Turkey Trot

Dax could barely hold the turkey without dropping it.

At the boys' school they have a special event called the Turkey Trot on the day before Thanksgiving Break. The winner takes home a frozen turkey, and second and third place get smaller prizes. Last year Mark took second and was the proud winner of a bag of candy. There is pretty stiff competition between he and his best friends Shad and Cael.

Dax was totally determined to win the kindergarten race this year. It's all he's talked about for the last few days, and he's even lost a little sleep over it. Before leaving for school on the day of the race, he even said, "Once they say go, you take off and you never look back-- that's when someone will pass you!" Of course, we've been trying to lower his expectation, because we know that you lose more often than you win.

Well, the big race was today. In the third grade race, Mark took 4th place behind his buddies Cael and Shad and another boy in our neighborhood named Talon. The race was so close that they actually did a photo finish, but the picture showed he was just a bit behind. That left him out of the winner's circle, but we were really pleased that he congratulated his friends and was a great sport. Sometimes that's better than winning.

This is the only picture I got of Mark running the race. I was in charge of watching for winners. He is in the blue sweatshirt right in the middle, a few steps behind Cael...his best friend who won!

When the kindergarten gun sounded Dax was off like a shot. It wasn't even close, and, of course, he never looked back. So though we'll be going to Grandma Daniels' for Thanksgiving, we'll have a turkey to cook when we get home!

Dax was the leader from the get-go!

The top 3: from right to left, Dax, Noah Crosby (live-in our neighborhood), and
Eli Olson (on Dax's soccer and basketball team). So all great friends!

Dax was SO happy! It was so fun to see him enjoying the moment!