My Weekend by Selah

I just got home from a great weekend with my parents. We went to Fruita so mommy could run the Desert RATS 25 miler. It all started on Friday…

I rode in the van with daddy and our friend Bobby Lowe while mom rode in a car with our friend Elinor Fish. The hour and 15 minute ride was okay but I wasn’t too fond of being in the car seat for a nap until Bobby rocked me to sleep. When I woke up we were in Grand Junction, home of Genghis Grill, one of daddy and mommy’s favorite pre-race restaurants. I loved all the veggies and the crunchy Chow Mein noodle things.

Playing with a tube of lotion. Daddy accidentally sprayed a stream of it across my face and into my hair. That's okay, it gave me a mohawk.

That night we stayed at Highline State Park where I slept in the van for the first time since last summer. I love playing in the van. We played for a while and read books under the Christmas lights that are strung up in the van. It was a little hard for me to get to sleep, probably because it was way past my bedtime and because I was sleeping in a very different place. I used to always sleep in the Moses basket when in the van but this time daddy set up the back of the van with an inflatable pad, sleeping bag and down jackets. It was kind of weird and I kept making a lot of noise because the van has metal walls so every time I would get upset I would cry loud, hit the metal door and it would sound like mommy and daddy were bad parents and beating me. After a little while, I eventually gave in and went to sleep.

In the morning, mommy got up early and went to the race for the 6:30 start time. In the middle of the night mommy had brought me in bed with her and daddy so I started to notice that her warm body was gone from the bed. I like to move around in bed a lot and I kept grabbing daddy’s face and kicking him. He tried to move so I wouldn’t fall off the bed and instead it woke me up. He tried hard to get me to go back to bed because it was only 5:45 but I was just so excited to play in the van. So, we left and rushed off to the race.

Taking a break while waiting for mom to run by.

There's my mom, running about 1-1/2 hours into the race.

Cool views, huh?

Mommy did great in the race and daddy and I met her at every aid station and at other spots along the race and saw her 6 times. Daddy put me in the Chariot and pulled me with his mountain bike. We rode along the bumpy, old 4x4 roads to get glimpses of mommy, Bobby and El and to cheer them on. It was fun to see mommy race. One of my new, really cute things, is to point and say mommy or daddy’s name when I see them in the distance. I did that a couple of times for mommy. I think it made her happy.

More pictures of my mom running - yeah!

Mommy ended up finishing as the 4th overall woman and beat her best time in the race by 18 minutes. She was just 3 minutes out of 2nd and daddy and I were really proud of her. After the race I got to drink out of mommy’s water bottle (another new favorite thing) and eat post-race snacks like cookies and bananas.

A picture my dad took while climbing back to the canyon rim. Mom wouldn't let me play close to the edge - so, don't worry grandmas!

After the race, mommy and I were tired from all that work so we drove into Colorado National Monument with daddy so he could go rock climbing. While he climbed, we napped in the van although a ranger almost woke me up. Luckily, mommy was able to shoo him away. After napping we went over to the edge of the canyon rim and looked down at daddy on top of the tower. It was pretty neat to see daddy climbing. After he finished we dropped him off for a 6-mile trail run and then picked him up at the finish. Mommy and I hiked in a short way to greet daddy and I did my really cute pointing thing and called his name.

For dinner we ate at a great mom-and-pop burger place. Mommy said she earned a cheeseburger and I think I earned my grilled cheese. I ate a lot of it. That night we camped up by Rattlesnake Canyon, above Colorado National Monument. I slept really sound all night because I was so tired from all the playing and biking and fun I had.

Of course, I woke up kind of early because the sun was starting to come up. It was only about 6:00 but mommy and daddy kind of wanted to keep sleeping so they let me climb around in the van and play. Eventually I convinced them to get up and start the day because as John Wayne would say, “daylight’s a wastin’,” even if it wasn’t truly daylight yet. Well, mommy wasn’t too excited about hiking/running Rattlesnake Canyon so early so she convinced daddy to go get pancakes instead. I said, “sweet, I love pancakes!”

Pancakes, yeah!

After breakfast I was ready for a nap because I ate so many pancakes and hash browns. So, mommy and I napped at the Kokopelli trailhead while daddy rode his mountain bike for 2-1/2 hours. When he got back, mommy was ready to go run so daddy took me in the Chariot behind his mountain bike and we showed mommy what we could do on the trails. It was really fun. We rode with mommy for a couple of miles before she split off and went on her own long run. Well, with all that action, I got really tired again and fell asleep in the Chariot while daddy was riding back to the van.

Playing in the van

When I woke up, daddy was reading a book under a tree where he had me napping in the shade. Oh, what a great nap. Daddy loaded me up in the van and we drove to where we met mommy at the end of the run. While waiting, daddy and I played in the van. We played hide and seek with my toys and I climbed all over the van. Plus, I ate a lot of trail mix. It’s one of my new favorite things. I love the peanuts and raisins and occasionally, if daddy hasn’t eaten all of them, M&M’s. Yum! I also love drinking water out of a hydration bladder although I also like to just play with it and get water all over me. Hence, why I was naked, except for a diaper, when mommy showed up from her run.I think I found some M&M's in the trail mix and now the chocolate is on my face - I'm so goofy!

Well, we decided to leave Fruita early to get back for my friend Zachary’s BBQ. On the way home, mommy and daddy bought me a present, my very own pink Camelbak. Now I have my own bite valve to chew on and get water out of. They used their REI dividend to buy it so I could have my own Camelbak to carry, that is, whenever I decide to start walking.

My new Camelbak - I can't wait for dad to take the plastic off the water hose so I can chew on the bite valve.

Before heading home daddy needed some caffeine so we went through the drive thru at Starbuck’s and got cold drinks. Mommy let me have some of her fruit smoothie and I figured out how to drink out of a straw for the first time. It was great, until it gave me a brain freeze headache. But, I didn’t really care, I was so excited to be drinking out of a straw so I kept sucking away.

Now, it’s on to a BBQ and kiddy pool session at Zachary’s where I’ll be much rested after a long nap on the ride home. What a great weekend. I can’t wait to go to Fruita again to play in the dirt and I can’t wait to go camping in the van again. I love playing in it and climbing around on the shelves. Sounds like I’ll get plenty of van time in this summer because we’re going to be on the road for 10 weeks. Yeah!

That’s all for now. See ya!