Gap2Gap 2013 -- Can it get any better??!!

 Introducing the 2013 Competitors in the Gap2Gap Ditto Clan:

 Team - Athletic Ancestors (Cousins George and Lucy Ditto and Alysee Ditto)

 

 Team - Three Amigos (Tyler Ditto, Kyle Murdock, a friend)

 Iron Man - White Magic (Alex)

Team - Mongooses' (Nate Ditto, Chase Cox, Kel Griffiths, and Ryan Hall)

 Team - Pit Vipers (Cooper Ditto, Sadie Randall, Bryce Hebdon, and Abbey Cox)

Iron Man Support (thus the big "S") Personnel - Birch (He ran around like a crazy man getting Alex's gear to him at all the right times and places meanwhile trying to photograph the other kids events)

 Team Cheerleader/Crazy Mom/My-Arm-Pits-Are-Sweating - Sara

Quick run down...

The Gap2Gap is an annual event in our town that the kids totally look forward to.  Birch and I prepare ourselves for months each night by running laps up our staircase while holding roller blades, bikes, and helmets to prepare ourselves for our job as parents of the athletes.  Meanwhile, the kids fret about teammates and how cool their t-shirts should be and what awesome team name they are going to have this year.  It came down to the last week of registering and Alysee still didn't have a team.  With a song and a prayer we put a call into our daring cousins in Spokane and invited them to join in on the awesome chaos and have two of their kids form a team with Alysee.  We caught them in a weak moment and they consented leaving Alysee TOTALLY excited.  This year there were 710 kids in participation (two hundred more than last year). 

First up was Iron Man - White Magic aka Alex Ditto (please note when I say "first up" it sounds much more relaxed.  Alex did start his race first but every twenty minutes or so we would add another one of our kids teams to the mix and the craziness was in full swing)

 

 3 mile run

Support Personal Birch helping Alex get his helmet on

 

 Finishing 6 mile street bike ride

 

 Not sure how long the inline skating part was but my legs would have been shot by then.

 Two times around the pond

 Obstacle Course

 Sprinting in to the finish line

Finishing time 1:06:52; poor kid was so exhausted that his drawers were falling down

Alex finished in agony as his back was killing him.  I think all that intense workout, not much water, and then all hunched over in the kayak did him in.  A couple of advil later he was feeling much better.

Alex finished second place in the 13-14 year old division.  Pretty sweet!!!  His end time was 1:06:52.

Next up - Tyler in team "The Three Amigos" 

Tyler accepting the hand off from teammate doing the running portion.

 
  Tyler coming in from his two and half mile bike ride.

It was pretty clear that Tyler is ready for a new bike and he road in looking a little like he was riding a gangster bike.

 The "Three Amigos" ended up in twelfth place out of nineteen teams in the 11-12 year old boys division.  They finished in 37:50 minutes.

 Next up was team - Athletic Ancestors

 Cousin Lucy did the one mile running portion.  She was awesome!

 

She handed off to her brother George for the 2.5 mile bike portion.

 Who completed the race like a champ and passed off to Alysee for the inline skating. 

 I was really proud of Alysee as roller blading is a newly acquired taste :)

She looks like a pro!

There she goes around the lake.

 They may look frowny but really they are all about the drama.  Team Athletic Ancestors came in eleventh place out of seventeen at 45:27.

Next up was Team Mongoose - Nate Ditto and friends

 

Sadly, I have very few pictures of Nate.  Although I make it sound like each of these races are consecutive, they really are all overlapping and I guess Nate's team got the shaft this year. 

 Nate's team finished in tenth place out of twenty-three so they really were awesome!!  Total time 38:13.

 

 A brief armpit pause here...all four adults were running around with cell phones giving updates on various teams and where you could come to watch a quick section before running off to get another child in place for their race portion.  We all shed a tear of happiness that we left the four youngest kids (Chloe and three cousins) home with a babysitter -- it would have been a true nightmare throwing in more potty breaks, snacks, and little feet to the mix.

Last up - Team Pit Vipers (Coop and friends)

 Coop was SUPER DUPER DUPER excited about everything --- his shirt, teammates, bib number, etc...

 Coop did the 1.4 mile bike portion.

 

 I seriously got a tear in my eye when I saw him finally come up to the transfer point.  He was working so hard and again was on a mini-bike because he was most confident riding his good ol' bike.  His little legs must have been exhausted!

 Check out his sweet shirt he made!

This picture is awesome because it shows how much they are all hoping their team name will be called out for winning.  Unfortunately they finished sixth out of eight teams and so they didn't get a metal.  Finishing time 22:59.

 All of the awesome 2013 Ditto Gap2Gap teammates!

Super awesome ending to the event was during the awards ceremony and they called out who won the donated super awesome bike.  We heard "AaL-Cee Ditto" called over the microphone and we all sat in a daze not really registering that they were saying Alysee's name.  All of a sudden it clicked and we all started screaming and Alysee ran up to the stage to be awarded her super cool BIG bike.  It'll be a couple of years until Alysee is big enough to ride her awesome bike but in the meantime Tyler is happily keeping it warmed up for Alysee.

We all came home and crashed for the afternoon!  Actually somehow the kids still had energy to play like mad men all afternoon with their cousins while us adults ate good food and enjoyed resting our weary legs.  It was a fabulous weekend and extra fun sharing it with cousins this year!!

Loyal Scout

Recently Tyler and Alex had a Court of Honor for Boy Scouts.  Both boys have been working really hard at accomplishing their merit badges and ranks.  Tyler has been working especially hard at completing his Star. 

Tyler proudly received his Pet, Citizenship in the Nation, and Communications merit badges.  As part of his responsibilities to complete his Star he has been serving as the Troop Historian.  Tyler (with a tad bit of help from his momma) made a great video of a few of the troop's camping trips.


Click here to see the video:  http://youtu.be/nAIOqrXpPBE

Alex was pretty awesome too and received his Traffic Safety and Communications merit badges.  He is currently plowing through the last couple of required merit badges and preparing to present his Eagle Scout Project to the Board of Review.  His goal is to complete his Eagle Project this summer.  Yahoo!

The Forbidden

At our home there a many words that are forbidden.  You know the kind of words that belittle, are negative, or just plain naughty.  My kids could attest that I've said a million times, "If it doesn't build someone up than don't say it at all."  I've always been kind of a Hitler when it comes to not saying bad words.  Just ask my little brother, Seth and he can attest that I'll teach you a lesson if you say naughty words around me.  Growing up I was often the babysitter in the family and therefore took it upon myself (I think my parents might have actually crowned me as "The Boss" since my older brother Matt learned that he could sneak in the family room and watch TV while next in line, Sara bossed around the family teaching them life lessons.)  Anyway, back to the lesson of speaking with a tongue of angels.  I can't remember all the details but Seth who was probably five or six years old kept telling me to...oh, I can't say it..."shut up."   We both knew this word was not okay to say but he wouldn't take it back -- so I did what any big sister should do and punched him in the nose until he repented.  I did feel a little bad about his nose getting all bloody but sometimes lessons just have to be learned, right???

Fast forward twenty-five years and I still hate THAT word and demand that it will not be said in my house.  You can all breathe a sigh of relief as I haven't punched anyone in the nose to teach them the lesson.  We don't say "stupid," "hate," "liar," and "fart."  There's another word that sometimes slips out of one of the kids mouths..."butt."  Now this is really bad.  I prefer bum bum, bottom, gluteus maximus, rump, your other cheeks, etc...  Birch says that "butt" is the proper term and apparently at work he says it ALL THE TIME.  YIKES!!!

So now I must confess.  Just as the kids occasionally use trashy words I have one that floats around my head and sometimes must be used to describe a situation.  The thing is...it's naughty.  It's on my list of potty words.  The word is.....prepare yourself and just open one eye lid so it's not so bad to read..."butt-load."  I would NEVER say it around the children and only in the past year or so have I confessed to Birch that I actually think this word in my head.  But here's the thing; sometimes I go in my room and see a "butt load" of laundry on my bed, or I look out the window and see a "butt load" of kids that are fighting or hungry, or just plain there, or what about the days that the dishes just pile up and there is no better word to describe the mounding dirtiness other than "butt load." Or how about the ever growing pile of bills from Alex's recent surgery...I mean that's a "butt load" of bills for one little surgery.

I should sing a sweet little primary song when this phrase comes to my mind but for now I feel just a tad bit better about sharing my self-indulging naughty word with my readers.  After all admitting is the first step to recovery, right?

 a "butt-load" of laundry

Exiled

It's hard to describe the feelings that a parent has once all the kiddos are sound asleep in bed.  Magical.  Peaceful.  Tranquility.  Relief.  In addition to all those things it is also a mad dash to finish up projects, prepare for the next day, and sometimes even have a few minutes to talk to my hubby.

For the past 1629 days of Chloe's life our yin and yang each night seems to have been thrown off balance.  We've tried conscientiously to not spoil her as it's probably every parents fear to have the last child end up as a brat.  (Shhh....we don't say that word at our house.)  The girl has nighttime issues.  We've tried snuggling, spanking, reading stories, lavender oil rubbed on her big toe, sitting in timeout in the garage, timeout on the front porch, timeout in the shop, timeout on the deck, special peaceful nighttime music, charts to earn fish, charts to earn dates, charts to earn ice cream cones, charts to earn happy meals, going to bed early, going to bed late, etc...  Sure we've had temporary bliss but before you know it we are back in our same frustrations of Chloe coming out of her room for one reason or another.  I mean who poops at 9:30 pm at night? -- the girl should already be asleep.  Or how about Alysee sending Zhu Zhu pets down the hallway with notes attached of all her woes in sharing a room with Chloe.  You know by that time of night all Birch and I want is a little peace...a little stillness...and a little nothing.

Last Friday night was perfect.  Imagine all the boys and dad on a Father/Son camping trip and us girls going out for dinner, movie and treats in mom's bed, TWO stories, and a backrub.  Doesn't that sound like the perfect ending to a perfect night?  It was all bliss until I said "good night."  By the time Chloe actually fell asleep I was so frustrated and I could hardly enjoy my movie in bed (I know, you must feel sorry for me.).  The next day Birch and I decided it was time for a change...like a permanent one.  This sweet, darling, smart girl is almost five years old.

Before putting Chloe to bed Birch went down to the guest room and switched the doorknob so the lock was now on the outside of the door.  He then tucked her into her new room in the guest room and peacefully read her a story and tucked her in bed.  He then closed (and locked) the door.  And the ranting and wailing began!  She must have gotten tuckered out because about forty minutes later the room was quiet.  We fully expected to find her curled up in a ball next to the door but she was snuggled up in the guest bed like an angel.  It's been a week now and the wailing has been cut down into some pounding on the door and just a few irate yells.  Alysee and Chloe beg each night that we will let them have "just one more try" and I remind them that I'm sure when Chloe comes back from college it'll be a great time to share a room again.  I secretly think Chloe actually might like her new bed, and I think Alysee really likes the quietness so she can read a chapter before going to sleep.  Just in case someone out there is worried about her well-being in case of a fire we do carry up the little angel to her real bedroom each night where the door remains unlocked.

For now Birch and I have realigned our Chi and Chloe is still as cute as ever and we are a happy family!

Coop da' man

It must be hard to be so awesome! It's almost hard to remember the first four painful months of Cooper's life where he spent just about twelve hours a day crying.  After a week or so of this he wasn't the only one crying...

Lucky for all of us he became a new boy around four months of life!

 I'm not sure I have seen a kid more excited about his birthday than this boy.  He has been counting down for months and had quite the elaborate plan for how he wanted to celebrate.  We ended up throwing Coop for a loop as we SURPRISED him for his seventh birthday with a few of his friends coming to the park to have pizza, strawberries, and donuts.  The park that Coop had been dreaming of going to is in an el crapo area of town.  (For some reason in our town all cool things are built next to the gangs, poverty, and foul human nature.)  We survived the party and only saw two police officers searching for somebody and a whole heck of a lot of gangster dudes smoking while skateboarding.

 This kid always has a flock of friends swarming by him at school.  The lucky friends that made it on the surprise list:  Abbey Cox, Bryce Hebdon, and William Cobia.  I'm serious though, at school there have been some issues with the whole first grade females chasing him during recess until he will dance for them.  He gets a little embarrassed talking about it.

 Chloe always loves a party and was extra excited to show everyone her new haircut that mommy did earlier in the day.

 A huge sigh of relief for me when Cooper requested a doughnut cake -- I can handle that!

 P.A.R.T.Y.

 "AWESOME!!!!" kept popping out of Coop's mouth as he opened his presents from his family (we requested no friend gifts).  He is in Star Wars Lego heaven!!!

I thought my parent's card was really creative.  

This kid is an entertainer!  He is silly, a great dancer, says the funniest things, and smart.  We all call him our "walking encyclopedia" as he has random facts packed away in his head and shares his information at odd times.  Thank goodness his colicky body worked its way to happiness as I think I might vote for him being the happiest kid on earth!

LOVE THIS KID!!!