Running the Rainbow

This was not a planned race at all. It is kind of strange how I decided to register for this race. A while back, I decided to run up and down the mini incline as fast as I could. I put the workout on Strava and I ended up being the fastest female time in the last few years. Then, just a few short hours later, I got a notification that another girl went up and beat my time by just a few seconds. I got angry and ran it again and again until I beat her time. This continued all summer long. We kind of had a friendly, but not friendly competition going on. Then, she asked if I wanted to run a race with her. So, I registered. I only had 3 weeks to train for a 10 mile run up and down Bergen Peak, with 2000 feet of elevation gain. Then, I got really sick, the week before the race. Then, we had a snowstorm on the day before the race. Geesh! I almost backed out. I had never met the girl, but she drove us down to Bergen Peak in Evergreen. We talked the whole way and found out that we had a lot in...

This was the year that I noticed you wanting to be treated like a big kid. You no longer give me kisses when others are watching. You would also see me in the hall at school and pretend like you didn't see me. You are always so curious about Mommy and Daddy's adult conversations and you want to know what it all means. You want to do adult activities like go to haunted houses and scary movies. You are an incredibly hard worker. Daddy taught you Chess and you discovered that you are quite good at it. You love to read books so much that you have about 5 books in your room that you are reading at one time. You are very curious about Mom being a Spanish teacher and have wanted to learn how to speak Spanish. You play many Spanish games with Mom. You hiked both a 14er and the Manitou Incline this year. You get really tired on the way up but then get a huge burst of energy at the end and work your way to the top. You are very picky about your friends and are learning that that you de...

When we found out about the travel ban, our whole family was upset. The main reason for our anger was that the action was against the constitution. We have always been accepting of all religions and cultures. This is part of the reason why I am a language teacher and the kids are coming to a "World Language School" next year. This issue is very close to our heart. All of the kids helped to make signs to hold up at the rally. There ended up being thousands of people there and it was hard for me to navigate through the crowd with 3 small children. The kids kept complaining that we couldn't see. So, we ended up climbing up on a wall and Carly made good friends with some ladies that helped her get into a good spot to see. Here are some videos of some of the chants that we were doing. https://youtu.be/86aM-oNSdDQ https://youtu.be/-9TV0O3opiE The kids kept telling me about a picture of Trumps butt that was orange. I found it and this was our favorite sign: Afterwards, ...

The girls had their annual Daddy/Daughter dance at their school. They both chose to wear all black dresses with pretty earrings. I put curlers in their hair so that they would have curly hair. Carly's favorite part was being able to dance to the music. Here is a video of her dancing: https://youtu.be/T44w35yL8S0 Camilla loved all of the preparation that went into getting her ready for the dance. She was able to get her nails painted, buy new hair accessories, wear lipstick, and wear high heals. All of Camilla's friends were there (Mikayli, Zoelie) and she had a lot of fun playing with them. They also loved all of the candy and having special time with Daddy. They loved all of the shiny lights and decorations. They ate sandwiches, chips, and cookies and danced to hip hop. Daddy took everyone out to Camilla's favorite mexican restaurant after the dance.

We have done this race every year for the last few years. I win it almost every year, but this year I had the flu a few days before. We all felt better but still had a lot of mucous in our chests. Thankful, the weather was warm. Lloyd decided to run with the kids while I tried to fun as fast as I could. I ended up coming in 3rd place but beat my time from previous years, so I was happy. Carly crossed the finished line first after me. Camilla and Lloyd ran the whole way and finished with a smile on their face. There were many kids that ran this race. 5ks have become no big deal for these guys to run. They can do it even if they don't run daily. The kids always love going to 5ks because they think it is a big party.

Carly loved coming up with an outfit to wear for her 100th day of school.