close up of Mia’s fish

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.

Spring Break 2008 on flickr: set | slideshow

tree covered with ice, somewhere in Oklahoma

We were completely unprepared for the severity of the cold. The kids don’t have winter jackets because they don’t really need them here. We wear hoodies or windbreakers when it gets cold. I thought that wearing several layers of clothing with our jackets on top would be enough but I was SO WRONG. Except for a couple of outings lasting fifteen minutes or less, the kids stayed in the van with the heater on. Even when Mia ran, the big girls watched the kids so Mike and I could watch her and they could stay warm. Even though we were physically uncomfortable, it was amazing to be around all that ice and snow and haze. The sky was white. The ground was white. It was a different world.

THE RACE
Frigid temperatures didn’t phase the runners. Almost three thousand kids were scheduled to run. Conditions were difficult at best. The course had a lot of hills, including a few steep inclines. There was a big snow on Thursday, so the mud was covered with ice and snow. We saw several kids slip and fall when walking the course Friday. In fact, Mike took a bad spill and hurt his back. Another parent slipped in the same spot and broke his leg. The temperatures stayed in the lower twenties with the windchill dipping into the teens. I am blown away by the kids that participated. Every single one of them was amazing and they deserve a lot of credit for running that day.
On Saturday, we kept Mia in the van until the last possible minute. She has had problems with her back for the past few months and it really affected her in the last race. This time, we kept heat packs on her back to loosen her up and massaged her back and legs before she had to go warm up. Her shoes are very light and thin and got wet right away. Her feet were purple, they were so cold.

Although around 120 girls qualified in Mia’s division, only 83 showed up to run. She was ranked 58th and we were hoping she would break the top forty. She ran a solid race and despite falling on one of the hills she finished 33rd with a time of 21:00. I am so proud of her. To put it in perspective, she ran 21:45 in Utah under perfect conditions. The girl who won last weekend’s race [WOW! What an awesome runner!] qualified with a time of 16:57. Mia has never competed against someone of that caliber before. We were expecting the leaders to finish in the 17’s or 18’s, but the winner posted a time of 19:04. That is a difference of over two minutes. In fact, almost every single runner was much slower on Saturday’s race. I was very proud of Mia and the effort she made!

Cadillac Ranch
We weren’t able to see as many things as I wanted because of time and the weather. One thing we were able to enjoy was a visit to Cadillac Ranch. I think this was the highlight of the trip for most of the kids. It is an art installation on the side of the highway outside of Amarillo, Texas.  It was created by Stanley Marsh 3 in 1974 and consists of ten Cadillacs buried nose down in the ground.  Covered with graffiti, they are an ever changing and instantly recognizable America roadside attraction.

See all the photos from our trip on flickr: set | slideshow

Photos from our recent trip to the Bosque del Apache

Mike and I deal with road trips very differently. I like to know as far in advance as possible what is going on, where we are heading and how many of us are going.  Prepare, prepare, prepare.  Once we are on the road though, I am all about going with the flow and exploring.  Mike always waits until the last possible second to pin down plans.  With him, I never know what’s going on.  He isn’t so big on the last minute changes once we hit that pavement, though.

I’ve been stressing like crazy about this trip to Kansas.  We had flights for me and Mia to go but at the last minute decided to go with the original plan and take all the kids.  You have no idea how many lists I’ve made to try and get nine people organized for this trip.  Clothes, snacks, activities, seating charts, road maps, odd attractions… Letters to teachers, laundry and toothbrushes.

It will all be worth it. Road trips rock!  And if I happen to catch the world’s largest ball of string?  All the better.

Arches National Park

I never really wrote about our trip to Utah. It was a little long on driving but well worth it.  The scenery, especially around Moab, was gorgeous. I wish we could have spent a week there. The whole time we were gone, I was sick.  I was miserable, throwing up with a head cold and a sore throat.  As bad as it was, we still managed to have an awesome time.  We spent a few hours at the park where the kids ran, but we also saw a lot of other things: Hole N” The Rock, Great Salt Lake, the LDS temple and Arches National Park.  It definitely lived up to my expectations!  I only had a few frames left on my last roll of film by the time we got to Arches, but it is probably a good thing.  I could have spent all day and ten rolls of film there!

ROAD TRIP - Utah on flickr: set | slideshow
Region X CC on flickr: set| slideshow