At the beginning of summer Jake sat down with Natasha and made some goals for while school was out. When I saw the list, I was a bit surprised and thought Jake might be expecting too much. He assured me that she was the one that chose the goals and that he thought she could do it. He also added that she would get $100 if she succeeded in all the areas.Here is her list of goals -
Finish reading the first 28 books in the Magic Tree House series
Run 2 times a week and in one 5k race
Do math practice and or writing 2 times a week
Play soccer once a week
Well, I have to admit that there was a week or two when Jake wasn't around, that I forgot about the math part, but other than that she did every single one of her goals. She just finished book #28 a few days ago, and last night after getting a father's blessing and packing her backpack for her first day of school, Jake gave her $100. She quickly said she would pay tithing and put $1 (jake talked her into $5) into her piggy bank for something she wants soon and save the rest. She plans on taking $50 of it to spend in Disney World when we go.
She is such a joy to have around. She is determined to finish what she starts, and friendly and kind to everyone. She is our little peacemaker and I miss that everyday while she is at school.
This morning we walked her to her first day of 2nd grade. I felt bad that I don't have a camera to take her picture. Luckily one of her friends mom's was dropping her daughter off at the same time, and she let me snap a picture that I will add here when she emails it to me.
Mom and Dad kept the kids and told Jake and I we could hike up above the fog to get a closer look at Mt. Rainier. We decided to make a workout of it and hiked at full speed. It took us about 45 minutes, but finally we were out of the haze and had a clear sky above us.
You can see just how fast the clouds and fog were moving by comparing these 2 pictures. It would be clear one minute and back to being foggy the next.
