Bronwyn and Keegan have had some new opportunities to work on their fitness. On Saturday, they went for a run with the HB4 (Hanthorn Big 4), led by Leonard, who is married to Carol, one of the nurses here in town. Leonard is a serious runner. He lives in New York, and has done Olympic time trials. He was raring to take the kids out and he had a route all planned out in his head, involving interval training. They ran for one hour and fifteen minutes. Keegan said it was the most tired he has ever been, and Bronwyn’s quads were so sore, she was walking like a duck to relieve her discomfort. But I’m so proud of them. It has been such a blessing for them to take part in the Hanthorns’ training schedule (They are preparing for the Arctic Winter Games in March).
They had their ‘day of rest’ on Sunday and it was a good thing because on Monday, they went on another excursion. That morning,we woke up to a cool day. It was just above freezing. Bronwyn and Keegan went for a bike ride with Sarah, Joel, Annah, and Ruth. They put on layers, hats on their heads, and gloves on their hands(or in Bronwyn's case, socks). They biked all the way to Tsiigehtchic, a 60 km trip.
Josiah, Diana, Naomi, and Ezra did not want to come along to pick up the cyclists. Our new ‘home’ is a novelty and they wanted to stay and play. Mackenzie jumped at the opportunity to babysit. With two older siblings, she doesn’t get as many chances as she’d like to be in charge. I warned her. “ I’ll be gone about 3 hours. I have no phone. What would you do if you had a problem?” She replied, “Mom we’re living with the police. I’ll be fine.”
I took Estelle and Evangeline in the van and they both slept the whole way. We stopped once so Lynn could pick up Judah and Jesse. They had gone on a shorter bike ride. Then,Lynn and I checked on the other cyclists, en route, and then drove ahead to meet them at Tsiigehtchic. When we arrived,the Mackenzie ferry was docked on our side, ready to load vehicles. The sight made me want to laugh. I’ve reached the river crossing countless times, and the ferry has NEVER been docked on my side ready to take me aboard. Not even once. The wait can be anywhere from 30 minutes to over an hour. Today, the only day I wasn’t crossing the river, I could have driven on board with no wait at all. It would have been-dare I say-exhilarating. Well, at least, very satisfying.
When we got to Tsiigehtchic,, Evangeline woke up, looked around with sleepy eyes and asked, ”Mom, are we at the ferry? Are we going on the ferry?” We’ve now been here long enough for even our two-year old to be familiar with the surroundings.
The cyclists did great and reached their destination in three hours. They were still all smiles as they rode up to the ferry dock. After biking to Midway earlier this summer on the hills in the rain, they found the distance much easier, even though it was longer. We had a snack, and headed back, with Bronwyn in the driver's seat. When we returned, Mackenzie asked why we were back so soon. So a good day was had by all.
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