Catching the Moon

Sunday was a 20 mile run. Addy came over at 6 to babysit, and I met up with Misty and Hilary. Surprise, surprise, it was miserably hot and humid again. We stopped to refill on water at about mile 5 while we were running through the state park. We had contemplated running the hills first, and then heading to the state park, but unfortunately if you wait to run the state park after 8am, you have to check in with the park ranger. This wastes a good 5 minutes, and means you actually have to stop and converse. Therefore, we put the hills off to later in the run, and ran the park first (it’s a nice park -right on the bayou with 3 bathrooms and 2 water sources). After that it was off to Edgewater and Ruckel. After about mile 12, I had to give up on Hilary’s brutal pace (Misty’d thrown in the towel a couple of miles back). I was quite literally dripping with sweat and out of water. As I ran past the state park again, I contemplated stopping by to ask the ranger for water, but I’ve had a recent run-in with the ranger there (another reason to run the park before 8), and was reluctant to ask any favors. By mile 16 I was desperate, and so hopped a fence at some condos to find a water fountain. I wrung my skirt out and struggled on - but it was painful. I managed the last 2 miles by walk-running.
Very humbling, hot and humid.
By the time I made it home I was exhausted. Once we got home, Addy’s mom came and picked her up, and I completely collapsed. I chugged a quart of chocolate milk, a powerade and then popped Strawberry Shortcake into the dvd player and crashed on the couch for a nap. Some friends had mentioned heading to the beach that afternoon, but I just couldn’t manage to do the whole “load the car, sunscreen the kids, drive to the beach, carry kids/umbrellas/cooler/towel/chairs/toys to the beach, build sandcasltles/chase Jackson, carry everything back to the car, hose off the kids (to screams of protestation), drive back home, transfer sleeping children to their beds knowing I was also transferring a pound of sand with them, unload car, have children wake up... etc
So, I managed to convince BOTH kids to take a nap with me for 2 hours (wow - the ultimate feat!).
By evening I was feeling a little guilty for doing so much nothing all day that I chased both kids outside and plopped myself on the driveway in a lawn chair with a glass of wine. We had just walked/scootered/biked to get mail, and Riley impressed me by taking the key, obtaining the mail, and then balancing the stack of letters on the foot board of her scooter and bring it back to me - all while I was trying to convince Jax to go THAT WAY on his bike. Once in the drive way, I had Skoshi on a leash and both kids drawing with sidewalk chalk. Jackson has become fascinated with the moon. Whenever we’re outside in the evening he has to locate it and then scream as loud as he can “Moon! Mommy, Moon!” and he doesn’t give up until everyone has acknowledged and looked at the moon. (This is somewhat startling to neighbors as they walk by for a 2 year old to run up to them, screaming “MOON! MOON!”) Once everyone in the area has acknowledged the moon, then he starts over with the first person again . This particular evening, he had decided
“MOMMY, MY MOON”
“Your moon, Jackson?”
“YEAH, MY MOON”
“How about Riley, is it Riley’s moon, too?”
“NO, MY MOON”
Jax then found the reflector-on-a-stick that is his favorite outside toy and started waving it over his head”
“Whatcha doin Jackson?”
“MY MOON, MOMMY. CATCH IT?”
“You can’t catch it, Jackson, it’s too high.”
“TOO HIGH? BRING IT DOWN, MOMMY, DOWN!”
“I can’t, it’s too high”
“TOO HIGH? MOMMY’S CAR, CATCH IT?’
“No, Jackson, it’s too high for my car, too.”
“OH, MOON TOO HIGH...... ROCKETSHIP, MOMMY?”
And then he and Riley proceeded to gather a big cardboard box from he house and decorate it as their rocketship. It was very cute.

Hunting Lizards

We went over to a neighbor’s house to play yesterday evening. This family has 3 children, and was watching another 3 for the afternoon. A little girl from across the street had come over to play, and then Ry and Jx made for a total of 9... and Ry was the oldest. All of the children were either riding about on toy motorized motorcycles (except for Ry and Jx, who generally find them terrifying) or hunting geckos. Ry was very upset that everyone had a gecko but her, and enlisted my support in trying to capture one. This house had vinyl siding around the sides and the back, which is apparently like a condo if you’re a gecko. Watch carefully for a couple of minutes and you can see any number of geckos peaking out from underneath. Then you have to pounce, and hope to knock the targeted gecko out from under the siding before he ducks back in. Then a chaotic chase ensues with children (and me) scampering about after the gecko until someone catches it. Once caught, they must be held tightly about the ribs upside down. Something about this position puts them into a trance-like state, and makes them slower. (although they’re still pretty fast, and able to survive remarkably long jumps/tosses onto the ground). The first one was pretty tiny, and Ry was mostly afraid to hold it for fear of squishing it, unlike the neighbor boy, who has mastered riding a bicycle, swinging from a tree and running about with a gecko in one hand. So, after our final attempt to induce a trance and then pass the gecko off to Ry (the gecko sought out greener pastures) I went off in search of a bigger gecko, at Ry’s request.
Success! I found a doozie of a gecko. Unfortunately, the neighbor boy happened to point out to Ry that the big ones bite, so she’d better be careful. Well, that did it. Ry was envious of all the other children and their geckos, but drew the line at biting lizards. Hence I was left holding the gecko.
Jx, however, was simply entranced with the big gecko. I would only let him touch it with one finger, thinking that he could gently stroke the gecko’s back. Unfortunately, gentle does not exist in Jx’s realm. Instead of gently stroking, he mostly just not-so-gently poked the gecko in the eye. Eventually, the gecko got fed up with this scenario and bit the finger that was poking him.
This surprised Jx not a little and he shrieked.
Apparently, it surprised me, too, because I tossed the gecko into the garage. And then, feeling bad about infesting the neighbor’s garage with biting reptiles, I fished him back out from under the lawn mower. Jx had moved on, so I placed the gecko in the bug box with all the other inmates (fortunately, the neighbors run a catch and release program, so the internment was short).
On a much less interesting note, this weekend’s runs have been far better. It’s amazing the difference about 20 degrees makes. Not that anyone else is interested, but I’m trying to keep track of my splits, so here they are:
Saturday
1 8:19 
2 8:22 
3 8:35 - not sure what happened here.
4 8:13 
5 8:14 
6 8:10 
7 8:14 
8 8:08 
9 8:08  
10 8:13 
10  1:22:38  8:16

Sunday
1 9:31 - break to tie shoe
2 8:39
3 8:34
4 8:35
5 8:28
6 8:46 - state park water break
7 8:22
8 8:32
9 8:11 - John Simms Bridge
10 8:20 - start of Edgewater hills
11 8:31
12 9:31 - potty break 
13 8:22
14 8:26 - Ruckel
15 8:39 - Ruckel
16 8:22
17 8:23
18 8:00
19 8:17
20 8:20
0.36  8:23 pace
2:53:47   20.36  8:32

Saturday Walks

Brian was flying though hurricane Ike this weekend, so I was left to my own devices with the kids. Usually I at least make some effort to get them to the beach or the pool, but this was a long-run weekend. I ran 10 miles on Saturday with Misty, and it was very very humid. Miserably so. When I got home, Riley and Jackson reminded me that I had promised a trip to the coffee shop. So, Riley donned her running skirt, and both got on their helmets and we walked/ scootered/ biked to the shop. They have a pretty good breakfast, and Riley was happily munching on grapes, licking the remnants of whipping cream from her cup and placidly coloring “Hello Kitty” while Jackson yelled “5 4 3 2 1 BLASTOFF” and ran back and forth along the width of the store with his hands above his head like he was on a roller coaster. I my post-run mellowness, I managed to overlook this breach of decorum and just let him be. Later I met Hil and her kids for a walk on the trails. Aidan and Riley ran ahead with Skosh, while Anna and Jackson lagged behind to play in the dirt and converse on the merits of collecting sticks. We eventually made it down to the water and hung around long enough to throw a few sticks and rocks in, then headed back. Unfortunately, Anna is fond of neither walking nor piggyback rides, and only wanted to be carried on Hilary’s side. This tends to make for a long walk, so Anna did spend a bit of time crying in the dirt. Jackson, on the other hand, mostly likes to admire nature on a macroscopic level, so there’s lots of prodding to keep him moving. Otherwise he would spend all afternoon with a stick in one patch of dirt.