Paradise Park in Motown

Traveling with a 2 and 4 year old is always associated with a little anxiety for me. Not because I necessarily want it to just be a super pleasant experience for them. I am all about pushing them a little outside of their comfort zone, but more because I want to create an environment that allows me to be successful as their mommy and not communicate anything that might cause lasting scars. I was a sensitive kid and it penetrated deep when I felt like an announce, so I do my best to avoid communicating that to my precious gifts. But, if I am honest sometimes they just annoy the badonkadonk out of me. It's my issue I am easily irritated and I am so thankful that God is using their lives to refine me in this area. I knew 12 hours in the car, 4 hours watching a football game and a couple of sit down meals were sure to result in a few meltdowns, so I wanted to find one activity they would thoroughly enjoy. There is a fun activity park just a couple miles from Chelsea and Jordon's, so I decide we would go.  A kid crazed atmosphere is not necessarily my cup of tea, but denying self is a huge part of this parenting gig. So, after a fun morning hanging with the fam we headed to Paradise Park.

I am not a huge fan of trampolines because they are not the safest apparatus, especially when you put a few rough and tumble boys in the mix. These tramps were great, they each had their own area and were completely enclosed by a safety net. Yes, I sound like a super over protective mother, but with good cause. In 5th grade I got spiked on my head off a tramp and walked around with lopsided shoulders for over a week.

Exhaustion set in, so we moved on to some car racing. 

These little cars were lacking in thrill, so we decided to move on to the Speedway.

IT was a blast. We are slightly competitive in the Ruiz family. Turning everything into a competition makes it much more enjoyable to do the not so fun parts of life. However, if you don't handle losing well it can make for many teaching opportunities. Caleb has shed many a tear over not getting to the top of the stairs the fastest, not being first to clean up his toys or losing our nightly race of who can scrub their teeth the fastest. Thankfully, the Speedway was just fun competition and Caleb and Daddy totally smoked us, so Caleb was all smiles.

 

NCU vs Michigan State

 

When we found out that Clay would be playing a game within a few hours of home we had to go. It's hard for me to believe that he is a 200 pound college football player. He was Caleb's age when we moved to the foothills of Tucson, AZ. In many ways Caleb's intense personality reminds me of my little buddy Clay (now not such a little buddy). Like Clay, Caleb loves dinosaurs, is very determined, can't sit still and has to do things in his time on his terms. It is encouraging to see what a neat guy Clay has turned out to be and gives me hope that my little determined buddy will follow suit. 

Their team was playing a top ranked team in their stadium with green everywhere. I couldn't resist this picture even though it was our opponent's attire.

At the half the kids needed a break from sitting, so we went and played a little ball. We had a blast. It has been so fun watching Caleb's interest in sports develop. We haven't pushed it and the boy loves football as much as baseball. It is an every day activity for him to find his Nerf ball and throw it against the wall. Listening to him play an entire football game through his imagination is very entertaining.

The kids did really well, much better than I was anticipating for a 4 hour game in the cold. Always thankful for pleasant outings.

Our Buddy Clay running off the field.

Chelsea, Clay, Jordan and Grandpa Cowboy (with a tired Sissy in hand)

We had so much fun hanging with family. Makaylee loved playing with her pretty and fun cousin Chelsea. If I've ever questioned the value of quality time, that questioning has been totally eliminated. After one afternoon of Jordon playing football with Caleb, he is his new hero.  Thanks to the Fathead commercials he wants a life size picture of Jordon for his bedroom. He is determined to get a Detroit Lion's helmet and won't take off his Lion's Jersey.  He told me this morning he wants Jordon and Polamalu on his birthday cake. "Jordon will be tackling and Polamalu will have the ball." We are still working on comprehension of offense and defense. :)

Football weekend

Over the weekend I got the joy of not only having my sister, niece and Grandpa Cowboy in town, but my cousin Chelsea came to stay. It was nice visiting while the kids played. And sipping on wine on the deck after we put the kids down for the night, you can't beat that! The Steelers were scheduled to play the Lions for the first preseason game and Cory was able to get us all tickets for the big event. Normally, we would be 100% all in for the Steelers, but Caleb especially has become quite the fan of #57 of the Detroit Lions. We all meet up for breakfast in the city, which went amazingly well for a sit down meal with three little ones.

Attie, Chelsea, Caleb Jordon and Makaylee

After breakfast we did what girls do best and went and got pampered with pedicures. Then got decked out in our black and gold, scratch that, blue and silver for the big game.

 Me, Brittany (Chelsea's friend) Chelsea, and Kaycee

The game didn't go exactly as planned. Right after the second half began Jordon got injured and we didn't know exactly what happened. Then it started to lightening, so there was a delay. We had to wait to know Jordon's status. It was hot, the kids were tired and we were concerned.

At first, Chels was told it was a sprain, but it turned out it was the whole knee, ACL, PCL and MCL. Such a bummer!! Caleb asks every day about how Jordon is doing, what happened and if he is playing football again. Jordon has a great attitude about it and looks at the positive. He gets a season to let his body recover from the years of pounding.

Catch Up

I have totally dropped the ball on blogging, but it is so much easier to enjoy the present when I am not trying to keep up with documenting the past. However, to keep my loved ones posted and because someday I know my kiddos will thank me for this, I am going to try and press on. Okay, so to play some catch up from August. My beautiful sister and my lovely niece came to visit. We got to celebrate Attie turning 5. I can hardly believe it has been 5 years since I helped my sister with night duty, making sure that sweet little 5 pound baby was getting enough to eat every 3 hours.

She was feisty as a baby, but Attie is now probably the kindest, most considerate little girl I know. My sister is an amazing mommy. We had an awesome time and stayed extremely busy hanging out together for 9 days. Did I mention, I love that I got to share this time with my family. We explored the backyard and the kids found playing in the creek to be a blast.

This brought back such fond memories of making mud pies in the creek at the ranch in Thermopolis. While, it may not be a ranch with hundreds of acres. I am thankful my kids get to explore the outdoors right here at home. I love where we live. They definitely got decitified. At first, Caleb and Makaylee couldn't stand the slimy mud squishing in their toes or dirty hands, but with a little encouragement from their wilderness experienced, born and raised in the big WY cousin, they were having fun covered in dirt.

Never give up Tri

After playing a college sport I think there is a little bit of a longing for the adrenalin and excitement that goes along with each competition. So my sister, my cousin Chelsea and I decide about six months ago to motivate ourselves to workout by training for a Triathlon. We all probably realistically started our training about 13weeks out, but it was a great discipline.

The day before the race Cathy our awesome coach prepared us for all the elements. Numeral uno being the super cold water. I have had two children with not a bit of pain medicine and I have to say I would rather do that than get in the painfully cold water. First, we jumped into Chelsea's pool at a whopping 62 degrees. It did give me some confidence for race day, but sadly my swim was more of a flailing please make it to shore without needing one of the surfer duds to come rescue me than an actual swim. I was a little disappointed, because I really thought this would be my strength. I guess my lungs just couldn't hang with the cold water.

Surprisingly the bike was refreshing. Around a third of the way into it we hit a head wind and I would have loved to have a road bike to get down in a tucked position. I really think spin class prepared my legs for the mostly flat track. It was a little humbling to have multiple women I would have sworn I was in better shape than cruise by me, but I was having a blast.

Finally, on my run, probably my true strength I was able to pass many of those people that boggled my mind on the bike. However, after riding a bike that long my legs felt rather odd. It felt like I had heavy weights tied to my ankles and the needle sensation you get when you stand up and your legs are numb is the best way I can describe how it felt to make this transition.

I remember feeling emotions of joy and accomplishment rise up at the end of my first mile. I knew I would finish strong, because I finally could feel my legs again. It wasn't pretty, my running form never is, but it made for such an exciting finish to have friends and family cheering me in.

We accomplished our goals and I to my great surprise actually had a faster time than my cousin the track star and my sister who historically during a run I'm looking at her backside.

We are all ready for another one, but I have to say sharing it with these two wonderful girls is what really made it special.

Go Lions

We had such a fun time at the game even though the Lions lost. The fans were pretty brutal. This surprised me. I thought, if you are going to take time out of your schedule to go watch your team, win or lose you'd think they would cheer? But no, I think the majority of booing came from the weirdo who sat right in front of us. He absolutely annoyed the you know what out of me. I was about ready to give him an ear full, but he was a rather large guy and I didn't think Cory would appreciate a repeat of the movie scene from How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days.

We decided to put the kids in childcare, so we could actual watch. Caleb was a little bitter that he didn't get to enjoy some football. When we picked him up I was greeted by the cold shoulder followed by screaming and crying. Did I mention how nice it was to be kid free for a few hours.

Me, Kaycee (my sissy) and Chelsea (my cousin).

What a fun group of girls. I sure would love it if we all lived a little closer.