Fun...with a Twist

We set out Friday afternoon for Sidney, Nebraska so I could go run a race with my friend Ali on Friday night. We made it in great time, got our running shoes on and all headed down to the park for the run and for Gold Rush Days. We got all signed in, stretched out, and took a warm up lap and felt good. Then we started to run which is where my problems started...ha ha. I've been running off and on for about 2 years and I have never had a cramp EVER but about 1/4 mile in my leg totally cramped up. Holy cow was it painful. I wasn't even sure what to do since it had never happened before but I kept running as best I could and finally stopped to stretch it out for about a minute then kept going. At about the halfway point I finally felt good. So, needless to say, not my best race but I still finished in the same time I normally do even with stopping to stretch so I guess it was ok. Ali rocked it. You go girl. It was fun to do with her despite my mishap. Note to self: eat a banana before the race next time.

The next day after hardly any sleep, Ali and I went at 6:30 to go garage sale-ing. I am not experienced at this like Ali but I found some stealing deals. So much fun! Afterward, we headed back to the park for Gold Rush Days so the kids (and Matt...ha ha) could have a little fun. It was so much fun. Kind of like a Pioneer Day with all kinds of old time western and civil war era things to eat and do. The best part is it was all free for the kids. They got to shoot guns, rope cows, throw tomahawks, go on wagon rides, eat old time candy, see cool Indian dances, listen to an amazing bluegrass group, and more. Then afterward we went to the other end of the park so the kids could have a try at the fishing pond. Bryce always wants to go fishing and the Haleys are master fishermen so we were in good hands. The fish weren't biting much but they had fun playing with the worms and seeing turtles. Matt helped Zack reel in a teeny tiny fish.

The rest of the day was relaxing. I took a nap, we grilled some yummy food (recipe to follow at a later time), we hit Cabela's, and just visited. We left about 8:30 Saturday night and here is where the fun begins!!

About 45 minutes into our return trip, our temerature gauge shot up to High and we pulled over to the side of the freeway. We weren't sure why were were overheating so we basically just kept waiting and then driving 1/4 mile before we overheated again. We repeated this over and over till we got to the next exit which was Pine Bluffs, WY. OK, if there was ever a perfect place to shoot a horror film at 10:30pm late at night, it is Pine Bluffs, WY. Holy crap...deserted town, creepy people, including the sherrif with his lip full of chew, one gas station open, one motel that reminded me of Psycho, one repair shop (probably all owned by the same weirdo). The kids were pretty good through the whole thing, Bryce was asleep the whole time and had no idea what happened. Avery was cute and happy, of course. And Zack kept giving us advice on what he thought we should do ("maybe you should call your insurance again and have them send a tow truck...maybe we should stay at that motel...maybe we need some food...I think we should go back to Drew's.") We finally, as nice as we could, had to tell him to ZIP IT and go to sleep. Anyway, Robb got some coolant and water and refilled us and it seemed to do the trick and got us home anyway. We'll see if we have more problems. Thanks though for the offers we had to come and pick us up...we appreciate it!

Here's some pics from our fun weekend. CLICK HERE.