Paradise Found

E's 13th birthday party had to wait until she wasn't grounded anymore. =o) So it was a little late. And when they were taking pictures, it was before all the guests had arrived... there were 2 or 3 late arrivals.

N did!! =o) He and C have been thinking about this since LAST summer... figuring that summertime was a good time to experiment with wild hairdos. Then last week while N was spending the night at a friend's house, I got a phone call, with them asking out of the blue... "Would you mind if N got a mohawk tonight?" LOL!!

So he did. And we've colored it almost every day with temporary hair gel colors. He was especially patriotic on the 4th of July and got a TON of attention when we went out that evening! One woman even stopped and asked if she could take his picture.

And here's beautiful E... just because. =o)

Today was the Hawaii Jr. Olympics State Individual Championships track meet. Kids came from neighboring islands to compete, as well as from all over Oahu.

E and N have been doing really well in their events all season long... generally improving upon their times and jumping distances each meet. It would be cool if I could create some nifty chart graphic showing the numbers and events... but in the interest of time... I'll just type them out here. After the pictures tho...

That will leave the BEST NEWS for last! So don't leave this post early. =o)

N running the 50 meter dash

N finishing up the 100 meter dash

E getting set up on the starting block for her 100 meter dash

E mid-air during her running long jump

N mid-jump!

I am a team assistant coach, and I ended up working the long jump pit all day, at each meet... conferring w/ the Official

E getting ready for her championship 200 meter run

Alright.... on to their times for anyone interested in the details. =o)

There are 4 meets... so I'll list the event followed by 4 times... the first time comes from the first meet, etc. (All times in seconds).

E 100 meter
15.7; 15.6; 16.04; scratch

E 200 meter
34.6; 34.43; 33.05; 33.2

E Long Jump
9'10"; 11'7"; 12'1"; 12'8"

N 50 meter
9.8; 10.5; 10.23; 10.16

N 100 meter
21.2; 20.7; 20.1; 19.8

N Long Jump
7'0"; 7'11"; 8'4"; 8'4"

At each of the meets, both kids have finished really well for their long jumps. Not too high for their runs... but this is the first time for them... so it's understandable.

So today (July 7th) was the Championship State Meet. The top 3 finishers not only medalled, but qualified for a trip to Nationals in California in two weeks!

So the great news is that N came in 3rd place for his long jump!! I just got off the phone with the head coach, and he's not sure if N's age group gets to go to Nationals to compete, or if they're too young. I probably won't find that out until Monday. So for the whole state of Hawaii... he's the third best long jumper! =o)

I really wish E could have had the same honors... her jump has REALLY improved over the past month and a half!!! We were really trying for her to jump 13 feet today... but it didn't quite happen. But still... 12'8" is AWESOME and it gave her a 4th place finish today. SO CLOSE to medalling and winning the trip.