Fleet of foot, Fair of Science

Harper had her last cross country event on Saturday. It was a 5K sponsored by Free the Captives, an organization working to end human trafficking. Hudson decided to run too, and is now the proud owner of a t-shirt with "Fighting Teen Sex Trafficking in Houston" emblazoned on the back. Wince with me, won't you. They both ran really well, even though it was a hot, muggy morning. Hudson's time was 31 minutes, which is terrific considering he didn't train at all except for running a single mile around our cul-de-sac few weeks ago. He was displeased with his performance, which is further evidence that he is my son. I think I was ten when I realized I was getting too old to be a prodigy at anything. I didn't handle the disappointment very well. We are hoping he is internalizing the reality that being really good at anything requires lots of hard work, and some people have to work harder than others.



I teared up when I saw Harper coming into the home stretch holding hands with the friend she has consistently run with in practice all year. They stayed together the entire race. Harper is so independent, sometimes to a fault, so this show of teamwork and mindfulness of the needs of others was beautiful to me.



Her beloved 3rd grade teacher, and current art teacher, Ms. Pf, dressed up as Stupendous Man from Calvin & Hobbes to honor the Super Hero race theme. We are so thankful for her.



Harper had her Science Fair on Monday. Her hypothesis was that male parakeets solve problems faster than female parakeets. She worked really hard (as did Hobbes, who proved her hypothesis correct) on her research, her written report, and her board. Other than a few minutes spent showing her how to use Word to type her report, I was completely uninvolved. I was so impressed with all of the experiments, and amazed at how much these fifth graders have grown, both physically and academically, this year.

 Now I need to go to the grocery store. My days alone are waning fast.