Sports days

It has been a busy last few weeks with sports days at school.  The kids' school host sports days for all the kids each year.  They do them in the Spring because it is too hot to do them at the end of the year like in the US.  Charlotte's sports day was at school on the field.  It was for all the Year 1 and Year 2 students.  All the kids in the school are assigned to an element, either Wind, Water, Earth, or Fire.  All the children in a family are in the same element (Tommy and Charlotte are both in Earth).  They earn points for their element throughout the day and they announce a winner at the end.

Charlotte's sports day consisted of her doing relay race type events such as three-legged race, throwing hoops around cones, throwing balls, climbing under and over things, and bouncing on a big ball.  She was extra excited because Oma was in town and came to watch.  It was especially nice for me because I was helping with the event and Oma was able to take pictures for me.

Three-legged race

Trying not to spill the water and fill up her team's jug

Throwing a bean bag through the hoop

Charlotte had a great time.  They finished the day with a race and a tug-of-war.  Then, the parents got to stay at eat lunch with the kids.  It was a fun day!

That weekend Tommy had a race at Chinese International School.  Each school could bring 5 boys and 5 girls from each year group.  They had a tryout at school, Tommy was excited to make the team.  At his level they ran 900 m.  They started out in a long line and had to funnel pretty quickly to a narrow path.  I think there was only one race where no one fell.  In Tommy's race, a kid in front of him fell and he tripped over him.  Therefore, he started the race in the very back.  He did a great job running and was able to move up and finish in the middle of the pack.  At the end of all the races, they had a fun run open to anyone.  Our whole family decided to do it.  Neither Tom nor I were wearing our running shoes and we were both in jeans, but we decided it would be a good way to warm up after standing in the cold for several hours.  The fun run was about a kilometer and included going out on the sidewalk outside the school.  Both Tommy and Charlotte took off in a sprint when the gun went off.  Tommy was running with a friend, and I wasn't surprised at all he ran so quickly.  Tom and I were happy jogging at a casual pace.  I kept looking for Charlotte, slightly concerned about how she was doing and sure we were going to catch up to her walking any minute.  We finished the whole race and found her sitting near the finish line resting.  She apparently had finished quite a bit ahead of us.  Tom and I were glad we did the fun run, but slightly embarrassed we can't keep up with our 5 year old.  Soon we will be going to races for both of the kids!

Start

Running hard

The following Tuesday, Tommy had his sports day event for school.  The event for Year 3-6 is basically a track meet held at the local Sports center which has a real track.  Tommy signed up for the 100 m and 400 m races.  He ran his first heat of the 100 m and did well.  He got a close second behind one of his classmates.  He finished 5th in the 400m, which was great.  Seeing him start a little too quickly and slow down considerably in the last half of the race reminded me of my days running that race in high school.  I was proud of him for having a strong finish at the end.  At the end of the day, they had the finals for the sprint events.  Tommy ended up just edging out a different classmate to win the 100 m final.  I was really proud of him and he was pretty excited.  He always tells me how he is the fastest kid in his class.  I guess now I should believe him.  Earth didn't win the team event, but they did win the Spirit award for cheering the loudest throughout the day.  Overall, it was a great day.

1st place!

Fast running