Great Urban Race

We did it!  My crazy racing buddy and I competed in the Great Urban Race as our race of choice for the summer of 2012.  I think we both agreed this race was much more grueling than the Warrior Dash was last year.  The WD only took and hour.  We were constantly pounding the pavement for 4 hours and 16 minutes for this race.  We finished EXHAUSTED!  But it was awesome!  We had so much fun!  Jodi was amazing with directions and I was outstandingly testy because I was starving.  I'm so lucky she puts up with me.  I thought we worked together well and had tons of fun.  Amazing Race here we come!  We also had some great help from Paul, who was our phone-a-friend.  We put his Googling prowess to work many times to help us figure out our clues.

So the way it worked was they handed us a sheet of 12 clues and we had to figure them out and figure out where each clue was sending us.  Once at the location there were things to do and we had to get pictures of us or fliers at all places as proof we were there.  We delivered some paper products to the Ronald McDonald House, did some yoga at another spot, had a homeless guy take our picture jumping in front of a big 'ol elephant statue in the Park Blocks (whatever that means), Jodi did some math with Paul's help on car stuff (read her blog for better info on that, I kinda stayed away from that one), and I ate a scorpion.  Yes!  I ate a scorpion!  We walked into a tatoo parlor and I was worried we had to get a tatoo.  Nah, just eat a scorpion.  Jodi immediately started backing up when she heard so I ate it instead.  It tasted like crunchy wheat bread.  Now in real life I would NEVER eat a scorpion but when you are in the racing mode pretty much anything goes.  I guess.

We also walked on hot coals at the Convention Center.  It was Jodi's turn to complete the task but I wanted to try it too.  You couldn't feel a thing as you crossed them.  Pretty cool!  We both did well with that one I think. 

From there we went down to Union Station, not at all the best part of town, to catch the MAX back across the river.  While we waited we were accosted by a homeless guy.  What fun!  He thought he gave us some advice that he should be compensated for, whether by money or by other favors (ask Jodi), and he was getting pretty scary before a nice group of women rescued Jodi from him.  I am soooo not a city girl!  I think we scream "country bumpkins" (no offense Jodi) just by looking at us.  That was not at all a comfortable place for us. 

We ended up completing 11 of the 12 clues, which was all that was required.  We wanted to do all 12 but we could not find the darn culinary school and we were running out of time so we finished without it.  I had an awesome time, it would be a fun race to run again because the clues will be totally different next year so its always something new.  I would prepare a little better by studying maps of the vicinity more but I was proud of us and the fact that we finshed 107th, with at least 50 teams behind us.  Go us!

Swimming Lessons x 3

A few months ago Drew was at a birthday party at the pool.  She slid down the small slide they have in the shallow end and she promptly started to flail and sink.  The lifguard had to throw her the floaty thing and told her she couldn't use the slide again.  She was, needless to say, totally embarrassed in front of her friends who all seemed to know how to swim.  I promptly signed her and Mason up for swimming lessons starting the next Tuesday!  They had 1 session of lessons 2 summers ago but I insist on having kids who know how to handle themselves in the water so this just pushed me into getting them started again.  I had plans for 2 straight sessions with Drew and Mason, 1 session for Darcy, and then the free week of lessons for all 3.

 The first day of lessons was oh, so dramatic!  Bree cried at the top of her lungs the entire 30 minutes, trying to pull her shirt and pants off so she could swim too.  Mason was loving being in the water, not sure he was listening to anything his teacher said, and Drew was probably just as unhappy as Bree.  For some reason Drew's butt doesn't naturally float to the top.  It wants to sink and pull her under.  I could see the frustration on her face and she let all of us have it when we got in the car.  She was a wreck!  Drew isn't used to failing at things, she can usually conquer pretty much anything we put in front of her, but this was obviously different.  Swimming wasn't coming easy to her and she was extremely frustrated.  That night I said a prayer with her to help her in this situation.  On Thursday she was raring to go!  She got in that pool and was determined to conquer it.  She somehow trained her booty to float in the water and she took off from there.  It was fun to watch that intense look of determination on her face as she listened to everything her teacher said and tried her darndest to swim.  What an example of determination she is to me!  When all was said and done she was able to move up a level and she is more than capable of keeping herself from drowning if left alone in the water.  I think she even had fun!  Way to go Drew!  I am so proud of you and your fighting spirit!

 Mason, on the other hand, seems to have some natural swimming ability.  He just doesn't have the drive Drew does to improve and move up levels.  That doesn't mean much to him I guess.   He had a great time seeing how long he could hold his breath under water, even when his teacher was talking to him.  Nice, Mase.  The only thing holding him back from moving up a level was the transition from front float to back float.  I mentioned that to him during the free lessons and he said oh, and proceeded to do it perfectly.  Grrrr, that kid can frustrate me.  Maybe I'm just jealous of his happy-go-lucky personality!?  He can totally take care of himself in the water now too.  Yeah!

Darcy was up and down, depending on the day.  She didn't like doing "Blobs" (bobs) but other than that I thought she did OK.  If she started to cry I just let the teacher and her work it out on their own without stepping in.  Sorry teachers!  I wasn't really looking for Darcy to learn how to swim, just be comfortable in the water.  I think she was.  I was also trying to gage how she might react when she is left with a teacher and mom isn't in the picture, like she will be in 2 short months when school starts.  The jury is still out on that, hopefully she will be fine but that will be a one day at a time thing too. 

All in all it was a great experience for me to get a front row seat to watch my kids' very different personalities manifest themselves in the swimming pool.  I think we are done with lessons for the summer but who knows, we may get bored and sign up for another go-round.  But it will have to be when Bree and I can swim too because I think it would be too much for her to have to sit there and watch the big kids swim again without her!

Last Hurrah

 Memorial Day Weekend we took our trailer out for the last time.  For the next 2 summers we have plans that don't include hauling a trailer around so we figured now is a good time to try to sell it.  We went to Honeyman State Park, just south of Florence for our last trip with the trailer.  We met up with Paul's mom, sister, and 2 nephews in the cold rain of the Oregon coast in May.  The kids had fun playing with cousins, roasting marshmallows, visiting with Grandma, playing in the tide pools and discovering star fish and anenomies, and living in the trialer one last time.  Can you tell I am a bit sentimental about letting the trailer go?  I admit I didn't see the need for a trailer when Paul approached me about it 5 years ago, but we have been on many adventures that wouldn't have been possible without it.  I'm going to miss it!  We all are, the kids don't like to hear we are selling it, especially Darcy.

 Our camp.

 Helping dad start the fire.  Bree was right in the thick of things for the first time.  Last year I kept her in the trailer with me since she was so small.  There was no containing her this time.  She wanted to be a big kid!

 Darcy was adventurous and went pretty far out on the rocks with me.

 We are looking at a purple startfish on the side of the rock.  Cool!

 Dad took Bree and Darcy cave exploring while mom took Drew and Mason even farther out on the rocks where we were rewarded with 17 star fish all stuck to the same rock.  Pretty cool!

 It was FREEZING, I wore 4 layers of coats and sweatshirts but for kids it is never too cold to get your feet wet at the beach.

 Or your entire lower body, as Bree decided as she sat in a pool.

Grandma was so cold she tied on one of the towels she brought for the grandkids just to keep warm.