Food day

We drove into Syracuse yesterday morning to Saint Lucy's Church where we worked in the food pantry. Aidan's Cub Scout pack volunteers for several shifts throughout November and December, and two other families joined us yesterday. The food pantry is available to those who live in the immediate area around the church and, when possible, the clients are able to make choices among the food items available.

While some of us prepared shopping bags, the Scouts assisted the clients by pushing the carts and helping them select food items from the shelves:



Although there was quite a crowd at the beginning, we were impressed with both the staff and the clients; the staff members were pleasant and treated the clients with respect, the line moved quickly, and the clients were patient. James and I spent some time talking with several of the staff members to learn more about how their pantry is supplied and their needs. We agreed as a family that we enjoyed helping out and would like to do so more frequently, with or without the Cub Scout pack.

I suppose it is somewhat ironic that we left the food pantry and went to eat lunch. We chose Alto Cinco, a quirky Mexican restaurant in the Westcott neighborhood. The restaurant is tiny and we had to wait for an available table but it was well worth the wait. James had soft jerk chicken tacos, which were made even more delicious with mango salsa and chipotle mayo, Aidan chose chicken quesadillas, and I had the excellent California burrito. Yum! While we love living in Baldwinsville, we don't exactly have many interesting restaurant choices in the village so we take every chance we can get to try new-to-us restaurants in Syracuse.

We stopped at the Baldwinsville Library's used book sale on the way home. Aidan got "the best deal of my life!" by spending $6 of allowance money on 11 books. It seems our entire day was built around food: food for others, food for our stomachs and food for our brains.

See Aidan run. Run, Aidan, run!

Aidan was invited to participate in the Baldwinsville Elementary Schools Cross Country Championships, which were held yesterday afternoon at Durgee Junior High. Four races were run - 5th grade boys, 5th grade girls, 4th grade boys, and 4th grade girls - and each race was 3/4 mile long. Each elementary school group was designated by a different color and Aidan's school wore yellow:

(team photo courtesy of Van Buren Elementary)

There were 76 runners in Aidan's category, the 4th grade boys. They gathered at the starting line...


...and then they were off and running!


I snapped the photo just a millisecond too soon and missed getting Aidan in the photo.

As Aidan neared the finish line, he still looked strong:


I was so excited that I jostled the camera, hence the blurred photo. Or perhaps he was moving that fast!

Aidan placed 24th out of the 76 runners with a time of 5:26.18, and he had a great time. We were proud that he finished the race, finished strong, and that he was pleased with his performance, even though he did not win. When I asked him if he could hear me cheering, he said, "No, but I felt you cheering in my heart."

Love, love, LOVE that boy.