Isn't it wonderful when hard work pays off?

As school winds down, it's time for the final awards assembly. Today, they gave out awards for Jogger's Club. There are different prizes for different tiers (how many laps you ran and how you are, with four laps = 1 mile). The top tier was a medal for those who ran a certain amount (for kindergarteners, it was 12 miles, or 48 laps). Mika ran 73 laps this spring semester - which was also enough to win her the top runner award for kindergarten girls! Not bad, especially considering that she missed a whole week (2 days of running) for vacation! She could have run even more! Her prize was a certificate and a T-shirt that said "TOP RUNNER SPRING 2009".

I was really proud of her, because I was trying to teach Mika that if you work hard for something over a period of time, you can reap the rewards. There were some kids who ran just a little bit each day, trying to make the bare minimum to qualify for a certain tier. Mika ran her little heart out every day, doing the best she could.

If all goes well, in a few years... I think I'll have a great running partner! :) Maybe then, she'll be the one telling ME to hurry up! Hee hee... I'm so proud of you, baby! I knew you could do it! I just knew it!

Later in the day, it was time for the school's annual "family picnic". Grandma came to visit (the girls haven't seen her in several weeks, since she'd been traveling in Japan) and lucky for me, she prepared a whole smorgasbord of yummy food! We had pork cutlets, chicken cutlets, spaghetti, strawberries, home-grown tomatoes, and celery - plus the good company of our friends. After finishing lunch, the girls insisted on having Grandma play ring-around-the-rosy and asking her to swing them in a circle.

Personally - I was amazed that nobody hurled afterwards! ;)