A Home for the Holidays

  Good Morning Lovelies! You'll never believe how crazy last week was. We heard from our insurance adjuster and he told us to get the fifth wheel "dried out" as soon as possible. We started calling around and the mobile techs told us that it would take a while to dry out the underbelly of our rig and it wasn't ideal to have the insulation removed from the kids room, while it dried out . Our weather in Golden last week was mainly a high of 40. This is exactly what we had predicted. While I don't think the damage is too severe, we want it to be taken care of to prevent any warping or rotting of the floor. Meanwhile we can't leave the bottom of the flooring exposed to the outside and expect our kiddos to stay toasty warm....so we're spending Thanksgiving in a house! YAY! Take a moment for a happy dance....
            The fact that we were even able to secure a house this close to Thanksgiving was a miracle. I started looking last Wednesday and the last one I could find on vacation rental by owner was taken that very day. I was trying to stay out of a hotel, because I still wanted to cook and I was really excited about the idea of spreading out for a few days. The insurance told us our housing allowance set in our insurance coverage and said we could use it however we wanted. A friend told me about www.airbnb.com You have to check it out! It's basically a site, where people rent out part or even their whole house to you. So this house is completely furnished and we have it for 2 weeks. You guys, we were so flipping excited. Three bedrooms, two bathrooms ( a bathtub...say what???) laundry inside , a dishwasher...my head was spinning. So we moved in on Friday. We immediately started breaking things (mainly Waylon) ok , just a pantry door and I melted a knife in the dishwasher so far, whoops! Just having space has been amazing. The house has wifi so Wrex has connected his ipod to it and has been face timing family members. Did you know  you could do that? Our wifi in the trailer is expensive, so this is a whole new privilege fore him. He is constantly texting Grandma and walking around the house on facetime. It gives us a glimpse of our future.  Houston is obsessed with the fire pit outside. He really wants to have a bonfire and make smores. Waylon loves the bathtub and tells me that he doesn't take showers anymore. He only takes baths.  I was on the phone with my bestie yesterday  picking apart the house and all of its details. The pictures online are gorgeous and in real life, it actually reminds me of home. It's just those "do it yourself" imperfections that my eyes are so keen on. Just to be in a house, with all of it's imperfections and noises is such a comfort right now . It is fricking windy out there this morning! I have a lot to be thankful for. Today the boys and I are going to drive up to Boulder to fill the freezer with Trader Jo's goodness. Usually we have to be so choosy in what we can fit in our freezer, we plan on going all out. I'm going to bake up a storm this week and enjoy that big kitchen. We have the house for two weeks. I'm pretty confident our trailer will be dry by then. If not....we'll cross that bridge when it comes. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!

Here's a few pics of our home for the next 2 weeks...

The Wintertime Blues

     

    Hello my dear readers. Whoever you may be. It always surprises me when I check in behind the scenes and see people have been reading when I haven't been writing. Here's a little secret, I don't write when I can't write honestly. When all I have is complaints, or frustration and I feel like

everything is swallowing me up, I don't write. I make phone calls and I pray. My family and friends that I call, they know the real me . See, I've always wanted to be like Drew Barrymore. She's so free and adventurous and she goes with the flow. Drew Barrymore can make sunshine out of dog poop. I want to be like that. I'm still looking for a fictional character as neurotic as I am, but my old friends once told me I am like Monica from friends. I love order. I love a good plan or itinerary. Give me something to look forward to. I need a meal plan or a lesson plan or a guide. Order gives me peace and it creates new chaos at the same time. I love order but when it doesn't go as planned, Kristina has melt downs. Guess what? Things have not been going as planned. We are so close to the end of my husbands apprenticeship and that should be so exciting. We've all sacrificed for the past three years towards this common goal. What's killing my buzz is that I don't know what comes next. Where do we go, where do we live, can we get out of this God forsaken fifth wheel?     We don't know.   Wintertime comes and  work slows down in this trade and we have to be in a place that there is work.  The suspense is killing me and also making me a lunatic. Here is a glimpse of some of my craziness that I haven't written about.

                                                 --Potty training in a fifth wheel sucks. Poop poop everywhere eww. If I

okay sometimes he uses the big potty but ....ugh!

have to look at that tiny gross toilet any longer.....
--My  car broke down. After I had dropped Waylon off at preschool. Preschool is only 1.5 miles away.  I can handle that right? Y'all, it started to rain and I don't have a jogging stroller. I have a target umbrella stroller. Running and holding an umbrella stroller  in the rain....not a good day.
--We went to the pumpkin patch and my older boys did flips, literally flips down an inflatable slide. They nearly clobbered a class of kindergarteners.  I was so mortified we left without pumpkins.
--We've brought in our truck to the mechanic over 6 times this summer. That darn truck has literally drained our savings.
--This week our water froze on Monday. When our water freezes, for some reason that master bath usually still has water, but the kitchen and boys room don't have water. So to do the dishes, I boil water from the bathroom sink and soak the dishes. After soaking them, I scrub them off and rinse my dishes in the bathroom sink. It's been a long week.  We stayed at home all week. Ian came home from work early Wednesday and chauffeured us around. We had to get groceries and more propane. Other than that we have been on lock down. I don't drive in the snow if I can help it. I don't have 4 wheel drive and getting stuck or in a wreck with the kids is my nightmare. So finally on Friday, we braved the mostly clear roads and went to the movies. Two hours, that's how long I was gone for. The water lines finally thawed, thank you Jesus...but one of the boys had left a sink handle in the on position. They probably went to wash their hands, saw no water coming out of the sink and walked away. When the water came on, it ran and ran, it  filled up the black tank, came up overflowing their bathroom sink and continued to run. There was easily 2 inches of water in their bathroom when we came home from our lovely jaunt in the snow. The carpets were soaked, the water ran into the kitchen that shares a wall with the bathroom. We grabbed all of our towels. we own probably 9 because who has the space in a fifth wheel . After those were soaked, I went and put them in the dryer which takes hours to dry.  I started hyperventilating. After making phone calls to everyone I knew and sobbing, I rented a carpet cleaner. Ian came home and we spent the evening sopping up water in cabinets and in our vents. Our good friends the Duncan's dropped off a dehumidifier that we ran all night long . Then they ordered us a pizza. Our friends are the best.

      So what has been getting me through all this chaos? The good stuff, sprinkled in between. Halloween was a blast and Waylon is still talking about trick or treating. We went to a friends  house that had an amazing neighborhood. We let the older boys run ahead with their friends and Waylon stole the hearts and candy from everyone he met.

  

Wrex turned 12. He has been wanting a Mohawk and really who the heck are you trying to impress when you're homeschooled living in a trailer park, right? So we let him get a Mohawk for his birthday.  We went to lasertag with some of his buddies and he bought himself and ipod touch with his birthday money.


      I ran the rock-n- roll Denver half marathon and all my boys came to cheer me on. That was a great day for me.

Super early in Downtown Denver with my boys before the race

  We have awesome friends. I have a group of girls on Facebook that 's called "trampwives. "We have all lived in trailers at one point or another and encourage each other and listen to each others complaints. We've made great friends here that I can call in an emergency and they come to my aid. I have great friends in California that cant wait for us to come home. I have a supportive family scattered all over the country . What else could I need?

      It feels like the winds are changing for us . Either way changes will be happening in our household. I always have this nagging feeling like I'm doing it all wrong. My kids are going to figure out any moment how clueless I am. My hope is just to be honest with you, maybe you don't have it all figured out either but we can at least be honest with each other, right?

Keeping it Real...How home schooling is REALLY going!

   

     Hey all! I've been wanting to update you on how school is going but I've had a hard time finding a moments rest. The first day of school started with a bang! We sat down to begin and soon realized that we had some visitors. Wasps had made a nest inside one of our slide outs in our trailer . I killed as many as I could swat,  maybe 5 or so and I got the kids in the car and drove to Home Desperate, I mean Home Depot. We bought the most expensive wasp spray ( hoping that if I spent enough the problem would go away) and made a B- line for home . I kept the kids in the car and ran inside to face our new nemesis. They were mainly in the master bedroom so I sprayed as many little buggers and we vacated the premesis. We played at the park and went out to lunch before returning . I only found 2 after that and Ian killed the nest when he got home. It was an extraordinary first day of school. Not at all as I had planned , which has been a theme this year .

First day of School!

      It was an adjustment for my oldest to homeschool out of books.  He has been accustomed to work on a computer . His early weeks were very long school days. Math was taking us for.....ev....er. My magical Algebra book that I was so hyped on, didn't work for us. Turns out we weren't ready for Pre- Algebra. The curriculum magazine told me we were but that was a lie! It was hard for me to accept at first. I thought maybe he had forgotten things over summer, or he was just trying to torture me. I finally found a free placement test online for Saxon math.
 http://www.sonlight.com/saxon-placement-tests.html
        I was able to get him a new math program a few weeks into our school year. I was bummed that it didn't work out with that other curriculum  but I am really happy with how he's doing now in Saxon Math. It still is the subject that takes him the longest but it has gotten so much better. Latin has turned out to be his favorite subject. Which has given us an opportunity to learn how to make flashcards . That's one of my favorite parts about homeschooling. Finding practical things to teach my kids, like study skills. 

     Teaching two kids out of books is still hard for me. I feel constantly torn between the boys but something that has helped immensely is coming up with a lesson plan for the week and giving it to the boys Monday morning. It has helped them to be more self sufficient . Another homeschooling momma gave me this idea. So they know what pages they have to complete this week and when their test will be. They can get ahead if they're feeling ambitious and they don't have to keep asking me "what's next?" Also, they color in the box when the assignment is complete. I think that's actually their favorite part of the lesson plan.

 

  I think we're definately in a groove now . But there are moments when I want to tear out my hair . Things I have to repeat constantly are " Yes you have to write in complete sentences." Or " Yes you have to do all the exercises ." or " Why did you skip this?" or " Capitalize you're sentences." or "Where is the period?" My favorite answer that has come up so far in the school year is this one.......

See the 4th question down. Poor kid even spelled butt wrong

      Then there was the devastating day when my son got a 60% on his English test. He didn't even attempt to study. If your grades fall below an 80% average in this house, video games are off limits. We were headed to a friends house for a Friday - homeschoolers video game day. Oh he was so upset. Tried to strike a bargain with me, pleading and begging. No luck,, he missed out that day and his friends were just as disappointed as he was. You better believe he studies for his English tests now. How do we figure out grades? I'm glad you asked! Around here, we do a lot of bookwork. All work is checked and corrected immidiately. So they can't just slop answers down or they will be redoing it all day long. Since they put so much time into their bookwork, they are graded on classwork and then I average their test scores in with their or daily work score. 

  On top of this school mania we have started soccer 3x a week and fall baseball once a week. Then we started up guitar lessons because I have been thinking about it for 2 years. So we finally  signed up for that too.  Of course Awanas has started back up  on Wednesday nights and we have to do that because it's date night and we parents love our date night! We've even squeezed in a field trip to the Denver zoo. So that in itself has kept us off our rockers , busy.

Linewives at the Denver Zoo

 

     We were hoping to leave Denver at the beginning of November but it looks like we'll be here a bit longer. So we signed up Waylon for preschool . It's only a few hours, twice a week, but he loved it. That one day he got to go before catching some sort of sickness from preschool. Oh well. We look forward to the time that he goes . We got so much done those 3 hours that one day. Cuz in the end, I'm not anti-school . I'm pro- happy kids and whatever it takes to make your children happy with their learning career. I'd do it.

Running into Preschool as fast as he can

 

Where do you even start? How do you start off homeschooling? " I wanted to look behind me to see who she was talking to

    

       A blog post is way over due. I see so many pictures on Facebook of the first day of school but we are not there yet! I woke up before dawn today and took my older boys to the airport where they flew to grandma's for the first time as "unaccompanied minors." They have been looking forward to this all summer and I have been trying not to think about putting my kiddos alone on a plane. They made it there safely and now me and the little guy are finding ourselves bored without them. This gives me the time I need to get ready for our next school year. We start as soon as they come back home .... enjoy your last few days boys, school is about to begin.
     Homeschooling has been a mixed bag for me. It was something I never had a desire to do. Even today at the grocery store, the cashier quizzed me on when my kids start school  and I kinda cringe when I say we homeschool. I cringe because then she goes on to say how she's not structured and she's better with summertime. As my neighbor here in the mobile park said to me this summer  " If I home schooled my kids, they'd be dumb." So I cringe, because I feel like people are putting me and my kids into a box, but I'm not shy about it. The weirdest change, is that I am excited about it. I searched out and sorted through curriculums. I've looked online and went into stores. I had all of my books put on hold and then purchased them on a day when I knew everything was 20% off. When I checked out, the gal at the counter asked me " Where do you even start? How do you start off homeschooling? " I wanted to look behind me to see who she was talking to! It's frickin crazy to me , that I'm going on three years of independent schooling . Other people are asking me about it too, what I am using and how I do it. I am really excited about this year. It's the first year I am really taking things into my own hands and it's a little scary but really exciting.
    The first year, we went through a charter school for both boys that was completely online. It was great because I felt so insecure in my teaching ability and I didn't want any responsibility for my kids education....but that's not really how it works. Even when you have a teacher in an online format, the parent is still there everyday making sure every task is accomplished and scanned in. There were areas that I found lacking and some tedious projects enhanced. When it came to 6th grade and there were multiple teachers to email and scan to, it got to be too much and we looked for something else. Our second year homeschooling, I paid for a private online school for my 6th grader and I found a great homeschooling resource in Colorado called CHEC. I purchased all of my 2nd graders curriculum through them. I felt that my second grader wasn't being challenged with the online format and his handwriting was a joke, since he was on the computer all day. So last year I got to experiment with a few books and see what worked for us. You will find what we used under "My Homeschooling Research" on this blog. At the end of last year I felt like I knew what books worked for us and what didn't. I got the hang of how classrooms are run online and through traditional books. This year we are only homeschooling through traditional books. I have always been the one that wanted someone to tell me exactly what to teach in each grade, but this year I made all of my own decisions and I'm so eager to see what's in store for us. I purchased most of these books from Mardel Christian Book Store or through Veritas Press. I will tell you how or why I came up with each item in hopes that it will help you someday...or so I can remind myself in 3 months when I am saying "what the heck was I thinking?" This is what I have come up with :

3rd Grade

Saxon Math 3- I have always heard homeschoolers speak highly of Saxon Math. I was really happy with our Math book last year but apparently they don't make one beyond 2nd grade. Saxon is notorious for repeating concepts. This bothered me when I picked up the enormous book and realized that we have already gone over half of this stuff. When I looked at the next year it was a bit too advanced. So I see that each year seems to be a lot of review but this is the thing that I have come to realize. That is what school is. Each year we review the same things and build upon them. Sometimes, we review the same thing with even more detail. This is how we learn.

Science- LifePac by Alpha and Omega   Last year my youngest wasn't given a lot of material to work with in his Science books and my oldest struggled with his Science online. I randomly picked up this curriculum and it turned out to be identical to what his very expensive online school taught. LifePac's come in unit studies. It comes in a box with 10 small books, that are each unit studies. Each small book has lesson reviews, experiments and Tests included. I loved this arrangement for Science, not all of their subjects. So everyone is doing LifePac's for Science.

History Heritage Studies 3- This book is by Bob Jones or BJU as the homeschoolers call it. I found this one the old fashioned way by comparing every history book in the aisle. I loved the pictures, which I think history books should have plenty of. It came with a workbook which I like for reinforcement. Also, it had a test packet. Very handy.


English 3 Writing and Grammar by BJU We used the second grade version of this book last year and I was really happy with it. This year I went a step further and bought the test packet to go with it for both boys. I didn't know they had a test packet last year. Live and learn and moving on.

Spelling Grade 3 by Purposeful Design- I'm a softy for colorful textbooks that we can write in. I chose this one by comparing it to other options and it looked like something I knew my kiddo would like or at least not fight me too much on.

Explode the Code 3 1/2 - This is a phonics book. Nothing was wrong with our last years book but the boy disliked it greatly. This one seems the same but looks different. I'm hoping to trick him into liking phonics.  I did like that they had 1/2 years. Year 3 looked like ground we already covered so I opted for year 3 1/2.

Handwriting without Tears- WE....yes we  worked really hard last year on handwriting. We went through multiple books and free worksheets. I was referred to Handwriting without tears from a kindergarten teacher and I'm really excited to try it out.

7th Grade:

Elementary Algebra by Harold  Jacobs- I found this book in a magazine called Veritas Press. Parents raved about how simple the concepts of Algebra were presented in this book. Then I found out it was out of print and that kinda thing really sets off my inner geek. I must posses those treasured textbooks that are irreplaceable. Of course Veritas Press is apparently buying all of the copies they can get there hands on, so I ordered through them. I will let you know if it's all it's cracked up to be. I even went on half.com and read some pretty amazing reviews about it there too. I ordered the enormous textbook, the test packet and the answers to the tests ,which apparently have the work to show how the answer was reached. That sounded invaluable to me, but it hasn't come in the mail yet.

Science- LifePac by Alpha and Omega- see notes above

America the Beautiful by Charlene Notgrass I started using this book last year to supplement the boys learning because I felt they were both saturated in World History and knew nothing about American History. Eventually my enthusiasm dwindled because there was real school work that needed to be done. What drew me to this book was again the amazing pictures that I believe all history books should have. Less Words and more pictures or at least 50/50. I want to visualize it y'know? Also this book has a map workbook so the kids can locate the area they were learning about and draw things indigenous to the area . I like that to reinforce and picture which area of our country we are studying. This year I bought the lesson  review book too. I also realized that this book is broken up into 30 units. Even though this is actually two enormous books we are going to get through it by doing 1 unit a week , 1 lesson a day. They really mapped it our beautifully for me.

English Writing and Grammar 7 by BJU- see Notes above


Reading Detective B1 by the Critical Thinking CO.- This book was referred to me by someone who apparently has a brainiac child. It reminds me a lot of state testing. It has reading passages and questions to answer. The promise of this book is to develop independent thinkers. The answers are not word for word in the story , the child will actually have to use their mind. I will tell you how it goes.

Vocabulary from Classical Roots A by Norma Fifer and Nancy Flowers- My seventh grader is an awesome speller, so instead of a spelling book, we are learning Latin. Hear me out! He's the kind of kid that reads books way above his grade level but then he will pronounce a word he read completely wrong. So we are learning roots of words, which I am hoping will help him for the rest of his life. He will not be speaking latin but he will know where some words come from. Lesson one starts out with the word mono- meaning one : think monologue, monarch, monopoly etc.

Health from Horizons- I had every intention of teaching my son a health class last year and since I didn't , we will do it this year.

Typing: I have heard of www.typingweb.com but I haven't really looked into it yet

I am also armed with my amazing planner, " A Well Planned Day" It has room to plan your lessons, track attendance, grades, shopping list. It was my saving grace last year. I actually purchased one for the 7th grader too. I'm not sure I'll get my monies worth out of that one...

      So that's what we will be tackling next week. When I put it all down, it makes me want to take a nap. If you're thinking about homeschooling , talk to some homeschool moms. We come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. We have some very different ideas of what school should be like. That doesn't mean that it's not for you. I have taken small steps to get here, but I'm glad I'm here. My goal is to have educated children, who think for themselves and like to learn(or at least don't hate it.) I may have accidentally wandered into homeschooling but I am intentional about their learning. Good luck and may the odds ever be in your favor.

Eight People in a Fifth Wheel and everyone left happy! Miracles do Happen

    Is the Summer really half over? That's what I keep hearing, but I don't believe it. We have been in full force fun mode all month. We just had friends from California come visit and they stayed with us ( in our fifth wheel) for a whole week. The best part is that I think they still liked us when they left. Keeping 8 people happy in 650 square feet is definitely a challenge but these beautiful ladies were Super Stars and after their first initial shock of claustrophobic showering and airbeds deflating on them, they got right into the groove of living in a fifth wheel. I was so impressed.

    While I haven't completed everything on my list of things to do this Summer, we really made a dent in it this last week. We started off with a trolley ride to the Rockies Game on the Fourth of July. The Rockies played horribly, but we ate our hearts out and were rewarded with the most amazing firework show. It was so good that even the pictures came out great. I always talk so much trash about people taking photos of fireworks. My theory is: enjoy it now, you're pictures will not do it justice, but my friends proved me wrong.



Trolley Ride

    Monday we went to Elitch Gardens. It was a blazingly hot day in Denver, which forced us to do drastic things like spend $30 on ice cream. Amusement Parks can be so intimidating for me on my own. They're always so crowded and finding rides that a 2 year old and an 11 year old both enjoy seems impossible. But with my amazing friend, we divided and conquered.


Me and my Bestie

My view from the Ferris wheel
 

    Can you believe after this long day we still had energy to stop at Happy Cakes Bakery and buy cupcakes?  Happy Cakes is a famously delicious bakery in Denver and they're cupcakes did not disappoint....but I still think Elizabethan in Encinitas are better.

     Tuesday we took the kids to Heritage Square and let them loose on the go Karts and mini golf and everything else their little hearts could dream up. Us mom's just hung back and relaxed. One of the most hardest parts about living on the road is the distance between you and your friends. Everyone's lives go on and I've found that a lot of us tramp wives feel like we understand the words of Thomas Wolfe, "You can't go home again" It's like every time we go home, things have changed and it's never the same. (They actually put in a stop light in my neighborhood while I was gone. Can you believe the nerve?)  Its definitely a fear I have that makes me uncomfortable. I think my bestie and me both thought " What if things have changed between us, what if she doesn't like me anymore? " I am so honored to have a treasured friendship, that the distance and time doesn't matter. We can pick up where we left off and realize the other is just as crazy as we remembered. The only way I can  try to describe it is,  that it refreshes my soul.

   Anyway, sorry to get all serious on you. The rest of the week we spent dancing in the kitchen to "Fancy" by Iggy Azalea, hanging out at the pool, walking around Golden and  the kids dug for worms. We tried to give them the true Colorado experience with thunderstorms and everything. We played with our hair and gave ourselves manicures, not something I get to do often with all these men folk around. It was a true vacation for me minus the cooking and laundry.

    Thursday we decided to make the trek up to the Rocky Mountain National Park which turned into an all day road trip but we saw amazing scenery on the way and stopped for a picnic at Lilly Lake.

 

    After all the driving we rewarded ourselves with a stop at Krispy Kreme which these California Girls may have been more excited about than the mountains. They had never experienced fresh Krispy Kreme's and the cool conveyer belt view of donuts being frosted. It's safe to say we ate our way through our vacation....and I only ran once.

 

   We had so much fun with this family and it makes me look forward to going home some day and knowing that I still have friends there waiting for me. Thank you friends for coming.

 

 

We also did a lot of other Summery things before they came to visit but this is what is most fresh in my mind, but here's some pics of our other adventures. Hope your Summer is going well and no one's lost their minds yet!

Kayak Camp



Passing on his legacy to the next generation



The Annual Lineman Rodeo



Supporting their Dad with Lineman Proud Swag



Look Grandma, No Hands!





Summertime! Who's coming to Denver?

    

  Summertime! There is quite a lot happening over here in our trailerhood. I have been so excited foer Summer for the pure reason of warm weather and no homeschool but after 5 days of it, I gotta say Summer is exhausting! I'll take ya full circle on our shenanigans. Yesterday, we had to move to a new trailerpark. Which is actually a mobile home park Dun, Dun Dun! We moved to Denver last summer and discovered how insanely hard it is to find a monthly spot for a fifth wheel in the summertime. Denver is actually having quite a boom and even the rental market is extremely difficult to get into here. Yes, there are a lot of workers, family vacationers, snowbirds but there's just a lot of people! Did you know that I have met quite a few families that are from Denver, living in fifth wheels? It's just not an option I realized people were taking. Choosing to live in a fith wheel , in your home town. Anyway, it is very hard to have a spot for the summertime so I started looking in January. That's right, and even then people told me they were already booked, but try back to see if anyone had canceled. I was on waiting lists at several places. The park we stayed in all Winter and Spring doesn't allow monthly campers in the Summer. Two weeks at a time is the maximum stay. Then you have to leave for at least a day before you come back. This did not sound like a good plan with Ian's work schedule. It kinda made me resentful at all of these vacationers. "Go sleep in a hotel, this is my life, not my vacation!" I realize that it's silly to be frustrated with them. I hope to be one of them someday. But for now they are a great source of entertainment. People camp differently when they are on vacation as opposed to living in a fifth wheel. Sometimes they lock up all their storage and give you the evil eye, sometimes we are serenaded by people singing around the barbecue. One of our favorite activities is watching young couples back up their rigs, it's very funny to see the frustration , when it's not you. Okay so my point is, I had to find a somewhat crappy park to move into for the Summer , while all the campers had some of the best parks in Colorado at a maximum for 2 weeks at a time. Then I had an epiphany, if you can't beat them, join them. I decided we would move around to all of these parks all summer long! Ian reminded me how much work that would be and how frustrating it could be if something went wrong and we ended up sleeping in Wal Mart's Parking lot so we came up with a compromise. I booked 2 trips to Colorado State Parks in the Denver area for 2 weeks each. We also got a spot at this Mobile home park that will be our spot the whole Summer and we can come and go as we please. Yesterday we moved into the mobile home park and it was a lot of work, moving. Ian is usually right. I am excited we have little vacations to look forward to but it was very wise to have a place to land. Even securing this spot was like trying to get the management to release a nugget of gold. It is seriously ridiculous over here in Denver.
    On another note, Ian has about 6 more months until he is able to test to become a Journeyman Lineman. So from what my family tells me, this will most likely be our last Summer in Colorado. So I have a list of things I want to do. It amazes me that we have been in one area this long, (knock on wood everybody....no seriously) The advantage is that I actually have had time to form a list of things I want to do, instead of just being overwhelmed at being in a new city.
 Here's my  list:
Waterfall Hike ( I don't know where it is, but I saw it on Pinterest)
Narrow Gorge train Ride
The Incline
Train Museum in Golden
Children's Museum in Denver
Buffalo Bills Museum with a picnic on Lookout Mountain
Denver's Aquarium
Water World
Pirates Cove
Bowling
National Sand Dune Park
Mt Rushmore - It's only 5 hours away, will I seriously ever be closer?
The Elvis Movie theater- I don't know what this entails but I already bought the Groupon
Slip N Slide
Public Pools
Library Program
Sleep over for the boys
Rockies Game with a trolley ride
Heritage square Park
Picnic in Wash Park

Quite a list right? Here's the exhausting part. In the past 5 days we've already:

Had a picnic with friends
Went to a water park
ate Ice cream out of the cartons
Made a homemade volcano and watched it explode twice
Had a water fight
Went to the History Park in Golden where we : walked on stilts, played with a bean bag toss, used slingshots and panned for gold
watched Ian at work setting poles with a helicopter
Walked to town for an ice cream cone
went to the skate park and the  batting cages
and of course we moved which includes a deep cleaning of the trailer

So yeah I'm tired and I'm not sure my list of things to do is going to quench my kids voracious appetite for adventure but today we start with Houston attending a Kayak Summer camp. Is that not the coolest thing you've ever heard of?

First day of Kayak camp

 

our very own volcano, this kids is always down for anything

Keep checking on me, I'm gonna need a whole lot of coffee to get through Summer

More Details Than You Probably Wanted to Know About the "COLFAX MARATHON"

         Here it is! The post that at least one of you have been waiting for! It has been such  a wild week . The Saturday before the marathon I went to run 8 miles but by 6.75 I was not feeling it and I just went home.  It was a sunny day and my kids were outside and when I ran past the trailer I just wanted to be with them.  Wrex asked me the question I had been thinking in my head, "Mom if you can't run 8 miles, how are you going to do 26?" The  following Tuesday was  my last run before the race an easy 4 miles. But I felt nauseous and I didn't finish that run either. In fact I felt nauseous all week and I wasn't sure if it was nerves or if I was getting sick. I told myself not to be nervous, that I was just going to go out there and do my thing, but I couldn't help it. Friday morning I got to pick up my mother-in-law at the airport. She escaped the San Diego fires to come help me with the kids on my marathon weekend. We realized two weeks ago that Ian had school this weekend and she valiantly came to our rescue. We picked up Grandma at the airport and went immediately to the runners Expo.  This is where you pick up your race bib and t-shirt and get to look at different vendors. It was held at the Bronco Stadium and it was so exciting. The air itself had energy in it, or at least that's how I felt. They opened the expo a few hours early for the Marathoners, and  I had elite status, which I've never had in my life. You see, this race had not only Marathoners but they had a half marathon, a relay race ( where a person ran 6 mile increments for their teams) and a 10 mile run. We all ran the same course but we started at different places.

My Racing Bib and my finishers Medal that I received at the end

        I was carbo loading on Friday and Saturday so I ate a lot, Between these two days I ate bagels, ensure shakes, OJ, pasta, bread, tomato soup, chicken gyros, dried mango, oatmeal with almond milk, lentil soup, sourdough toast, muffins, chicken Parmesan and lots of Gatorade. One of my books recommended eating 7-12 grams of carbs per kg of your body weight. So I was aiming for at least 400 grams of carbs in a day. Soooo filling, I still feel bloated.

My last supper
 

      I felt stuffed to the max both days. On Sunday morning I woke up at 3:30am, I put on sunscreen and my race outfit. I made myself a cup of coffee, a bagel and I downed another Ensure shake ( they have 50 grams of carbs in those things ) and a Gatorade. We arrived in Downtown Denver while it was still dark. I was in desperate need of a bathroom and there was a long line of fresh port a potties. Unfortunately, they were all zip tied locked.    I know, what's the deal? But  my manly man took out his pocket knife and unlocked that port a jon for me and the other potty dancing girl next to me. What would I do without him, my hero.
    The race started at 6. They had grouped us into "Corrals" organized from A to R. I was in corral E. Ian stayed with me until I left. He told me later that  I actually ran off with the "D's" I was a little too excited I guess.

This is Corral E and all of my photo bombing fellow racers

       Miles 1-13 were a breeze. We ran past the zoo, down the streets of Downtown Denver , through a fire station, into the Broncos Mile High Stadium. It was a blast. There were water and Gatorade stops every 2 miles. There were tons of spectators ringing cowbells and holding up funny signs like      "Way to go Dad, can you run by the store and bring home some milk on your way home" or "Run faster, I just farted." Our names were on our bib so every now and then I was cheered on by name which was actually very nice.  The racers weren't as talkative as I thought they might be. Most people had earphones on. I decided not to listen to music so I could take it all in. I wanted the complete experience and didn't want to miss out on anything.
         A lot of people passed me. I didn't let it bother me, I had a plan. I was sticking to my heart rate and walking at the water stations. I mean who can drink on the run? Not me. The relay runners were along side us the whole time. Some of them would pass you and then you'd realize that they had just started their race and you were already 15 miles in. But some people would pass me and then I would catch up and pass them. It was fun. I started feeling sore around 13 miles. We ran through a really beautiful neighborhood and there were people handing out strips of bacon and donuts. I thought it was an awesome idea but didn't think I could stomach it. There was a part around here where we were able to see runners behind us on the other side of the road and I counted 11 marathoners, so I knew I was in front of at least 11 and that was good enough for me. I thought that 5 hours was a reasonable finishing time for me. I would love to make it in less than 5 but 5 seemed reasonable. I did decide at some point that I needed to go all out. I tried to pick up the pace, but really I think I just picked up the effort. I didn't want to finish with any energy, knowing I could have done better. So I thought I picked it up from mile 13 to 18. I did have to stop twice to use the bathroom which were near the water stations. I suppose I was overly hydrating but better that then becoming dehydrated. Also, I stopped at mile 17 for a selfie. Two firetrucks were hoisting up the American flag in Downtown Denver and I thought about my brother Nate, the Naval Corpsman and I had to have a little  momento.

always time for a selfie

      Between miles 17 to 20 I started passing a lot of Marathoners. At this point I recall wanting to tell you all this. My shirt said " Train like you were picked for the Hunger Games" I was ready for my interview which never happened BUT, if I ever was interviewed, and they asked me which character I was most like in the Hunger Games this would have been my answer. "I think I'm most like Fox Face, because I have a strategy and I'm sticking to it. I've held back conservatively with my energy and now I'm passing by the people who started out too fast. Yes I know, I am quite clever and we both have red hair. ( and that's how I would combine my nerdlife with my running life. For you non nerds, FoxFace dies by stealing Peetas poisonous berries. Ah yes, pride comes before the fall)

This is Fox Face

      By Mile 20, I was hurting and exhausted. I couldn't imagine 6.2 more miles. I looked at my GPS watch and realized if I didn't run 10 minute miles, I wasn't going to make it under 5 hours. I decided that I had run the whole marathon,( I thought originally I would have to walk more of it)  besides the water stops and that I had to keep running, at least I would know I gave it my best. At 23 miles we ran uphill, it was cruel, and I had to walk it. At this point police officers were holding back traffic on certain roads and I can imagine the drivers frustration being held at a stop while the worlds most slowest Marathoner put puts on by. When I crossed 25 miles I really ran all out, which wasn't any faster than before! My head was that over heating type of hot, when your ears feel steamy and I had to pee but that was just going to have to wait. I ran back around the zoo and I saw Marathoners walking back to their car and they cheered me on telling me "It's just around the next bend, and I thought " LIARS" But I didn't care, I ran because I just wanted it over with. I ran through the finish line with purpose passing one more guy on my way in. I didn't cry, I certainly didn't keep running. I stopped in my tracks, threw my hands up  like " TAKE THAT sucka" and then I looked over and saw my friend Tarrah and her 4 kids cheering me on. Her son asked if I won and his mom said " yes she did." I walked through the rest of the vendors who were giving away free stuff because lets face it, I love free and I earned it.  Tarrah took pictures, I was just glad I didn't die.

 Ian and Tarrah's husband met us shortly after. I hobbled the rest of the day and my mother in law and Ian took care of me, making sure I ate and re-hydrated. I was so thirsty but had no appetite. Of course I still ate an amazing sandwich from D'deli and a Burger from Bob's Atomic Burger. Yeah, I know, not hungry right? Today I am still so sore. Everything hurts, but only when I move. The two stairs to get to my room feel like climbing Everest. Am I glad I did it? Absolutely. It was so much fun and I gained so much more respect and pride in myself. Things I didn't know were missing.

       I absolutely loved reading all of your comments and support on my facebook page. Thank you so much for following me on this experience. It shows me more and more all the people who love and care about me. I just wanted to say thank you because every comment or like has cheered me on to be the best me I can be. Thank you.

 

 

 

My Finishing time was 4:59:47 just 13 seconds under 5 hours and I couldn't be happier 

I placed 986 out of 1323 "finishing Marathoners" not everybody finished.

I placed 343 out of the 554 Females that competed

In my age division of 30-39 I placed 128, not sure of the total of people in my division.

So basically I led the way of the last 1/4 of Runners. I don't think I can ask for any better than that. I am seriously proud of myself