lessons learned

A while back I was taking both dogs to get groomed.  Like always, Neo was pulling ahead and Max was cautiously hanging back.  As we got close to the door, Neo slipped out of his collar so I had to grab him and hold him (while he is fighting to get free from my hold).  This caused Max to loop around me in a panic and started pulling in the opposite direction.  So now I am fighting to walk with a leash around me, Max pulling in the wrong direction and Neo squirming in my arms.  And I had the thought, "I hope no one inside can see me.  I am so embarrassed.  Why can't my dogs just walk into a building like normal dogs?".  After dropping them off, I was driving home and I was still thinking about how embarressed I was and then I thought, "they are just dogs...no one cares...the vet understand how dogs are...they know Max and Neo and their personalities. "  And then a flood of memories came to me.  Me with my two other boys. Feeling like everyone was looking at me as I held a way too big baby while chasing a way too much energy toddler.  Wondering why they couldn't just act like normal kids and not embarress me.  I wish I knew then what I know now...no one cares, people understand how kids can be.  

fall break

We headed back up to the Virginia Creeper bike trail for the first part of fall break.  We brought along Carter's good friend, Matthew.  Which ended up being a very good thing or Carter would have rode the trail by himself.  Here is the story:  It all started great our first night; we played games and ate junk food.  But the next morning Jared wasn't feeling good.  He said, "I feel like my stomach is being stabbed by a ton of knives".  Not good.  By time we needed to go, he felt a little better and decided to try.  We were riding the 17 miles that connect Damascus to Abingdon, which is flat and so you have to work instead of coast like White Top to Damascus.  About a mile in Jared stopped for the third time and so Allen decided to wait with him.  The four of us went on.  Carter and Matthew would ride for awhile at their fast pace, then stop and explore/climb until Claire and I caught up.  This was Claire's first ride on her own=slow.  Ended up Allen decided that there was no way Jared was going to be able to make it, so he headed back to the car in Damascus so he could drive Jared back to our rental house in Abingdon.  Good plan except for one thing.  I had the car keys and house with me, now several miles away.  Luckily a man gave them ride back to the house.  Allen left poor Jared on the back porch and then took off down the trail hoping to find me as I was coming his way.  And praying that I didn't decide to turn around.  So, instead of enjoying the ride and the beauty around him, Allen had a great work out biking as fast as he could to me and then right back to Jared.  Carter and Matthew road back with Allen.  And about an hour or so later, Claire and I made it back.  Did I mention she was SLOW?  Oh, and it rained on us for about 30 minutes, but that really wasn't bad.  Thankfully Jared felt much better that night and was able to make it to dinner ( a fun 50's soda fountain place) and to the play we went to.  So, not the best trip ever, but one we will not soon forget.

the raft

Once upon a time, Carter had a dream of making a raft made from milk jugs.  So, being the supportive mom that I am, I started collecting them in the garage for him.  We saved them all winter long.  I think there were about 75 in all.  It was going to be his summer project.  Then summer came and he lost some of his enthusiasm.  We kept reminding him and he kept putting it off.  Finally Allen and Jared helped him one day to get the first layer done.  That first layer sat there for the rest of the summer.  Sad.  So un-Carter-like.  Finally, in September, he had a few friends over to finish it up.  And the next week he and his friend Konnor tried it out.  It worked!  Now it is sitting in the basement garage.  Will it see the water again?  Maybe next summer.

climbing the mountain

 See that mountain behind Allen and Claire?  We have wanted to figure out how to get to the rock part , where we have seen a few people before, for awhile now.  Then this summer one of Carter's friends called him from it and said he could see our dock.

So we found out how to get there and set off one summer night.  I packed a back pack with water bottles as we didn't know how hard the hike would be.  We found the road we needed to start on.  We ignored the sign and set off.  Little did we know that it was more of a walk than a hike.  So quickly we were there...

 We had a great time looking over our little part of the lake that we have spent so many hours on.  Carter did some research and found out there was also a cave not to far from the lookout  point.  So, we headed over there and explored a little.

 Then we went back and enjoyed the sunset.  It was a great night with the family.

determination

Years ago I wrote about how Carter is a very determined boy; he doesn't give up and has all the faith in the world that he will succeed at whatever he puts his mind to.  Well, years have passed and he is still as optimistic about his abilities as ever.  I wanted to document this great trait of Carters that is surely here to stay.  As he is just around the corner from his 16th birthday, he still has all the confidence in the world that he can succeed.  In anything.  He makes lofty goals and accomplishes many.  And when he doesn't he just says he'll get it soon.  A few examples from this past year...he wanted to be able to do a muscle-up.  If you don't  know what that is, look it up-they are hard.  He accomplished this goal awhile ago and then last week he did one with just his finger tips-crazy!  The last few weeks when he goes to youth activities at church he has been trying to dunk in the gym.  He is close.  Every week announces "this is the day, I feel it, I'm going to dunk!"  And then he doesn't.  But do you know what the cool thing is?  He doesn't quit, he doesn't get discouraged.  He just tries again.  He talks about how he was better this week and he knows what he needs to do next time.  He is determined to dunk.  And I am sure he will.

What I have learned is to just take the ride of optimism with him.  In years past I would try to talk to him about how he might not accomplish something, trying to soften the blow of disappointment.  But I finally realized that he doesn't get down, he doesn't fall from his great high.  He just keeps on going.  So, now when he tells me things like how he is going to be on "American Ninja Warrior" show someday, I just say, "That's awesome".  It has been a great thing for me, the ultimate realist (pessimist), to see how it's ok to try and fail.  And if you keep at something, you will succeed.  I believe with all my heart that Carter can do anything he puts his mind to.

I am so grateful that I can rub shoulders with someone that is so positive about everything in life.  He is a great example to me.

cliff jumping

Carter has been taking lots of video with his GoPro this summer.  On his list was to go to the high cliffs and jump the approximately 40 foot cliff.  He and Jared braved the climb up and made the jump.  Carter is the one holding the blue thing that is holding his GoPro.  Jared was very nervous and we saw his famous "I want to do this but I don't know if I can make myself" face.  After about 30 minutes and four jumps from Carter, Jared finally took the plunge.  I love when a child faces a fear head on. They both loved it and we have gone back and Jared has not hesitated to jump.  Carter got some great video and was able to finally jump with out screaming.  They said they felt like they were in the air forever. I love the last picture, of Jared, as he is just about to hit the water.  You can see his reflection in the water.  I bet if we zoomed in he would have his "I'm going to die" face.

pole vault

Back in 8th grade, Carter started talking about pole vault.  He has a friend who has been doing it for a few years outside of school.  So, when Carter joined the high school track team, he wanted to try pole vault.  Little did we realize what was involved.  The high school coaches were not equipped to teach this difficult event.  So besides going to track practice every day after school for the 800 and high jump; twice a week Carter went to pole vault practice, along with a hand full of kids in town, with his coach, Tim Mack.  Does he sound familiar?  He might if you watched the Summer Olympics in Athens where he won gold in the pole vault.

It was a great freshman year on the track team for Carter.  We enjoyed watching him learn and improve in pole vault along with the high jump  and the 800m.  He even did the 300 hurdles a few times. He scored for his team in high jump and pole vault which led to him lettering in track.  We were excited for Carter for accomplishing this his freshman year.  He is such a great athlete who works hard to improve.  He is so good at setting goals for himself.  I'm excited to see what the next three years hold in store for him.