 100m swim (I think this one was actually more like 75m), 3 mile bike ride, and 0.75 mile run. The fun thing was that at this pool they have a big slide at the end of the pool, so that's how the 10 & under kids enter the pool! How cool is that!!! Rachel was literally the last one into the pool of all the kids 10 & under. She passed several kids on the swim and then headed over to the transition area to get ready for the bike ride. The bike ride was two laps through a neighborhood. I think Rachel rode faster than she's ever ridden because she was motoring! She made her way back to the transition area and shed the bike and helmet and started on her run. She finished it well and then we just hung out for a while. We didn't think she'd place in the top 3, especially since she was competing in the older division. But since we weren't in any hurry, we waited around for the awards. It was hard to tell how she finished since she had been the very last one to get into the pool! We knew she had finished ahead of quite a few people, but we didn't know how she actually finished in her age group. When they started announcing the top three for her age group, we were shocked to here that she placed SECOND in her age group (9 & 10 year old girls)!!!!! She did so awesome!!! She was pretty excited about it too! She's ready for the next one. She now knows what to expect. So proud of her for doing her very best!!!
Yesterday was the last day of school. It was actually just a half day. It's hard to believe that Rachel is now a 4th grader and Katelyn is now a 2nd grader!!! This school year has flown by so fast! Both girls had great years with great teachers!! I wish we could keep our teachers with us next year too!!!
After school, we met several friends at the park for a picnic and play time. The girls had a wonderful time!
Both girls had their end of the year parties on Monday afternoon. Rachel enjoyed watching a slideshow of pictures that her teacher put together to music. Mrs. Hurst had all the kids write something about each of their classmates a few days earlier. She handed out those papers at the party and let the kids read what their classmates said about them. It was really sweet.
Katelyn's class sang a song for the parents. Then Mrs. Stockdale handed out awards. Katelyn received a 400 book club trophy fo reading 400 books this school year. She also got the Principal's Award for Outstanding Work! We then watched a cute slideshow of pictures from throughout the school year.
Monday was Rachel's field day. She competed in the hula hoop competition and won 2nd place! They all started out with just one hoop, but after several kids were eliminated, the remaining kids had to add a second hoop. After a while, there were only two kids left, Rachel & another girl. They then had to add a third hoop. Rachel was doing well and I think they were getting ready to have them add a fourth hoop when one of Rachel's hoop got out of sync with the other two and she wasn't able to save it. So she got 2nd place! She did really well!
Rachel also competed in the softball throw. She had a really good throw and just barely missed getting 3rd place. Seriously, she probably missed 3rd place by less than a foot!
Rachel also competed in tug-of-war. It was over pretty quick! Oh well, you can't be good in everything! As Rachel's teacher said, "We will kick your tail in TCAP scores, but you'll kick our tail in tug-of-war!"
Rachel's 4th event was the 4x100 relay. Rachel ran the first leg of the relay and did great! She got a little bit of a slow start, but she overcame that and did just fine. Rachel's team ended up winning 1st place!!!
Saturday was Rachel's last softball game. She had quite a lot of fans there to cheer her on! Lloyd & Wendy, Puddin & Papa, Donald & Beth, and Steve, Connie, Brittany, & Kayla all came to watch her play! She played well. After the game, the coaches presented awards to everyone. Rachel got the "Big Arm" award for having a strong arm.
First grade field day was last week. Katelyn competed in the hula hoop competition. They started out with one hula hoop. Once several kids were eliminated, they added another hoop for those kids still standing. Katelyn did a great job! She ended up 4th, which didn't make her too happy! But she did a great job, especially considering she's never hula hooped with 2 hoops. She also competed in the bean bag relay, and her relay team came in 3rd place! She had a fun time and it was a beautiful day!!!
Rachel absolutely kills the softball when we play in the backyard. But in a game, she sometimes gets hesitant, and then doesn't stride correctly. Instead, she steps out in the front of the plate when she swings. This doesn't allow her to fully rotate her shoulders and hips, so she doesn't get as much power. Plus, it goes to the right side of the field. Robert keeps telling her to step more towards 3rd base. As an incentive on Saturday, he told her if she hit a hard ball to the left side of the field, we could go to IHOP after the game! She loves their pancakes and strawberry syrup. Truth be known, we were going to go to IHOP anyway. But the video below is Rachel's first at bat. As you can see, she earned her dinner at IHOP!!! Katelyn was so funny when Rachel got that hit. She was dancing and singing "we're going to IHOP!"
I'm sure this sounds like an odd title for a post! Here's the explanation: The 3rd graders recently had to do a group project on a foreign country. Rachel and three of her classmates did their group project on Peru. Last Thursday all of the projects were displayed for parents, teachers, and the 3rd graders to view.
After viewing the projects, the 3rd graders then all went outside and sang some songs for us. Each class had to write their own version of "Old Dan Tucker." Those versions were hilarious! After hearing all eight versions, they sang a few other songs and some of the kids, including Rachel, did some square dancing.
This morning at school they announced the winners of the Accelerated Reader awards. Every kid who earned 100 or more points this school year gets recognized and receives a trophy. The top 3 point earners also receive an additional trophy for being in the top 3! This year there were 41 students that earned 100 or more AR points. Katelyn was the only 1st grader to earn over 100 points this year. She ended up with 175 points and 13th in the entire school! That's pretty good for anyone, much less a 1st grader! And get this, she didn't even start AR at the beginning of the school year. It was several weeks into the school year before she was set-up to take AR tests! Way to go Katelyn!! The goal she had set for herself was to get 100 points, and as you can see, she well surpassed that!
Rachel had finished in the top 10 last year when she was in 2nd grade with 201 points. She started the year with a goal of just getting more than last year. Every six weeks when they announced the top 10 she was always in the list, and moved up each 6 weeks. Early on she realized she would get more than 201, so she increased her goal to 300. Well she met that pretty easily so she increased her goal again to 400 points! As the end of the school year was getting closer, she said she thought she could get to 450 points! AND SHE DID! Rachel ended up with 453 points and 2nd in the entire school! Way to go Rachel! There are also 3 other girls from Rachel's class all in the top 10!
Here are the top 3 AR point earners: Josh (4th grader), Rachel (3rd grader), and Tyler (4th grader)
Here are all the kids who earned 100 or more AR points this school year
Rachel and the rest of the 3rd grade class went on a field trip to the Chattanooga Aquarium today. I think everyone had a good time!
Rachel with her participant ribbon
Rachel and her group with their ribbons
Rachel walking to get her plaque after she was announced as a Grand Champion
Rachel and some of the other Grand Champions
The Grand Champions 
Katelyn is proud of her big sis!
Rachel with her award
Rachel with her award winning poster
Even though much of Tennessee was covered in rain on Saturday, we escaped without getting too much. It rained for about an hour or two around lunchtime, but Rachel was still able to have softball pictures made and play her game at 3:00. And by gametime, the rain had completely stopped! We were very fortunate to be spared all the storms and rain. Rachel played a great defensive game! She caught a pop fly! I, however, missed it because I had to take Katelyn to the bathroom! But Robert told me it was a really high pop fly that she caught! Way to go Rachel! She also made some other good defensive plays. On their field, they have cones put out in the outfield as the "fence." If it goes past the cones in the air, it's a homerun; if it rolls past the cones, it's a ground-rule double. Rachel was playing centerfield one inning and the ball was hit towards right field. Rachel ran over to back up her teammate. The teammate missed the ball and it was rolling towards the cones. Rachel slid and stopped the ball before it got to the cones and held the girl to a single! It was an awesome play!!! She hit the ball and got on base each time, but she's not hitting the ball like she hits it here in the backyard. Part of that is because the coach stands so close to the batter to pitch the ball that the girls don't have much reaction time. But, she's just got to learn to swing a little earlier.
