We had a great trip. Most of the time we spent at my mom’s house just hanging out, which was fine since my nieces and nephews came over to play. I don’t see them very often, so it was a real treat. On Monday, we drove to the Four Corners National Monument. That stretch of road, around Shiprock, is one of my favorite places in the world. It is absolutely gorgeous, so austere and hauntingly beautiful. About halfway there, we saw ONE billboard for McDonald’s and I was so pissed off. It seemed very commercial and out of place.

At the monument, we took the obligatory ‘I’m in four states at once!’ photos. I gave each of the kids $5 to buy a souvenir and they all picked jewelry [see mine!]. At one of the booths, the woman behind the counter and I started talking about kids. I explained how I wanted them to experience for themselves what they have only seen on maps. “I know. Even our people, the young ones,” she said, waving her arm vaguely in the air to include the land all around. “They don’t know what the Four Corners means. I tell my nieces and nephews to have their parents bring them here, so they will understand.” Our people. When she said that, I felt such a sense of longing. Where are my people? What are my traditions, my customs, my culture? It was so obvious from the way she spoke that she was deeply connected, not only to the Navajo people, but to the land. I’ve never experienced that sort of belonging.

Take a minute to check out the photos from our trip. I used a lot of different cameras [film, polaroid, disposable] and got a few fun pictures.

Road Trip on flickr: set | slideshow

Note: the picture on the right makes me cringe. This girl tripped and fell right on her head. When she got up, she walked around in circles, completely disoriented, before finishing the race. How do you spell hurdles? D A N G E R!

This weekend was difficult. It was hot, hot, HOT and I got a terrible sunburn the first day. Everything hurt. None of the kids qualified for Nationals. The only one that had a real chance was Mia. If she would have run her average time [not even a good time, just a normal one] she would have qualified in all three. But….

Last week I took the kids to the skate park and Mia refused to put on tennis shoes. She normally does anything I say without question, so I let it go. If she didn’t want to ride what difference would it make which shoes she wore? When she got on Bleu’s board, I asked her again [TWICE] to change out of her flip flops. I even took a picture so that I could have it as evidence if she got hurt. Sure enough, she fell and banged up her big toe pretty good. It was a bloody pulp with all the skin gone and a chunk of meat showing. Gross.

As soon as she started to run, I could tell it was bad. Her first race was the 3000m, almost two miles. With each lap she got further behind. I thought she might pick up the pace on her last lap, but she slowed to a jog. As soon as she crossed the finish line she fell down and I had to go and help her to the side. Even though I knew it was her own fault, it hurt to watch her hurting. It was a hard lesson learned. I told her not to run the other races. “I want to do well,” she said. “There is no way you are going to do well with that toe,” Mike replied. “Then I just want to do my best.”

I am a little bit relieved that track is over for the year. We have a few weeks off before cross country starts. Mica is in volleyball camp and Jon has a tball party, but other than that things are quiet. We spent more than we wanted to at the track meet so now I can’t go to Chicago. Bummer. Oh well, there is always next year.

alien autopsy, UFO Museum, Roswell, New Mexico

The State Hershey Track Meet was Saturday in Roswell, New Mexico. Bleu was the only one of the kids to qualify at the local meet. He is doing so well this summer. It is the first time he has really been interested in any activity and I want to encourage that. The van wasn’t working so I had to rent a car. It is a three hour drive to Roswell and we don’t have phone service through the mountains. The kids don’t fit in a regular car, so I left Mica and Mikal with their grandma. Mia, Butterfly, Jon and Echo stayed with Mike’s sister.

Big families are fun and good for lots of things, but one-on-one time is hard to come by. The kids take turns going to the store with me and that is about the only time I get to see them without siblings around. It was such a treat to spend a few days alone with Bleu. He did well in the track meet, throwing the softball 91 feet. It was his personal best and good enough for fifth place.

After he competed, we went out to eat in Roswell and checked out the UFO Museum. Talk about a town taken over by aliens! They are EVERYWHERE. Even the street lights have alien eyes painted on them. After a little sightseeing, we drove to Ruidoso. They have a little fun park there and we hung out for a few hours, playing putt-putt and riding go-carts and bumper boats. It was a lot of fun. When we got back to the hotel, it was dark. Bleu and I were climbing the stairs to our room and noticed movement by the dumpsters next to the hotel. A momma bear was carefully unlatching the bear proof latches on the lids and opening them, one by one. She sniffed around a bit and then climbed inside. Her two cubs scampered around the outside while she fished out sandwiches for them to eat. They stayed there for well over a half hour while we watched. I took a few pictures, but they didn’t turn out at all. It was very dark and my flash didn’t reach. Obviously, going in for a close up wasn’t a good idea. Mother bears are notoriously protective of their cubs.

The first two days, Bleu was excited about being an ‘only child’. By Monday morning he was homesick and ready to see his brothers and sisters again.

See Bleu’s BIG Adventure on flickr: set | sideshow

from left: Bleu, Mia, Mica, Mikal and Butterfly

DAY ONE
Events in bold are the ones qualifying for Regionals, held in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Mia: 3000m (2nd), 800m (2nd)
Mica: Discus (2nd)
Mikal: Long Jump
Bleu: Turbo Javelin (2nd)

The day was off to a rocky start. Many of the officials didn’t show up. It was the first major track meet to be hosted here, so there was a lot of pressure to get it right. Lots of parents and coaches from around the state pitched in and helped. Thank goodness! I was working the shot put and no clue what to do. Mike took Jon and Echo to his mom’s house so at least I had a chance to concentrate. Halfway through the day, Mikal found out that Scott (coach) had signed her up for the long jump. She was NOT happy. She hates the long jump and never competes in it. I told her to give it a try and have fun with it. There was no pressure to perform as she had no expectations. The other four kids qualified for regionals in their events, but Mikal didn’t even place. It was a good thing she did it though because she was on the news! They showed her doing her long jump and she looked beautiful and happy so it was all good.

You know what is even better? After we picked up the boys, we got home to a HUGE giant package on the porch. It was packed full of summer fun from Michelle. You have no idea how much I needed some help right at that moment. The kids set up the theater (Yes, a THEATER! With PUPPETS!) and entertained themselves the whole time I made dinner. Echo decided that he was going to live in it permanently. He pulled it into our room and made a bed inside of it. Not only did he go to sleep inside, he stayed there for the entire night. Can I add a few exclamation points here?!? The WHOLE! NIGHT! Thanks for thinking of us and know that we will get hours and hours of fun out of the stuff you sent!

DAY TWO
Events in bold are the ones qualifying for Regionals, held in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Mia: 1500m (2nd)
Mica: Shot Put (5th), 3000m Race Walk
Mikal: Shot Put (3rd), Turbo Javelin (3rd)
Bleu: Shot Put (2nd)
Butterfly: Long Jump

I can’t believe the kids qualified in 8 of their 12 events! Wow! I’m so proud of them, and not just because they are going on to the next round. It takes a lot of dedication to commit to practicing 3-5 days a week for two hours at a time. It is a lot of hard work to run and practice outside when the temperature is in triple digits. I know I wouldn’t want to do it. They all finished the season with personal bests. Anything we do from here on out is just bonus.

• By the way, Mikal was featured again on the news tonight. They filmed her throwing the javelin. For you locals, it will be on Channel 9 at 10 tonight (Sunday).

• Here is the link to the article in the paper.