Run like the Wind

It's Memorial Day weekend.  Which means that it's the Saturday to pack up the old blue Nike back pack (which although has been in our possession for many, many years has the childish scrawl of Mat written on the inside, so I'm not thinking we are the rightful owners).  We stuff it full of snacks, hoodies and sunscreen (you never know around these parts), baby necessities, and the camera.   And we head down to the high school state track meet.

While there, we sit on hard metal bleachers, we bounce and pass around an un-napped baby, take the big kids on walks, choose candy from concession stand based solely on the criteria of which one will take the longest for our children to eat (which exactly coincides with how long they will sit still).  We watch the races, standing with the crowd to catch a close finish, clapping for the courage of a young runner who limped to the finish line after falling down during his race.  Little Man chooses which color uniform he thinks he will win and Kiwi makes "pretty designs" with the Tetras game on Mike's phone.

We are there, of course, to watch Marcus run.  In the past two years, Mathew was also competing, but he has since graduated and now joins us in the stands.  When Marcus's races are about to start, we make the kids put the phones away and suckers down so that they can cheer with us.  And cheer we do.

One day, I would like to remember to snap a picture of what my family looks like cheering.  Because I don't really think that the word "cheer" adequately captures what is going on.  We yell until our voices are hoarse, we jump, we wave our hands as if it will help him run faster.  Although still very loud at state (the teenage girls in front of us actually covered their ears) it is not as noticeable since there are many people cheering loudly.  But one of the things I love about my family is that they cheer no matter what the stage.  We love and support each other and one way we show it is by cheering.  Today Marcus had his mom and dad, brothers, sister, neice, nephews, cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents in attendance with other sister, cousins, aunts, and uncles, and other grandparents watching on the internet.  

There was such a long space between two of Marcus's races, that Mike and I decided to take our kids to a nearby park.  This park had probably the biggest playground I have ever seen and the kids loved it.  

Kiwi eyes about doubled in size when she spotted the play structure from her car seat.  She called it the "castle park." 

Here's Little man being an evil troll on the bridge where he would not allow me to pass until I answered a riddle.  

Mason in baby jail.  

Doing some baby exercise.   He would pull himself up to this rock, then plop down onto his bum in the sawdust, look to make sure I was watching, laugh, and repeat the process.

After playing at the park, we stopped and got some lunch and headed back to the meet.  




Oh, and how did Marcus do?  Oh, you know he just won both the 800 and the 1600 and chased down three guys in the anchor leg of his relay to score them a second place finish. No big deal.  Wait, backspace that last sentence.  My baby brother WON two state titles and almost got his relay team a third. He is amazing!  Yes I am bragging, but I think that siblings fall into the realm of people you can brag about safely.   Bragging about your kids is dangerous because you are at risk of sounding like you are taking the credit about how great they are.  But I am not taking any credit, I am just writing the fact of how great he is.  Although as the oldest sibling, I did help start us out running and I was the one who took Marcus on his first two mile run....just sayin.  

It was a good day.  These two say they want to be runners when they grow up (although Kiwi wanted to make sure she could wear a pink or purple uniform).  But whatever they decide to do whether it be running, singing in the choir, playing an instrument, drawing, or something else, we will be front and center cheering them on.  

Congratulations Marcus!