Turkey Trot

We made it!!!  Hayden and I ran the Turkey Trot 5K.  Yep, over 3 miles of Mother, Daughter bonding.  Our goal was to finish in 1 hour.  We made it in a little over 46 minutes.  Of course, I have a funny.  The run took place at UAH, our old stomping grounds.  The course was up around the school and down past the duck pond , turn around and go back the way you came.  There is a small incline at the start and then a hill at about mile 1.  We ran off and on without much "discussion" until the return trip about mile 2.5.  Many of the speed walkers were starting to catch us and being the competitive person I tend to be in certain situations, I just couldn't let that happen.  And there was another Mother, Daughter team that was doing about the same as us, but maybe not the seasoned athletes I thought we should be.  I could sense a little resistance and was trying to motivate my partner to keep it going we were almost finished.  Perhaps, I was "motivating" a little to aggressively.  So a nice old lady was speed walking past me, Hayden was about 10 steps behind me and I'm walking backwards so I can make sure she hears me encouraging her.  The lady says(in a very defensive tone), "Has she ever done 3 miles before".  My reply, "Nope.  But she is today."  No further discussion.  I was very proud of Hayden's big sprint to the finish.  If you recall from previous blogs this is how I like to finish and unlike my previous running partner, I did discuss how we should finish this race.  Hayden even beat me to the finish and has won a free room cleaning and clothes washing!  I'll be signing us(some combination of me, Hayden and Ally) up for the Rudolph run in December.  Anybody else want to join in?

Mommy's Birthday

Today was my b-day.  I am older than my husband, once again, for the next 8 months.  I see it as a positive.  The day started with a birthday breakfast at Burger King.  Then we headed downtown to the Veteran's Day parade . . . Hayden was in the parade.  Her K-kids group at school raised over $6500 for the Veteran's so they were asked to be in the parade.  Parents were asked to walk with the group as chaperones, so for my Birthday present from Hayden, I was to march in the parade.  However, due to the tremendous turnout of parent volunteers, we were all booted from the parade.  So, Hayden went with her group and we found a nice spot to watch the festivities.  We had to be there 1 hour early for Hayden, so needless to say the boys got restless fast.  Ben took them walking and Ally and I bonded.  Part of bonding included getting yelled at.  We had been given 3 little flags to wave and some candy.  I had put the flags down so I could assist Ally in opening the candy.  A man walked up behind me and demanded I pick up the flags from the ground.  Ok, buddy, I'll pick up the flags.  Wanna guess where those flags are right now?  Yep, in the floor of my van, trampled by 8 little feet.  They were safer on the ground!!  So the parade finally gets started and thank goodness Hayden's group is #4.  They pass us and we get her attention for a great photo.  Right behind her group is the A & M Band, including dance team and flag twirlers.  I noticed a certain 6 year old very attentive at this point.  Here is my interpretation of parade entry #5:  The dance team is wearing silver heels, nude tights, white bloomers and a white over one shoulder halter.  They walk with a shake that I'm pretty sure Ally will at some point add to her own walk.  The band itself is great, loud drums and peppy moves.  The flag twirlers are in the back, wearing pretty much the same getup as the dance team, except covered in sequins.  You need to have a good mental picture of this for later. 

 We make it through more of the parade to include a million corvettes and motorcycles.  We decide I need to head over to the ending area to get Hayden.  I call Ben to let him know that I think they are coming and he has decided to gather everybody up and head my way.  We all meet up in the gravel parking lot designated the "ending" zone for parade entries.  While we are waiting to get Hayden, Ally notices the A & M band.  "Mommy, Mommy, can I go tell those girls they did a good job?"  "Uh, yea, I guess" At this point Ben has spotted the car and is making a bee line. . . until he hears our conversation.  "What did she say?"  "She wants to tell the twirlers they did a good job"  Silence.  He is however making a face that I will show you if you ask.  "Ok, honey, we'll go this way and you and Hayden and the boys head to the car".  We walk over to the twirler girls and Ally runs over to them and gives them her complement.  They smile and say thank you.  Ok, let's head to the car.  Oh, no, we didn't tell the dance team how good they did.  So, to the front we go and Ally runs over and tells them.  They again say Thanks and smile.  When we get to the car, our curious 9 year old must now what Ally did.  I explain that she wanted to let the dancers and twirlers know they did a good job.  "Well, they didn't have much clothing on."  Really, I don't think Daddy and I noticed.   I think that was the fastest Ben has ever loaded the kids, the stroller and himself in the car.  

We went back home to recover and get Ally ready for gymnastics.  She left and I got to take a 30 minute nap while Hayden and Ben did homework.  I did notice the paddle was out when I woke up.  Yep, and that was only math.  Ally returned and we headed out for dinner at Red Robin burgers.  We had a good time, even if there were more kids than adults, and we returned home for bath time and bed time.

I had a great b-day but I must admit it ended abruptly with 4 cranky, snotty, coughing kids this morning!!