The kids and I leave for Bend, Oregon tomorrow. Our Coach, Bill, left on Sunday with the team van pack with gear, food and some luggage. I will be flying out with Ellie, Ethan, Anna, Stephen and Dean. My kids are so excited they can hardly sleep. It seems to me that the excitement level is bigger this year. I don't know if it is the fact that we had such fun last year and expect that to happen again, or if it is the fact that it is a longer, bigger trip than last year. I'm excited, too. And a little nervous. Last year we just went for the experience. Ellie and Stephen surprised us when they both were on the podium for Nationals. Ethan went along as a helper, and what a great help he was. This year he will compete. He will be competing against about 40 other boys, a few of whom are being watched by the Olympic committee and will be going to EurpCross camp directly after Nationals is over. He has realistic expectations and is looking forward to racing. Ellie has twelve people in her category, five of which she competes against nearly every weekend. She has a reasonable chance for making it to the podium. She worries about being at the bottom of her age category. Who knows what will actually happen. It will be a cold, frozen, snowy race; conditions we are used to. Bend is much like Colorado so we will feel at home, I expect. Last year some very strong riders were unable to finish due to mechanical issues. Other racers were simply not used to the conditions that winter brings. I just want them to have a good time.
I do wish we had just a bit more time before we were leaving. Here it is December already and I don't have a single decoration up. I don't even have the Christmas boxes out from the crawl space. Driving around I see people's twinkling lights and lovely, decorated trees. It makes me wish I had at least a little bit of our stuff up. It would feel more like Christmas season. Ellie is very interested in getting a tree before we leave. She worries that they will all be gone when we return home on Monday. This kind of waiting is hard for me, a person who usually has all of the boxes up and ready to go on December 1st. I just have to be patient.
I am also a little nervous about the weather. Our weather is in the single digits today. We are expected to get about 6" of snow. I'm fine with all of that as long as we can get to the airport in time and not have snow delays in the morning.
I just have to set that stuff aside and focus on having some family time this evening. Perhaps we will feel more festive if we get a tree, even though it would not be put up yet.
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