Race Day!

As has become a fun, family tradition, James, Katie, the kids and I drove to New Richmond Wisconsin for the 4th of July Class family celebration which included running, turtles, champagne and pancakes. We're like the adopted children Bob and Helen never wished they had...

We got up at 6, loaded up the car and "raced" off to Wisconsin. I say raced, because we were running a little late if we wanted to say hello to Paula's family and have a relaxing registration before the craziness set in. We of course got stopped by a very crabby Wisconsin police officer who seemed to think we were hiding fugitives in the backseat. The traffic stop took almost a half an hour and in the end he didn't give us a ticket (we like to think that Grandpa Tom had a hand in that).

No longer speeding and a little stressed out, we did make it to the campgrounds before the start of the 10k. We handed off the kids to Paula and her sister, Nancy (of course). OK, so first of all, I RAN my first 10K, which felt like a pretty big milestone, and I finished it in a little over 54 minutes. I was not the last person to finish - which was one of my silent goals. Very pleased with myself. James on the other hand is old hat with this sort of thing and ran his 10K in just over 36 minutes. Seriously. He finished in the top 5 and was second in his age group (the guy who beat him won the whole thing). He is a complete rockstar. Katie ran the 2 mile race and I think felt pretty pleased with how she did. The best part of the whole thing was that Paula loaded up the boys into the Burley and brought them out on the course to cheer everyone on - let's just say there was a lot of cowbell. Finn even ran for a while - I think Seamus was more interested drinking all the water.

This proved as a good warm up for the kids 50 yard dash - Finn won 3 third place in his age group and let's just say that Seamus got some questionable coaching out from the start line. But they love this event and we all have so much fun watching. When Paula gave Finn his ribbon he got so excited and then gave it back to her and said, "no, for my birthday, you give it to me for my birthday." Could this kid be any easier?

I got some decent pictures of the turtle race (thanks Sophie for being so patient with our kids). Finn's head almost exploded when he got to hold the turtles - seriously, that's what we should get him for his birthday...I can't even tell you if any of our turtles won - but it was so funny to watch.

After all the races, we went back to Connie's (Paula's sister) cabin for brunch. Great food, wonderful people and a beautiful day. The nieces and nephews played with the boys and held MJ a bunch so not only was it a lovely day it was pretty relaxing for James, Katie and I (our kids really have three parents on most weekends).

I got some good pictures of Paula's family - this was an important holiday because it's the last one before Eric leaves for training and then Iraq. Paula video taped most the day for him to bring with him - and I can't wait to hear all of her witty commentary :)

Kids, I hope you appreciate how lucky we are to have such good examples of strong families. I was struck this trip by the connection and closeness of Paula's family - Connie's cabin is decorated with photos and drawings of all the nieces and nephews - she's made sure there is space for everyone (not just for the holiday, but always). Speaking from experience, big family present a challenge because you've got so many personalities, but when you get it right, a big family can be sort of second skin, that gives you energy, protection and a broader sense of touch. What fun.