Grandpa's canoe

September 5th, 2008 was the beginning of (Ceci's) Grandpa's sixth annual Adirondack Canoe Classic. At 67 years old I'm proud to have a father who competes in a 3 day, 90 mile canoe race. And finishes, six years now, faster than the year before. This was my third year in attendance for the race. My mother and I took turns as pit crew for my father and his race partner, Fritz. (This is the same Father Fritzen who married Rich and I and baptized Cecilia.) One of us would feed and hydrate the team while the other cheered on racers with Ceci. I can't say enough about how adaptive Ceci is. I slung her for three days and who knows how many miles of walking. The entire time she was either smiling and laughing or asleep in the sling. We made a sling out of an old race T-shirt for an extra show of support. On the third day of the race one canoer stopped long enough on a carry to tell me with a smile, "I haven't heard a peep out of that baby for three days now." A testament to what a great baby I've been blessed with.