Every year the Gila Valley puts on a fun run called the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning.
Richard and Jenny have been doing it a for a few years so we decided to sign up!
You could choose between the mile and a 5K. We went with the 5K. I was still 2 months post baby and hadn't run yet, but Jordan was in marathon training so he was used to three miles already. I didn't think it would be that hard. We thought Jaxon could run lots of it.
So we woke everyone up nice and early Thanksgiving morning, dropped the babe at mom's house and drove to Pima.
It was a chilly, chilly morning.
We bundled up Kodee and Gemma in the double stroller and waited for the whistle to blow. There were a LOT of people there.
Jordan pushed the stroller and I ran alongside him for about, oh, 3 minutes and then he was off and I kept falling farther behind. I ran into Jaxon with about a mile to go and I basically had to pull him to the finish. His legs were done. We were some of the last people to finish. Yikes! I think my time was 44 minutes. Jordan said it was super hard to push the stroller in the wind in the dirt. He still made it in 32 minutes, i think.
(Little did we know that would be the last time we would use the double stroller)
We stuck around for the drawing of prizes. Yeah, we stuck around for a long time for NOTHING! We even had 4 of us to choose from. No dice.
We ran through the finish line but Jaxon did NOT want to. As you can see on his face.
Overall, we had fun and we're going to do it again next year!
We headed to get the baby to go home and shower. Lottie did so good!
We had from 10:30 to noon to get ready and boy did that time fly.
We took off without the cool whip so we had to turn around.
Good thing the food wasn't ready right at 12.
I brought 2 pumpkin pies and the cranberry salad I love that is my mom's recipe.
We had a big crowd this year. Kelly and Troy were still down from JD's wedding, Jim and Kim and Jenny and Richard's family.
I guess when Grandma H. walked in to mom's house she said, "Happy Easter! everyone!" No one had the heart to correct her.
The kids had so much fun playing with their cousins.
During the prayer on the food which Dad gave, Lottie got super hungry and fussy and was crying so loud. We couldn't even hear the prayer and I felt so bad because I was locked in behind the table and couldn't leave the room. For some reason she wouldn't nurse at the table so I had to miss the beginning of Thanksgiving dinner.
We loved that we had run that morning so we could eat what we wanted!
We had lots of fun catching up with family and laughing.
Friday we cleaned and packed for Tucson-for Jordan's first half MARATHON!! Duh duh duh..
I felt a little uneasy about going on this trip, but Jordan was ready to run.
We got there just fine and headed to Macayo's for a nice, but expensive, dinner. I think we passed it twice before we finally found it. So it was a late dinner.
The kids did pretty well waiting for our table and food while coloring. Jaxon LOVES the coloring pages and likes to finish the whole thing!
After getting gas we hit up Old Navy for their Black Friday deal of everything 50%.
Jordan was the only one to go in and I drove around the mall.
Jaxon announced he wasn't feeling well and before I could pull into the parking lot he tossed his dinner all over the floor in the back and Kodee's bear.
Not a fun cleanup.
Jordan came back with really good finds of jeans and stocking stuffers for Christmas.
We went straight to the hotel and the kids got situated in room while I cleaned out the car the best I could. I actually took wash cloths from the room to wipe the car down. I bet the maid liked finding that surprise the next morning.
Jordan announced they had a jacuzzi so the kids jumped into their suits so fast it was hard to keep up. I fed the baby and then came down to watch and be the photographer.
At the end Jaxon and Jordan started daring each other to hop in the freezing cold pool.
I think Jaxon walked in and came out really fast. Jordan decided to swim the length of the pool in one breath.
He dove in and and we watched as he swam underneath. About 3/4 of the way to the end of the pool he JUMPED out and tried to get out of the pool as fast as he could saying he couldn't take any more, it was too cold. I was laughing so hard! (Sorry) He hopped in the jacuzzi shivering. Hello! It was the last of November and there was a cold wind that night.
We got the kids toweled and back in the room to get to sleep.
I think the three kids went down fairly quickly while Lottie would cry after I put her down. I was worried about the early morning wake-up but we managed to get some sleep.
Bright and early that alarm went off. Jordan got all ready in his running gear while we just got our shoes on and headed over to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Perfect place to have right next to your hotel I say. Jordan chose a healthy breakfast of eggs, oatmeal and fruit. Good choice, honey!
We ate quickly so we could get Jordan over to the park to check in. The park was about 3 minutes away so we got there in good time, before 8. Instead of getting us all out to see him take off we left to go get dressed for the day and pack our stuff. An hour later we went to go try to find Jordan in the middle of the race. It was a very interesting drive to say the least. The map we were given of the race route was so unclear. I scoured and scoured and finally googled the area. I saw where the park was at mile 8, but it was a miracle I found the park because it was behind a bunch of houses and I had to guess where to park. We got out and the kids played and 15 minutes later Jordan in his bright yellow ran up and around. He said he was doing great! He got some water and was off again. I let the kids play longer and then I was anxious to get back to the finish line so we wouldn't miss Jordan finishing. I didn't have anything to worry about. We waited for probably 45 minutes before There was any sign of Jordan. I talked with this really nice man who was waiting for his wife and daughter who they all turned out to be insane athletes. The wife had run a half the week before and they were all going to run a full marathon the next week.
So close!!
So proud of you, babe! First time he ever ran this far before.
Good job dad, can we go play some more?
My turn to show the love
Jordan got his medal, shirt, water, and fruit and cookies to fuel back up.
He said at mile 11 he started hurting and it took him until mile 12 to feel numb; and his phone died so he had to finish without music.
But, finish he did!
We took off, grabbed our stuff and checked out of the hotel to get on the road.
I drove so Jordan could rest up his muscles. We stopped for lunch right by a truck stop that had showers. Perfect stop for Jordan. He got all clean and dressed and met us at Taco Bell.
I had to feed the baby so the kids played around the long bench a little too much for my taste.
We made it through.
We filled up our drinks, went potty and were back on the road, Jordan driving now
about 30 minutes later, right outside of Tucson the traffic started getting really congested and we had to slow down. I had this feeling to pay attention and watch the road. Jordan was talking to his mom about the race, but he had it on speaker so he was still paying attention to the traffic. We sped back up but up the hill we noticed the cars were slowing down to stand still again so we kept our distance and watched. We all started getting close together and slowing down. Jordan was worried about this RV in the other lane that was really wobbly and I was looking behind us at this truck that was really close. At that moment I screamed out, "Jordan!" and he hit the brakes so we wouldn't hit the car in front of us. I looked in the side mirror at the truck carrying a horse trailer and they slammed on their brakes and were swerving like crazy. They went off to the left to try and miss us, but they hit us right in the back. I looked forward thinking we were going to hit the car in front, and start a chain reaction. But, miraculously they were already pulling away. And then I thought we were going to be hit in the back again, but no one hit the truck. Partly in shock I started crying out, but that scared the kids so I sucked back in the tears and toughed it out as Jordan pulled over to the right shoulder. We braced ourselves silently praying the people in the truck were nice and had insurance.
We looked at the back of the van just stunned that none of us got hurt. Although Gemma's drink did explode in her face and she cried because it was so cold. The boys had been playing with Lottie's baby rocker and were making a sort of fort out of it. It had bumped Jaxon in the lip so he had a little bit of a fat lip. Thankfully they were all wearing their seat belts and no one was hurt or even sore. We were truly blessed. We had to wait a while for police to come so we could report the accident. The cops were kind of jerks. They kept telling Jordan that he was at fault for some reason, but the second cop that came understood that Jordan didn't break out of nowhere and that the truck that hit us was going to fast. The older couple that hit us were very nice and exchanged insurance info. We were able to drive the rest of the way home and called insurance to file the complaint. That's when the mess began. The other guy's insurance was awful to work with. They did not do anything for almost a month, and unfortunately the man was not real helpful either. He asked Jordan to get a form notarized that explained we weren't pressing charges and would get him out of a citation, but then he was not returning any phone calls to his insurance to accept fault for the accident. This almost completely ruined our holiday travel plans to go up to Utah. Our van was totaled and we needed to get an assessment. We also needed to be put into a rental, but none of this would happen until the driver of the other car complied. Finally he did. We were reimbursed for the car seats and stroller that was stuck in the back of the van. We also received money for what the van was worth and a rental that we took up to UT. It was a nice Town and Country souped up with all the latest gadgets. It was a fun trip. While we were in UT we found the Toyota Sienna we were looking for and got it! We've loved the decision we made for the car. Too bad it had to be such a long procedure, but we're glad it all got worked out. I hope we're never in an accident again. That was not fun!!
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