MY FIRST ROAD RACE

(Video of me at the start of the race)

Today my dad and I were in the Kona Marathon. My dad ran 26.2 miles. I used my wheelchair and did the 5K. That is 3.1 miles.

The race was very hard for me to push myself up the hills. I got very hot. When I finished, I got a medal. I kind of had a fun race. My mom walked with me during the race. A lot of people clapped for me and told me good job and gave me high fives.

Since I am deaf and couldn't hear, my mom said a lot of people honked at me and told me good job and said "you go girl". I saw a lot of people in cars wave at me. Everybody was very nice. I saw Bree Wee and she took a picture of me. A man from the newspaper took a picture of me too. His name is Baron and he is a friend of my dad.

My mom and I met a man from Ashland Oregon where we used to live. He is a school teacher and knows my old middle school teacher and some other people that we knew when we lived there.

The race made me tired and I don't know if I want to do it next year.

(Top photo is of me racing in my first road race. The other photo is me and my finisher's medal)

PUZZLE GIRL

I have finished more than 100 puzzles in the last couple of years. I like doing puzzles because they are fun. Puzzles are easy and hard but I like the hard ones better. My dad made a puzzle of me and the turtles.

I have done little puzzles and big puzzles, some with 2000 pieces. Nobody helps me do the puzzles. My favorite puzzle that I have done has dolphins and mermaids.


(Photos: In the top photo is the puzzle that my dad made of me. In the next photo is my favorite puzzle of dolphins and mermaids and the bottom photo is puzzles that I have recently done.)

The hard puzzles take me about three weeks to finish and the easy ones take one day. I hate it when I lose puzzle pieces. It takes me a long time to find them. Sometimes I buy a puzzle that has two of the same pieces.

Sometimes I mix the pieces of more than one puzzle together just to make it harder. My mom thinks I am crazy for doing that.

When I finish a puzzle I put puzzle glue on it and after the glue dries I hang the puzzles on my bedroom wall.

BOOT CAMP

My little brother, Daniel, went to boot camp for training to get into the Marines. He left the day after he graduated from high school. I feel sad that he is there and I worry about him. I miss him a lot. My dad and mom and I might fly to San Diego, California for Daniel's graduation from boot camp. I really hope we get to go.



Daniel posing with a sea turtle at Turtle Beach (at the Honokohau Harbor)



Daniel and his girlfriend Kyla at the 2007 world championship Ironman in Kilua Kona, HI


From left to right, me, my sister Rachael, Jonathan and Daniel (2 of my brothers)

BEACH CHAIRS

This is Rebecca's beach chair. Oliver and Julia from the Cycle Station arranged to have a bike donated that had been used in the Tour of Spain, then auctioned it off and used the proceeds to purchase the beach chair. It makes going to the beach so much easier. Regular wheelchairs are very hard to push in the sand, but the huge balloon tires make this one a breeze. A big thank you to Oliver and Julia for working so hard to make this happen. The picture is of Rebecca and Karen (mom) on the left, Oliver in the middle and the bike recipient on the right.

KONA MARATHON WHEELCHAIR FUN RUN

I am training for a wheelchair race. My dad takes me to the Old A to practice. It is hard work to push myself around the running path. My dad gave me some arm weights to make my arms stronger for the race. I am going to get a new wheelchair. I hope it is blue. I keep hurting my arms on my old wheelchair when I try to go fast. I hope I can do a lot of wheelchair races.