A Rocky day.

This weekend was a busy, fun one for the whole family. Robie was competing in the first St. George Ironman. After breaking his collarbone last year and missing both Florida and Vineman, he was feeling excited, nervous and scared. I think he felt like he had done the training, but he was terrified of the weather - he was prepared for the cold and thought it would be raining, but when we got there, he was actually more worried it was going to be really windy - I mean, REALLY windy. In fact, on Friday, we drove out on the biking section of the course, and some of the "road closed" signs (the big diamond shaped ones) had completely blown over. We went out to the swim course as well, which was beautiful!The racers had to get up early (2:30 am - for the record, I couldn't even do a 5k after getting up at that hour, but that's just me), so he stayed with our friend, Tom, who was also doing the race. I was so nervous for him on Friday night - maybe because my mom reminded me of the last Ironman they had in Utah and how someone had died on the swim. I was just really hoping he would survive (plus if he was going to go die, the irony of working in the swim industry and dying on the swim would have just been too much).

Saturday morning, I watched online as the athletes started the swim. When I figured he was almost to the section we were going to watch him at, we all loaded up in the cars and headed over. Race day was a long day for all of us. If I could sum up the day for the kids in one word, I would say, "rocks." It seemed like everywhere we went, they found ways to play in rocks. Even though he came by on the bike right around the time when we expected him, there is still always a lot of waiting since you want to get there before you think he will come, just in case he is going faster than you expect, blah, blah. Anyway, Lauren entertained herself by using these big rocks that were on the side of the road to build a "rock fire" which is basically a bunch of rocks all piled up while Fox kept happy trying to eat the little pebbles (safety first, after all). When we saw Robie, he was about 1/2 way through the bike and was still smiling, which in Robie language means he was feeling pretty good (as most people know, he doesn't fake emotions, so when he is feeling crappy you know it). Sad that most of the course is covered with gorgeous scenery and this is what we took a picture of... oh well.

After that spot, we had to drive some of the course to get to the transition areas. I was really hoping we would catch up to him on the drive and get some cool pictures and let the kids cheer out the window, but the speed limit for cars was 35 and all the racers were going between 35 and 40 miles an hour because that section was almost completely downhill, so we never caught up to him again until we saw him at the end of the bike. Robie had secured some VIP passes through his work, which made it easy for us to come and go from the finish line/transition area because it not only provided food throughout the day, but also a special parking area close to the race. Close to the finish line (technically I guess the finish line was close to this, since I'm sure this is there all the time), anyway, they had this fun rock section with water where the kids could run around and jump in the water (it was warm in the sun, but the breeze was quite cool). Anyway, we had a while before he was going to finish the bike, so this worked great to keep everyone happy. As we moved over to the bike/run transition area, the kids found these landscaping rocks. As I'm standing there trying to get Fox to take a nap (miraculously I did get him to sleep for a few minutes), I hear the girls banging the rocks together. When I asked what they were doing, Brooke said they were trying to make a bowl, you know, like the Indians used to do. Hey, whatever keeps them happy, right? Robie had a white top on with white arm warmers. I swear at least 20 people had some sort of similar look going and I can not tell you how many times, I turned around to the kids with the frantic, "here he is - he's coming" and after they jump up and come running over I realize it is in fact someone that doesn't even really look that much like him. sort of funny, also sort of annoying to the kids, oops. As he came in on the bike, I tried to run down and see him coming out of the transition area, but that created a little confusion, because he saw me but was looking for everyone else, so I was yelling at him to just keep going and they were down farther. Thanks to the VIP parking, we could come and go fairly easy, so we waited for a while and then headed out to the turnaround of the run loop. They had to finish the same loop twice on the run (which was seriously the hardest marathon humanly possible (is it possible that they were running uphill both directions?) , so we saw him at each side of the loop. At miles 6.8 and 13 - the first 2 times we saw him - it was all excitement, but at mile 19-ish, we waited and waited and waited. 25 minutes after we thought he would come by he came up and his stomach was done. I guess 10 hours of squirting liquid nutrition and one peanut butter sandwich just wasn't cutting it! He finished in 12 hours and 51 seconds. It was really fun for me to have most of my family there to watch him finish. My sister, Kath and her husband Darrell were there, and I was totally surprised that my little brother, Mike even came down with my parents and Emily, Dan and Sam. After the rest of my family left, we thought we were waiting for our friend, Tom, to finish, so the girls played in their favorite rock section while we watched the video screen to see him come in. Unfortunately 30 minutes later we realized that Tom had actually already finished 40 minutes prior and we had totally missed him. At around 10:30, we thought we were ready to head back to the house we were staying at, but right before we left town, Robie's stomach was bugging him even more at which point I figured he better go back to the medical tent, since the house we were staying at is about 30 minutes outside of St. George. He had visited the tent after the Vineman (same distance of a race), but in that medical tent, they just had him lay there and suck it up. In St. George, they gave him some sort of anti-nausea medicine and he was feeling so much better only 30 minutes later! We made it back to the house we were staying at around 12:15 am - and all the kids but Fox were still awake - eek!

Just put your jammies on

Fox actually fell asleep on his own today for a nap. I just laid him down and within 10 minutes he was asleep - crazy! A few times he has fallen asleep in the car (rarely), but mostly he likes to try nursing to sleep and then he wakes up in 10 minutes. So I've tried not nursing him and then he usually screams for about an hour until it is time for him to actually eat again. But after 9 months of working with him I got an hour, and I've never been more proud. Yesterday he got the biggest kick out of Robie carrying him around in the laundry bag. It is my new favorite laundry accessory - my old laundry basket not only had a crack in it, but I had to move just right to get through doorways and then it got kind of heavy when I loaded 2 loads into it at once. This one can fit two loads of laundry, or one child.

Tonight Lauren ate dinner, mostly because it was plain spaghetti with parmesan cheese. What a thrilling night, since she got to have a treat. She had to put her jammies on first, though. Halfway through her dessert, I realized how she had gotten her nightie on so quickly. In order to expedite the process, she did, in fact, just put her nightgown on over the top of her clothes. I guess tomorrow I'll have to ask her to take her clothes off, THEN put her jammies on.

favorite quotes

Favorite quote from Lauren today while Fox was trying to walk around holding Robie's hands, "When Fox grows up, maybe he'll be a professional walker" A picture of that would be perfect right here, but blogger is driving me crazy and I'm going to bed..

Ashley said yesterday when she was on the trampoline trying to learn to do flips. I told her we should be careful because we're not even supposed to do flips, it even says so on the tag it came with. She says in response, "well, i thought we agreed we weren't going to worry about the rules".

Ending the week strong

I'm sad and excited about Spring Break being over. I have really enjoyed playing cruise director - we ended the week with the beach on Wednesday, the zoo on Thursday and the park on Friday.

The zoo was CRAZY busy. They have the supposed new exhibit for the Polar Bears, which pretty much consisted of a bunch of mumbo jumbo about enbironmental change and the evils of humanity.. blah, blah along with a new little play area in which you could (and I did) completely lose track of one child (Ashley) which could (and did) lead to said child being very traumatized and having the "scariest time of their whole life". The tigers were eating when we arrived at the exhibit, which was a highlight. I felt a little like this tiger at the end of the day - "watch out or I might bite your head off.. " ha ha

As usual, Brooke was excited about the giraffes. She and Ashley had saved the money they made from Easter eggs and were dying to buy a little stuffed animal, so they were not about to leave without visiting the gift shop. Brooke got a giraffe and Ashley got a hippo (her new favorite animal, mostly because of the cute stuffed animal, but still..) In my own sweet way, I told them I was taking this picture because I was pretty sure they would lose their stuffed animals in a couple of days, so I wanted to help them remember them - I told you I was getting cranky! (Ashley informed me tonight that I may have been correct on that one). Lauren is holding her souvenir penny that her sisters purchased for her - partly I think they just like turning the little wheel thing, but also I think they felt bad walking out of the store with something when she had nothing.. awww...

I enjoyed all of our little field trips, so I had a good week, too, but honestly most of all I really enjoyed sleeping in. On the old lady physical malady front, my knee is feeling a lot better although it is still sore on occasion, but I'm pretty much walking normally and it is only popping out of joint when I start going down the stairs and when I am getting in the car, and my range of motion is almost 100% so I'm very hopeful that this week I'll be back to normal.

Ronald Reagan Visit

We just got back from a fun family day trip up to the Reagan Library in Simi Valley. It all started a couple weeks ago when Brooke got to choose a prominent figure for a speech at school so Robie encouraged her to choose Ronald Reagan. Next thing you know he is taking a day off work and we are driving 3 hours up to the Library. I know they call it a library, but really it is a museum. There is a library that apparently has thousands of papers, etc, but you have to have an appointment and have something you specifically want to see to go to that part, so we stuck with the more museum-ish portion of the library (Robie gets annoyed when I call it is a museum, but seriously, that's what is). Anyway, it was really cool! Would I recommend it, yes! Would I tell you to drive up and back in one day - um, maybe?

I learned a lot about Ronald Reagan and even just that whole general timeframe of our nation's history. Brooke was totally taking notes in her little notebook with cool quotes and fun facts (did you know Licorice was his favorite jelly belly flavor and that they always had a chocolate cake on board Air Force One?). The views are spectacular and after we were done the kids had a great time just playing around on the grass outside. Honestly, Robie and I both got emotional at different parts - they had a section of the Berlin Wall and numerous things from the Cold War. They even had his copy of the "Tear down this wall" speech with his markings on it, which I thought was really cool. Outside they had this huge real section from the Berlin Wall.There were plaques all over with really cool anecdotes and stories from his life. One of my favorites was from a presidential caucus debate before he had even become president - some extra people showed up that wanted to be a part of the debate and of course, the mediator told them they had not been invited and they needed to leave. So Ronald Reagan says, "I paid for this microphone and they're staying" So they did and he won over 50% of the votes that night. Robie and I would be reading one of the plaques then call the other one over, like, you have to read this - so inspirational. By where they had a movie on Air Force One they had this little press set up - Fox is starting his public speaking career early..

The Air Force One section is cool - you can go inside the plane as well, which I actually didn't think was that exciting, but just the views and the setup of the room is amazing... .

Lauren actually lasted much longer than I thought she would. She was about ready to lose it when we got to the "White House in miniature section". Once she realized she could see inside, she was back on track. It is a replica of the entire White House all perfectly built to scale - 40 years of work, crazy! Almost lost her again after that, but nothing a trip to the cafeteria wouldn't solve. His grave site reads, "I know in my heart that man is good, that what is right will eventually triumph and there is purpose and worth to each and every life". After having seen all the different things he had dealt with in his life and the presidency and the decisions he had made, it was so clear that he really did believe that everyone could be valuable to the world. Did you know that when he was governor of California he had a welfare program and everyone worked for their welfare money to try and get some skills so they could then get regular jobs and move off the welfare system - HELLO!! how is there a downside to that? There were obviously many political overtones, and I know some people don't share his views on many issues, but I gotta say, I'm totally on board. I think the kids even learned something. He truly was "the Great Communicator."

Easter

I really like Easter, not just because of the candy, either - and this year was great with General Conference on the same weekend. Honestly, at first I was a little bummed because we usually have the girls in cute new Easter dresses on Easter sunday and take a cute picture all together. In reality, though, I usually stress out about them looking all cute and it was kind of nice to not have to think about it :) I even listened to Saturday conference and really enjoyed it! On Saturday morning we had our neighborhood Easter celebration. The kids love to run around looking for Easter eggs - we have an easy section for the younger kids (Lauren) and a harder section for the older kids (Brooke and Ashley). The dads go out and hide the eggs while the kids sit inside making their plans for how they are going to maximize their return. Then it's to egg dying, cupcakes and since the kids are getting older, we decided to incorporate a few old school games into the celebration - 3 legged races and the egg on a spoon. The kids loved it!

The girls love that the Easter bunny also brings their baskets and puts string all over the house that they have to follow to find them. Sometimes it is hard to get back to focusing on the real meaning of the holiday with all the candy, etc. but I actually thought General Conference really helped. I think this was the first time the older girls both really sat and not only listened, but paid attention. I'll admit I had dozed off in the afternoon session until Brooke woke me up letting me know that she thought I should wake up because the prophet was going to be speaking. I said something along the lines of, "ok, I'm totally paying attention" and she responded in a totally serious voice, "oh, ok, I just usually pay attention with my eyes open." Touche.

Not feeling it.

You know what? I'm not creative. It's true. and therefore I really don't like days that are centered around being creative - last week it was Crazy Hair Day at school. I ignored it until 7:15 that morning, leaving me about 15 minutes, because of course the girls just wouldn't allow the Crazy Hair Day to pass without something. Thanks to google (and a red plastic cup) I got Brooke's hair up quickly. Ashley didn't really like her "numerous ponytail" option, but seriously, it's the best I got.

I wanted to ignore April Fools' Day entirely. Basically the girls just come home from school and make up a bunch of lame lies - "I got a Warning at school today,", "One of the brackets of my braces came off". "Hey, mom, there's a big scratch on the back of the car (delivered while sitting in said car- Ashley said this one to Mark later, whose car she had not even seen, so it got a lot of use)". I totally play into every one, "oh, no, not a warning!" but seriously by 5:30 I was pretty much done with it. Too bad Brooke really did get her braces snagged on her towel, but I was pretty much over the dramatics by then, so I was like, "ok, sorry". She did figure it out anyway, for real :)