Today I am tired, or rather, parts of me are tired from raking leaves and cleaning up from the near tornado hit that struck our school on Monday night. I will write about that soon, just as soon as I get around to preparing a few of our many photos of that event. In the meantime, we'll go back to our regularly scheduled event - the weekend.
Last weekend was a wonderful blur, just as so many of our weekends are. Friday we had a lazy day capped off with a movie night at home complete with hot fudge sundaes with all of the toppings. It was wonderful. We watched "Son of Rambow" which turned out to be a much better movie than I had expected. It is a sometimes sweet coming of age story, one I recommend.
Saturday we were off to the races. This weekend we had the Mount Evan Hill Climb Colorado State Championship. Ellie was nervous. Ethan was excited. It seems that something has really click for him lately and he is much faster, with better form than before.
Last year hill climbing was Ellie's be event since she was so small. She hardly had any weight to pull up the 11 miles up hill. (Yeah - 11 miles with lots of switchbacks - can you imagine? That's my strong girl!) This year she is much taller and more muscular, but also heavier. When we practiced a few weeks ago it did not go well. She had too many new things (shoes, cleats, drink and protein bar) and something went wrong. Near the end of the ride her throat began to close up. We were worried that it would happen during the race. We went back to all that is predictable and she did well, cutting nearly 22 minutes off of her time from last year. This was within 5 seconds of the winner's time (in her category) from last year. She earned third and was okay with that. She is relived to be done with it for this season. I am most proud of her attitude about the whole thing.
I was the junior clothing vehicle driver so I was one of the first adults to the junior finish. He surprised me when he flew past me much earlier than I had expected. He cut about 21 minutes from his time from last year. That is pretty remarkable since he is nearly 16. Like I said, things are clicking for him this year. He had a great ride and energy to spare. After crossing the finish line he rode back down the hill to find his team mates and cheer them on. I am proud of him for making that choice. He could have simply sat at the finish and waited. I love to see how my boy is growing up and blossoming into a thoughtful, caring man.
Sunday Ellie and I went on a camping trip with just the girls. It went even better than I had hoped. It all came about because Christy had never been camping. This summer she is stretching her wings and taking in many new adventures. We really wanted it to go well so that Christy would have a good experience. I had hoped to get a spot in the Mizpah campground that is next to the river. This campground, located in the Arapaho National Forest, is still untouched by the pine bettle. The tree are still lush and lovely. The river is clear, crisp and lovely. The campsite is only 10 minutes from a small town that has anything we might need. I had four more backup campgrounds in mind just in case we could not get the spot I wanted. However, our camping karma was good and we got just the one I had hoped for.
I thought we would have fun, I never expected to find that our little adventure would be so empowering. In the absence of the bigger brothers, the girls did it all. Ellie and Christy put their own tent up and everything arranged in about 10 minutes. I had expected to have to do it. What a joy that was to see. Later in the evening Ellie and Anna started a fire for us to roast marshmallows.
They explored, they chatted, they made a remembrance spot for Michael Jackson who died unexpectedly just a few days ago. They had fun. It was especially cool to see the photos she was taken. I can see her artist's eye developing. Her shots of the river will be great Photoshop textures.
I had fun, too. It was lovely to get uninterrupted time to visit with Laura and Connie. We sometimes hung out together. Other times we hung out with the girls, eating, telling stories and painting our nails.
Even before we were half way through the night, the girls were already clamoring for another trip. 
On the way home we stopped for treats at the Sweet Shoppe in Empire.
------
I read Ali Edward's blog each day. Today she was inspired by another blog, Days With My Father. This is a link worth following. It is a loving chronicle of a man celebrating the life he had with his father who had no short term memory. It takes a while to load and is bitter sweet, touching, and very worth the time it takes to visit it.
Another site worth visiting is the Shutter Sisters. Their Project Hope is very moving.
Finally, a really moving example of how we combine the art we love, the passion we hold, and the children we love. This is LOVE STORY (Taylor Swift) meets VIVA LA VIDA (Coldplay) - Piano Cello - by Jon Schmidt. It is the arrangement he made for his seven year old daughter who loves the song by Taylor Swift.
No comments:
Post a Comment