The DeLorme Family: Cross Country and School Update

     I was absolutely ecstatic when I learned that Ashlyn's school offers a cross country team! The team is open to all students from kindergarten to 5th grade. I have always wanted to run a program like this at my school, but since I am only there part time, I could never get it to work. The P.E. teacher at Ashlyn's school is a big runner and he does an awesome job with cross country. It is a very popular team to be on. I think about 180 kids do it. That is more than a third of the school! It makes me smile to see so many kids out there running and doing something active.
   We asked Ashlyn if she wanted to do it, and she decided that it sounded like fun to her. The team practices two times a week before school. I work one of the days, but I love getting to run with her one day a week. They practice running by running laps. He even has them doing intervals and strides. He does a great job of teaching them fundamentals of running like pacing, good sportsmanship, etc. Ashlyn averages about 2 miles per practice. They hand out sticks at each lap and then at the end they tall up the sticks to figure out how far they run. Ashlyn has already almost ran 10 miles in the course of about 3 weeks! We are very proud of her for her dedication and determination to running.
   Another part of cross country is that they have 3 different cross country meets during the season. The first one was on Friday at Ashlyn's school. The race was about a mile long and they did three different races based on grade level. Ashlyn ran in the race with kindergartners and first graders. I asked her if she was nervous before, and she said she wasn't. She had quite the cheering section to cheer her on. Her Uncle Steven, Uncle Bryan, Auntie, Ella, Jameson, Gram, Dad, and Mom were all there to cheer for her. It was fun to watch her run all by herself. I reminded her that it didn't matter how fast she ran, as long as she gave it her all. She did an awesome job. She was running her little heart out. As she came through the chute, she had a huge smile on her face. I loved knowing that she had a fun time.
   I also wanted to give a quick update about Ashlyn and school. She has now been in school more than a month and she is doing better than I ever expected. She is excited to go to school each day. She loves getting in the car and telling me all about her day. She is making lots of friends and getting to know her classmates. She is doing really well academically as well. The work is often very easy for her, but I keep reminding her its going to get a lot harder. She had her first reading test last week, and came home with a 100%. Joey and I are trying to get involved as much as we can at her school. We both will be volunteering in her classroom. Ashlyn's school also teaches Chinese to every student. Ashlyn loves Chinese class and is teaching me a lot of the words and phrases. I am eager to see how much Chinese she will know by the time she is in 5th grade. Ashlyn also really likes music class. She says the teacher is so funny and she is constantly singing new songs to us.
    I still miss Ashlyn a lot during the day. However, I don't think I could have wished for a better school experience for Ashlyn. I love knowing that she is doing so well and learning lots each day!