He rode it! Sorry I took so long to tell you all

Feivel, age 11, completed his bicycle ride of the entire C&O Canal last Thursday, along with other members of his Boy Scout Troop.  Mind you, Feivel was over a year younger than the next youngest of the scouts on the ride, and if you are a family member, friend, or regular reader here you remember that Feivel is developmentally disabled as well, making it that much more impressive and special that he completed this momentous feat--a 184.5 mile ride, camping out the whole way, with a stop to go white water rafting (they put Feivel in the raft with the three adults on the trip, which to my mind was the smartest thing they could have done).  He may be among the youngest ever to have accomplished this ride.

He is very proud of himself, and we are phenomenally proud of him.  Our thanks to Bob Kreitman, Dave Herschander, Yonasan Gorin, and all the scouts and parents who were involved, as well as to BSA which gave him this opportunity.

I hope to have at least a couple of photos soon to add to this post, but I'm not sure what became of them--Jeffrey, who helped with support for the trip, took them and either hasn't downloaded them or hasn't let me know where they are among the electronic files.  At the very least, I'll take a new photo of him in his gear.

We did sponsor the kiddush at shul this week in honor of his accomplishment, and contributed chocolates, Pepperidge Farm cookies, cocoa covered almonds, and Jelly Belly jellybeans, much to Feivel's delight and that of the other children.

Everyone's been hard at work

Today, Feivel left for his big Boy Scout ride--Troop 613 left this morning to bike down the whole C&O Canal!  They'll make some stops during the week for rafting and the like, and finish in Georgetown Thursday evening.  The biked over 3 hours this afternoon and made it to their intended camping point at about 5:15 pm.

Jeffrey left early in the morning to meet up with the troop, help with davening and transport, and get them going in the northwest.  He just got home at about 8 pm.

The girls and Sachy spend the morning helping their grandparents with gardening and preparation for fence painting.  They worked very hard and Grandpa was very appreciative.

Gilad and Addie behaved nicely at their grandparents' house so everyone else could get their work done.

Meanwhile, being insane, I decided that just working the Slow Bee Mystery II shawl is not enough lace to be knitting (and I only have one other project on the needles at the moment, my Komon sweater from Knit Kimono).  So of course, I cast on Nancy Bush's summer Estonian shawl from the most recent Piecework.

We're just all worn out.

Birthday fun and Sunday Funday!

Addie is one year old!  We made and ate a yummy flower cake:

And we wished we could eat her.

We knew a year ago, even when she was teeny and new and the hospital insisted her first night that the only thing they could tell me from the NICU was that my baby was "sick," that she would be a lovely, sweet, very silly little girl and look how she has grown.

Meanwhile, not for the faint of heart, here is Gilad riding his bicycle over the ramp Feivel and Grandpa built.  Definitely turn on the audio; the giggling is the best part!