Sporty shorties

I'll start with an advance apology and warning about photo quality. I used Sammy's "kid-proof" camera to take these shots, which turned out pretty good, considering. (We're one step closer to a new camera, hopefully soon!)

Yesterday, Sammy and Riley celebrated Memorial Day by getting up at 6:30 (cheerfully!) and racing in a local one-mile kids' run. Initially, I was going to do the 5k right beforehand, but plans changed and I didn't run. Anyway, the boys had a fabulous time, and they were so excited that Grandma Jacobs was willing to tag along to watch them. Grandma mostly appreciated the beautiful scenery at the park (way out in Syracuse). Zeke mostly enjoyed sneaking bites of his brothers' post-race donuts. Riley liked the donuts too. Sammy claimed "This is the best day of my whole life!" He didn't "win the race," like he was sure he was going to, but he was very excited about the cool flag medal and pin he was awarded. Then he got a race t-shirt, then he got donuts and Gatorade, and THEN he won a "scramble" for prizes and got a fun mini-fanny pack. It doesn't get much better than that when you're six!

Here's Sammy doing some pre-race push-ups:


Riley was calm and relaxed:


Showing off prizes to Grandma (notice the flushed cheeks):


Zeke has gotten into the sporty spirit lately as well. Tonight he was screaming in frustration that I didn't want to repeatedly lift him up to throw a basketball in the hoop hanging high on Sammy's closet door. So I went downstairs and dragged up our little basketball standard (out goes the rocking chair and the last bit of babyhood!). Zeke was thrilled and couldn't get enough of swishing the ball in the basket! All night he has been giggling and saying "babuhball." Best of all, I didn't have to lift him up once.

The funny thing is, we got this basketball hoop for Sammy when he was about Zeke's age, and he never really got the point of it. Riley was never interested, either. And when we moved here, we inherited another hoop that is still in our backyard. Both of them have mostly just been taken to pieces and used to build secret hideouts. I am so happy to have a budding ballplayer, and especially to finally get some use out of the old toy!