This will go down in history as one of the best weekends we’ve ever spent together as a family. There was no fighting. Let me write that again because I’m still having a hard time wrapping my head around it. THERE WAS NO FIGHTING. The kids all behaved and got along, even though we spent a good six hours in the van driving.
Silver City has an awesome park with climbing walls and a playground. Since Mia runs the first and last race at the meets, we had a few hours to relax between races. It is getting harder and harder for me to deal with her running. The pain is worse each week. She ran the 1600m first and collapsed in pain at the end. It lasted longer than usual and I worried all day about the second race. She warmed up well and stretched out her back, but six laps into the 3200m the pain was written all over her face. The last lap was so hard. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. It is difficult for us because she can’t stand to be touched when her back is hurting so there isn’t a lot we can do to help. It took forever to get her breathing and calmed down. I don’t know how she can stand this, but she won’t quit. She loves to run.
After the emotional ordeal at the track meet, we needed a break. Mike and I had set up the trailer on Friday so it was ready when we got there. The weather was beautiful and we had an amazing time. It’s been to cold to do much fishing, but we decided to try anyway. After a few hours, everyone was ready to give up and then Bleu caught a fish: the first fish of 2008!
We went on to catch another seven or eight fish, enough for Justin to have a fish fry. He and Michele brought Madison up to the lake, so we got to visit with them. She is growing up so fast…
Now that we have our trailer back, we can go camping and fishing every weekend. I couldn’t be happier.
Whew. Where to start… We had a great time. It was cold and windy most of the time but the kids swam in the lake anyway. Mike’s brother and his extended family joined us so we had a total of six adults and thirteen kids. They did pretty well together and there weren’t any major injuries. Echo got a black eye and a skinned knee, but that’s par for the course with him.
We saw lots of rabbits and lizards. Mike had a contest for the kids. Anyone that caught two lizards would win $20. They didn’t win, but I caught two with my camera. Does that count?
I loved that the restrooms were called ‘Comfort Stations’. They had hot, hot water in the showers and wavy mirrors that made everything look WIDE.
I could have slept the entire four days but I didn’t. Each morning I went for a walk to the dock or the beach to watch the sun rise. Dawn rocks!
I took a lot of pictures but most of them are crap. I wasn’t feeling creative AT ALL. This round, it is all about the memories and not the images. I still have several rolls of film out, so maybe they will turn out better.
Mike, Echo and I went to lunch with Mike’s mom. At the last minute, his two brothers and one of my nieces joined us. It was very interesting to watch Echo interact with his uncles. He looks so much like Mike and Mike looks so much like his brothers. They were four little peas in a pod.
After lunch, we went to ‘Uncle Mark’s Farm’. I cannot stress enough the complete joy that Echo gets from being around animals. When the little white goat stuck its head out of the fence he almost died from the glory of it.
Sunday Jon turned seven years old. He is my sensitive son, the one who gets his feelings hurt at the drop of the hat. Last night, he confided that he still remembers the first time I forgot to tuck him in and kiss him at night. He started crying as he told me about it. Boy does that kid know how to tug at my heartstrings! He tries hard to be tough, but it doesn’t usually work. He is a cool dude, funny and sweet. Right now, he wants to be a skater. He practices every day on the porch, the sidewalk, the skate park or the playground. Jon is the clumsiest kid I’ve ever seen, so skating has been a great way for him to work on his coordination.
There was a four day weekend because of President’s Day and parent teacher conferences, so we piled in the Airstream and headed to the river. We planned to make s’mores instead of having a birthday cake, but Jon wanted to blow out candles. We found a little cake at the gas station and sang for him. He ended up spitting all over the cake when he blew out the candles. Smart boy – no one else wanted a piece after that! He got finger boards, skater shoes and new clothes for his birthday.
Happy Birthday Jon-Jon!
All the pictures from our weekend on flickr: set | slideshow
