Mud Run

Pastures Preschool circa 2007

Grady must be about four years old in this picture.  Paul, the boy reading to the little ones and a Pastures Preschool alumni himself, must be about 12 or 13.  I love this picture.  Grady looked forward to summers with Paul at Pastures Preschool and looked up to this sweet young man.  

Grady is looking forward to going back to Pastures this summer and wants to teach art to the kids.  Not sure how Stacy will channel that desire, but if I know Stacy...she will find the perfect way to make G feel useful and optimize his time with her creative, spirited students.  She's got a special talent in celebrating every child's interests, desires and dreams.  I'm so happy Grady still has a place at her one-of-a-kind school.

24 pound turkey cooked in my oven!  The Vigeant/Judd Clan brought Thanksgiving to our house in May!

We had dinner with Paul's mother last week at Charlie & Patty O's house (world-famous ribs! and Betsy made three, yes, three desserts!).  I learned that Paul is finishing up his first year of college and his mother filled me in on his busy, interesting year in Philadelphia.  We reminisced about Pastures, discussed the importance of high school internships and talked about how it all goes too fast. 

This week following Fish Fest was a restful one.  I took a rest and looked to our calendar to schedule summer camps, vacations, road trips & our upcoming Legoland adventure when school gets out.

Grady has been doing really well at his soccer institute at Sports City.  The class starts at 11:30 am on a Saturday and it gives us just enough time to wake up slowly, read, make breakfast and plan for the day.  

Sunday was an earlier wake up call.  Steve and G were participating in the Russian River 5K Mud Run in Healdsburg.  It was a little cold, grey & breezy when we arrived, but that didn't stop these two from warming up and joining the 10 o'clock heat.  Grady took off like a shot!

BEFORE :: AFTER

We participated in this event as a family last October, along with the Rangels.  I didn't fancy doing it again, seeing as I almost broke my tailbone going down the blue-tarped rocky mudslide, but the guys were all about it.

Hecht Men Racing to the End!
Cold, cold showers were a sad reward for finishing

The guys completed the 5K, along with doing 10 obstacles throughout the course, in 39 minutes.  Grady placed 5th in his age range and had the satisfaction of beating his father across the finish line.  I was so proud of them and love the fact that they did this without me.  Yes, without me.  

They are embarking on lots of father-son activities lately and I hope it strengthens their bond.

The rest of the weekend was restful and we watched Lincoln and talked a lot about race, slavery & all men (and women) being created equal.

Except when you're racing, of course, then it's every man or boy for himself.