This week Ashton has done two very brave things in my eyes. I can't stop thinking about how proud I am of him. Let's start off with what happened first this week:
It was the day Presidential Elect Obama was to be sworn in. Ashton goes to a Catholic school, 1st grade, and every 4 years when this happens the whole school goes across the parking lot to the church for a mass. The teacher collected all of Ash's classmate in his classroom to have them put their coats and stuff on so they could walk across the parking lot to the church. Well Ash was having problems with his coat zipper and when he finally fixed it he looked up and the entire class including his teacher were gone. He ran out to the hallway and no one was there. He knew where they were going but wondered why they left without him. His first instinct was to take the tunnel to the church. (The school has an underground tunnel that connects the school to the church. Not like a coal mining tunnel but a nicely lit and paved one. Still to a 6 year old that tunnel can be scary). So instead of going outside across the parking lot all alone to get to the church he ran thru the tunnel, later telling us he almost cried because he was so scared.
Meanwhile the teacher had all the kids at the entrance door to the church and asked the kids in back why they were holding the door open. One of the kids said, "Because Ashton has not come out of the school yet." The teacher said her heart dropped to her feet. Ashton is like her teacher's aide...how did she not notice she thought to herself! She looked out the door for him and he was no where in sight. She was taking a second to think of what to do with the kids when all of a sudden Ashton appeared behind her. She grabbed him and gave him a hug because he looked a little shook up...and she admitted she was pretty shook up as well and the hug was just as much for her as it was for him. He told her the whole story and she sat beside him at the mass and kept Ashton at her side the rest of the day to help the both of them feel better.
Now I don't blame his teacher or Ashton. His teacher is a great person and Sue's family has a long history with that school. She went there along with her two sisters and brother and her father went there along with his brothers and sisters. I am just very proud of Ashton and how he was able to think so well on his feet and take the safe route to where he needed to go. I am so glad he did not go outside where he could have been all alone without supervision. Of course going to the office may have been a better solution, he knew everyone would be at the church and that maybe no one would be in the office.
Not 24 hours later Ashton had to do another brave thing. About a month ago the teacher asked us if they could have Ashton stand up and do a reading at Wednesday's mass the day after the Presidential one. Ashton was okay with doing it so we were okay with it. Every day he practiced his reading to get ready for it. He worked on voice projection and he even started working on eye contact all by himself. Remember he is only 6. So yesterday Sue along with Abi, her parents and mine went to church to watch Ashton do his reading. Sue said he was awesome. Can you imagine when you were 6 standing up in front of your whole school and reading something like doing a speech?! Sue said he was so poised and calm. We were worried about what had happened the day before but Ash shook it off and did his stuff. So many people came up to Sue after the mass to say what a great job he did. Ashton has always been good at reading and has been reading chapter books for about a year now and that is why the teacher asked him to do it.
Quote from the 8th grade teacher who sent Sue and email:
"Sue -Wanted to talk with you after Mass but needed to get my class back asap.
Ashton did a fabulous job with that reading today. Such composure and such understanding. You must be so proud!!!!! He took my breath away. I want him on my Forensics team now."
My kids often amaze me with the things they do. I just thought these events were good ones to share.
Aryn - (A very proud father )
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Friday, January 9, 2009
What this year may bring
The first full week of 2009 is ending and it's been full of bad news. The economy is the big player as we all know. I feel lucky to be in the Automotive Industry and still be employed. Two of my teammates, Brain "The Wrench" and Gerry 'Captain Terror", work in my office with me and it's funny because usually this time of year we are already talking about the upcoming race season.
We as many know I have no plans to race at all in 2009. In fact I don't even own a complete mountain bike. I have a frame, fork, a set of wheels and some other scattered parts but not enough to throw a whole bike together. I sold all my race stuff to cover xmas this year so we didn't have to dip into our savings to pay for it like we do every year. My company is still going but none of us are sure for how long. My family is more important than my race season. Sue and I have made a few changes and started preparing for the possible "worse case scenario" in that my company goes under and I lose my job. We had put our cottage up for sale in Sept with the plan to build a new one across the lake on her dad's property. It actually sold last month but now we plan to just keep the money in the bank until we see how this economy thing plays out.
It's weird not having a mtb to ride. I still have my road bike and recently acquired cheap used bmx bike. I have already developed a complete parts list for the new DJ/Urban bike I want to build but honestly I can't justify spending the money right now. Even with the big cushion we have from selling the cottage going out and building another bike just seems like a bad idea.
It's funny because a good jump bike for me would be the deal Captain Terror could get me on a Redline D640...but I know if I ended up getting it I would not be completely satisfied and I would end up upgrading most of the bike. So I want to piece together the exact parts I want to make sure I will be satisfied when it is done. Have I become a bike snob as to where I just can't ride a normal bike anymore??? I am not even happy with my bmx bike, I keep looking at upgrades for that and I hardly ride it. But really, even after you build the exact bike you want is it ever completely done?
So to keep me busy and away from spending lots of money I have decided to tamper with building wheels. I have a couple extra bmx wheels laying around and I figure they will be good practice wheels for my first couple tries at this. Might cost me $20 for some new spokes and nipples but that'll be it. Once I gt a couple good wheels I hope to start building my own mtb wheels. This should keep me busy along with having the new baby.
And last, as for milage.....I am so out of the game. Rode about 100 miles in November on the trainer, 0 in December and none yet in January. There are a lot of people who are faster than me now.
I'm still going to d my best to cover the team events this season. I have always felt like the team's Public Relations rep. Sue and I have already talked about the Tour De Cure as well. I want to ride it with Ashton this year so I will be planning to do the short ride instead of the metric century like I normally do. I may even pull Abi in the trailer as well so she can be involved.
So keep tracking this blog. We'll be more diverse in the cycling world this year. Road, XC, CX, bmx, Urba, DJ, Park riding....never know where the team will show up.
Keep the tires aired down and the layers built up, it's cold outside.
Aryn
We as many know I have no plans to race at all in 2009. In fact I don't even own a complete mountain bike. I have a frame, fork, a set of wheels and some other scattered parts but not enough to throw a whole bike together. I sold all my race stuff to cover xmas this year so we didn't have to dip into our savings to pay for it like we do every year. My company is still going but none of us are sure for how long. My family is more important than my race season. Sue and I have made a few changes and started preparing for the possible "worse case scenario" in that my company goes under and I lose my job. We had put our cottage up for sale in Sept with the plan to build a new one across the lake on her dad's property. It actually sold last month but now we plan to just keep the money in the bank until we see how this economy thing plays out.
It's weird not having a mtb to ride. I still have my road bike and recently acquired cheap used bmx bike. I have already developed a complete parts list for the new DJ/Urban bike I want to build but honestly I can't justify spending the money right now. Even with the big cushion we have from selling the cottage going out and building another bike just seems like a bad idea.
It's funny because a good jump bike for me would be the deal Captain Terror could get me on a Redline D640...but I know if I ended up getting it I would not be completely satisfied and I would end up upgrading most of the bike. So I want to piece together the exact parts I want to make sure I will be satisfied when it is done. Have I become a bike snob as to where I just can't ride a normal bike anymore??? I am not even happy with my bmx bike, I keep looking at upgrades for that and I hardly ride it. But really, even after you build the exact bike you want is it ever completely done?
So to keep me busy and away from spending lots of money I have decided to tamper with building wheels. I have a couple extra bmx wheels laying around and I figure they will be good practice wheels for my first couple tries at this. Might cost me $20 for some new spokes and nipples but that'll be it. Once I gt a couple good wheels I hope to start building my own mtb wheels. This should keep me busy along with having the new baby.
And last, as for milage.....I am so out of the game. Rode about 100 miles in November on the trainer, 0 in December and none yet in January. There are a lot of people who are faster than me now.
I'm still going to d my best to cover the team events this season. I have always felt like the team's Public Relations rep. Sue and I have already talked about the Tour De Cure as well. I want to ride it with Ashton this year so I will be planning to do the short ride instead of the metric century like I normally do. I may even pull Abi in the trailer as well so she can be involved.
So keep tracking this blog. We'll be more diverse in the cycling world this year. Road, XC, CX, bmx, Urba, DJ, Park riding....never know where the team will show up.
Keep the tires aired down and the layers built up, it's cold outside.
Aryn
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