Pat's Run 2019

We left for Pat's Run on Wednesday, April 24. The drive took approximately forever. When we got back in the car after one of our pit stops, we discovered that we'd let in a gigantic moth. It flew around briefly and then planted itself by the window where the seat belt comes out just behind Ever's head. She completely lost her mind. She and Wren were hysterical. The moth was big enough that I really didn't want to go back there and get it, so I just took pictures of the girls screaming and crying. It's OK. Ever can laugh about it now.

Jim was really mad that I wouldn't take care of the moth while he drove. Like, genuinely mad, and I believe some sort of threat was made. But I didn't do it, and he pulled over and got it. The girls recovered and never even had nightmares about it.

Derrick found us an amazing, completely renovated mid-century modern house in Scottsdale. Thursday he and Jim got up early to go golfing. 

I have no idea how Derrick spotted Jim's ball in this pic:

They had a nice time and said the heat wasn't too terrible. 

Mel and I hadn't been in the pool very long with the kids by the time Jim and Derrick returned around lunchtime. We just hung out and swam the rest of the day. The littles practiced their new swimming skills.

Wrenzy was so crazy overtired that she completely broke when I tried to bathe her that afternoon. I can't remember what happened exactly. I think she had an accident, so we rushed her into the shower. Then she was freaking out about soap in her eyes or something, and she was just inconsolable. After I got her out and dressed, she passed out on the bathmat and slept for a long time.

Friday the Karners did a little hike with Derrick's friend Seth. Wren got fried on Thursday, and we wanted to keep her out of the sun. We were also not super motivated to hike in 100-degree heat. So the Karners took Ever, and Jim and I took the littles to an aquarium. 

The guy at the aquarium ticket window told us to be sure we checked out the restroom, which we thought was a really odd suggestion. I was very glad we heeded his advice, though, because this is what you see when you walk into the bathroom:

Just veer right, past the sharks, to get to the toilets.

We learned that Bear is a a little taller than a king penguin.

The rest of the mall containing the aquarium had a weird ghost-town quality to it. We went looking for food, and there was a guy outside the Dinosaur Grill harassing passersby to come into the restaurant and eat. He was very aggressive, and it was not something you experience in America much but appeared to be standard in this mall. He assured us the food was all really great. It was very much not great, but oh well. Outside there was a big dinosaur hanging from above that growled, and Jim pretended as if it were real and tried to scare the children as we went by it. They thought it was funny.

Following the overpriced aquarium and overpriced, subpar meal, we got the girls insanely overpriced Dreyer's ice cream from a place at the mall.

So it ended up being an expensive day, and I don't know that I need to go back. But it was out of the sun and air-conditioned, so I guess we succeeded.  

Mel texted pictures from their hike. It looked fun but hot (and it was really, really hot).

That afternoon/evening there was more swimming. Swimming Tiny:

Jumping littles:

The pool is fun at night because it has lights that continually change color.

Saturday, of course, was race day. When Jim got the double stroller out of the car, he discovered that the front tire was flat (and he had put air in before we left Oceanside). He had to push that stroller pop-a-wheelie-style the entire time, which is incredibly hard to do when you have three children in it and have to keep it perfectly balanced so you don't let it fall forward or drop the children on their backs.

We arrived at the race about the same time as last year, we thought, but the race was a lot farther along. One of the workers told us it was over and tried to make us feel like idiots, but we started to catch up to the slowpokes before too awfully long, and then pretty soon we were stuck behind masses of people as always.

About a mile in, Jim asked me to fill up our water bottle (I think it was actually a sippy cup he was drinking out of) at a water fountain as we passed. He said I had to unscrew the lid; he couldn't do it because his hand had seized up and was paralyzed in claw position from gripping and holding the stroller so tightly to balance it. That was really sad but also funny. I took the below pic right after I filled up the water bottle. You can't really see how the front of the stroller is in the air.

What you can see in this pic is Jim's incredible mud flap (he was desperately in need of a haircut at this time):

Better visual of the wheelie:

I should note that I did take the stroller a couple times to give Jim a break. I'm not the worst person in the world, although I certainly didn't really pull my weight.

Heading into the stadium to the finish line beside Derrick (in red).

The big screen was showing all the racers at the finish line, so Jim and Ever turned around to see themselves.

We signed Ever and Wren up for the kids' race this year. Ever wanted to go with her age group (as if she were taking the race seriously). We left Jim with the littles behind, so I didn't get to see Wrenzy race at all.

Ever took off really fast out of the gate - so fast, in fact, that I had a super hard time getting around people to catch up to her.

This redheaded man made me very uncomfortable. He couldn't possibly have thought I was taking pictures of him, right?

Once I caught Ever, I tried to get her to pace herself, but she refused to slow down. And then she went kaput and pretty much refused to run for the rest of the race. I think she ran very briefly once or twice more, and then I begged her to go out strong and run at the finish.

Jim reported that Wren was equally unmotivated, and he carried her a lot of the way. Next time maybe we just won't bother signing them up. So far our girls don't seem to have much competitive spirit.

After the races, we headed back to the car, stopping by the crepe place on the way. 

Goosey was being grumpy while we waited for our crepes.

Bear was also tired and hot.

I love this series of pictures. Little sister see, little sister do.

The crepes were heavily Nutella'ed and thoroughly enjoyed. 

We got lost on the way back to the car, and then Ever said she had to go to the bathroom really badly. Due to past experiences, Jim was highly sympathetic to her plight and frantically tried to find the nearest bathroom. When we finally found it, he rushed her off while I stayed outside with the littles. 

First they used teamwork to climb a fire hydrant.

Very soon they were fighting over the hydrant, and both were sent to time-out.

The Karners did a non-crepe lunch somewhere else, and we beat them back to the house. That gave me a good opportunity to put the girls down for a nap. Then that night, we made the traditional visit to Riverview Park in Mesa. 

The giant rope tower thing is always fun but scary. Wren got in on the action this time, and Ever went about halfway up.