XC

This week was a first for our family!  We attended a Cross Country meet!

My not-so-little-anymore guy is the one in the white jersey - #2555!

My middle-one-of-three, my not-so-little-anymore guy is a freshman in high school this year and decided to try something entirely new to him - Cross Country.  He attended voluntary summer workouts all summer long and for those of you who live in the south, you know how crazy hot it is in the summer! Never the less, we arose early each weekday morning, and he met other teammates at 8AM to try this new sport - running.

I'm so proud of him for sticking with it because doggone it, Cross Country is hard!!!  I mean, honestly, I really know little to nothing about running except for the fact that I hate doing it!  But he's stuck with it!  He runs at least five days a week and works in other training "stuff" as well.

We have always encouraged our kiddos to get involved with sports and not just because of the fitness aspect.  Lessons galore are learned from being part of a team - hard work pays off, working together necessary even if a teammate isn't your favorite person in the world, what I do affects other people, winning and losing is a part of life, not everybody gets a trophy...  I could go on and on.

Attending this first meet was quite interesting to me.  The coach asked if I could photograph the race so I roamed from point A to point B to point C and so on and snapped away.  While doing so, I watched boys and girls from at least six different schools weave their way through the course - some faster, some medium, some slower.  But regardless of their speed, regardless of their school affiliation, everyone encouraged everyone!  It was so different from any sporting event I have been to.  It was as if they all understood that they were just runners and knew that encouragement helped them get through the course! Sure enough, they all eventually made it across the finish and "Good jobs!" were given to each one.  

For his first every race, my Jac-Jac did pretty well!  Out of 54 boys, he finished 29th.  His average mile time was about 7 1/2 minutes.  Not too shabby for a guy who didn't start distance running until about two months ago! Yep, I'm a proud momma - mostly proud of his perseverance, and a little of his performance as well!  Run Jac run!!!

First Day...

Regardless of how old my children get or how their grade numbers climb, I still have that yikes-they-are-getting-so-much-older-and-one-step-closer-to-being-on-their-own kinda feeling when I drop them off for school each year!

This year is a biggie!  My oldest-one-of-three began her senior year today.  *sniff...*  I still vividly remember holding her to my chest not wanting to put her down in her crib to sleep.  I know she is going to have a great year; I know she will succeed at whatever she puts her mind to doing.  She is incredible!

My middle-one-of-three started his Freshman year of high school today.  A couple of weeks ago, he found some photos of himself - him in a superman costume, him sucking his thumb as he hangs with daddy, him climbing a doorframe, him giving me a hug...  He took those photos and edged our master bathroom mirrors.  Simply a hint that even though he's bigger, older, rougher around the edges, that he still knows that he's my little guy.

Our youngest-one-of-three hasn't slept well for the past two nights - nervous about starting middle school.  Yes, I said middle school!  She still seems so young to me.  It felt odd today to know that she wasn't at our sweet community-feels-like-family elementary school.  She is somewhere that no one knows her history - no one knows how fabulous she is - no one knows...  BUT, it won't take them long - they will quickly see what we see.  They will see our sweet little nutter butter with her brain gears spinning!

We ended today with our twice a year tradition (traditions are my way of 1-making sweet memories with my kiddos and 2 - making a meager effort to make them want to return to participate in those traditions once they're on their own).  On the first and last day of school, we head to a local ice cream shop - load up the toppings and talk about our school days - mine included.  Fun times!  School year 2015-16 - here we come!

This year, even our OES got a little tradition action!

Day 7

Day #7 of our Western adventure began with a morning trail ride through Red Rock Canyon, Nevada!
36.1356° N, 115.4272° W

This was a first for the Patterson family, as a whole.  And what better scenery to view while on horseback, or muleback in the case of my guy and the trail guide!? Some points of interest from our trail ride:

• Our horses' names were Beauty, Ty, Jerry, September and Sunshine.
• The rocks turn a deep red color because of the iron content in the rock. And just like iron/metal rusts when it is left unprotected in the elements, it does the same in the rock!
• Joshua pseudo Trees aren't only found in Joshua Tree National Park.
• The Native American men, who once inhabited this region, had to carry their brides up the side of one of these ginormous rocks to prove his manliness in order to be qualified to marry his bride!
• Contrary to its incredibly dry appearance, water actually does fall from the sky here, at times, and it leaves dry river beds throughout the canyon.
• Bunny rabbits do like hopping through the desert landscape.
• It's rather difficult to take pics while riding a horse over a rocky landscape.
• And roadrunners aren't quite as feathery and plumey as indicated by Chuck Jones, nor are they super fast moving when they aren't being chased by Wile E. Coyote!

L to R: Sunshine, Ty, September, Beauty and Jerry

One of those dry river/creek beds.

The rocky peak in the lower right corner is one that is said to be the challenge for the Native American men who had to prove their manliness by climbing it while carrying their brides to the top before they could say, "I do."

Lots of rusted rock here!

And here.

And also here!

Sunshine and me - blondes do have more fun!

When we left the canyon, we made a stop at a Vegas record shop at the request of my retro kiddo - Audrey.  She loaded up on several albums for her small turntable at home - everything from Johnny Cash to ZZ Top to Big Band music! After another trial of the famous-out-west In and Out Burger for lunch, we headed back toward the Hoover Dam.  My adventurous son really wanted to walk across the ridiculously high bridge that we viewed when standing on the Hoover Dam.  Sweaty palms, sweaty palms, sweaty palms...  So we were off for the bridge - bye, bye equestrian - hello pedestrian...

Let's just say this thing is CRAZY high!  The Hoover Dam is pretty high itself but you can see how small it looks in the background of the shot on the left above!  I must say though, that it really looked scarier when viewing it from the dam than it did when you were actually on the bridge.  I think it was because of the way the rail was made.  It came up so high that there wasn't really a way to see directly below the bridge so I didn't have a concept that I was truly over 800 feet ABOVE the water.  YIKES!  Oh an yeah, when the big trucks drove by, the bridge moved - so that was fun!  I was very proud of my nutter butter though.  She said the whole way there that she was not going to walk across it.  My guy and I were going to take turns staying with her on the side but she decided to face her fear and push forward!  Wow, just looking at those pics though makes my palms all sweaty again!

Gorgeous dam view from that bridge though!

Lake Mead - absolutely beautiful blue water!

We headed back to our hotel from there and split up for an hour or two - boys/girls.  Jac and Chris headed to look at some classic cars and the girls and I did a little shopping - Tiffany's style!

That evening, we had our first Vegas buffet dining experience - lots of food! And then we headed north on the strip to watch the famous Bellagio fountain show.

While there are many sites on the Vegas strip that I could lived a lifetime without seeing, I must say that the lights at night are something else - from fountains to volcanos to hotel signs - the lights are so much fun to photograph!  

Only one more day left of our Out West Adventure - next stop - ATL airport.

Day 6

Yay!  We got to sleep in!  We spent the entirety of Day 6 in Las Vegas.  

36.1215° N, 115.1739° W

After a Pop-Tart breakfast, we headed for the pool.  The kids enjoyed the lazy river and the wave pool.  I lounged mainly in the chair but it was so incredibly hot that I did make my way down the lazy river a couple of times and sat along the edge of the wave pool.

We opted for Linner on Day 6 - what we call a combo of Lunch and Dinner.  So after our pool time, we headed out to Las Vegas Blvd. for a bite to eat.  We selected a restaurant that totally catered to our individual tastes called 800Degrees.  It's basically a Moe's or Subway but with pizza.  Freshly made individual pizza dough, we selected our toppings and then the pizzas are fired in a crazy hot brick oven!  Yummy!

We wanted to visit the "old" part of Vegas which is called the Fremont Experience.  It has some of the original casinos and signs.  It is now a tourist attraction with the street being basically a giant walkplatz and a covering/roof has even been added over the street.

This sign is one that always comes to mind when thinking of the images of Vegas as seen in movies.

So... let me just say as a mom, WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!  The Fremont Experience is not child friendly. Yikes!!  Yes, there is zip lining, and yes, there are magic shows, and yes, there are flashy bright lights.  But oh - my - goodness - lights are not the only things flashing!!!  I'm gonna leave it there - just beware if you are thinking of taking children there.  Fremont Experience is definitely an experience.  Really - it should have a rating so parents are forwarned.

I did enjoy seeing the retro signs though. Jac wanted to see the $1,000,000 cash in Binion's, but it was located in the middle of the casino and he wasn't allowed to go in the casino.  So we headed back to the car and back to our hotel area for some fun that was a little more family oriented.

We gave the kids the option to ride the giant roller coaster at the New York, New York hotel and they, of course, opted to ride.  It's a pretty big roller coaster that goes in and out of the hotel.  Chris and I killed time in the gift shop being silly!

Silly Selfie

Yes, I know Tracey is missing the "e" but it was the closest spelling I could find!

Nighttime view of our side of the BLVD.  New York, New York hotel on the left with the roller coaster.  Our hotel is to the right - Monte Carlo.  Our hotel looks so small in comparison but we stayed on the 27th floor so it wasn't really small!

Next, we headed to Hershey World and M&M World.  I mean who doesn't like candy?!?!?  We explored all things chocolate - even the Statue of Liberty!  

Dad-Man treating us to a juggling act.

Love these colors against the black night sky.  The Excalibur Hotel.

After a few more shopping stops and a few more Vegas views, we decided to wrap up the evening with ice cream! What better way to end the day, right?

Next stop - Red Rock Canyon!