Bubba

Tomorrow is Caiden's 9th birthday!  NINE!  I can't believe how fast time has flown.  I still think of him as my little chunky monkey.

I'm so proud of the little man he has become.  He has always known exactly what he wants.  I know it may seem odd to refer to him as a man, but he has always been his age going on 30.  He's strong, intelligent and extremely rational.  He keeps us all grounded.  He has a keen sense for others emotions and feelings, and I've seen him lie to protect us.

I am bummed that I won't be with him on his big day, but I know he is happy.  He told me when he came down for Spring Break that he knew how hard this was for me because I love him so much and he loves me too, but that he was happy to be in California with his dad because his dad loves him too and deserves a chance to get to know him better.  He couldn't be more right.

His big wish every year: to have ALLhis family together in one place.  Maybe someday.....graduation maybe?

I love you son, I hope that you have a special day with your dad!  Happy Birthday!

Huarache Turbo

A good friend and former collegiate teammate of mine is a race director in the San Antonio area.  Her company name is Huarache Turbo.  She and her family help advertise, time and organize races for others (sister company is iaapweb.com), but she has also started to create her own races.  They are creative and fun and usually have a Mexican flair about them.  Her newest "baby" is a race here in Corpus Christi, about a half hour from where I am going to school!  The run starts and ends on the beach and is the weekend before my Summer session begins at school.

If anyone is interested in registering, contact me for a coupon code for $5 off =)

Anyway, she is my motivation for working so hard recently.  She has created 5 of her own races and I would really love to support her throughout the year.  (Visit www.huaracheturbo.com to find out about her races) Having some races to look forward to will also keep me motivated and consistent with my running.  I have been running a lot here in Kingsville, but not as much as I had hoped when we first moved here.  The amount of running I get in during a given week depends on the amount of work I have for class.  Tuesdays and Thursdays I usually don't run because I am at school all day until 5 and then have to pick up the boys, so I decided I would do bedtime Insanity after I put the boys to bed.

I definitely have to modify Insanity, at least for now.  I had back surgery several years ago and have avoided core work because I have a difficult time differentiating good pain from bad in this case.  So, Tuesday I did girl push-ups instead of regular ones because it is less weight and less work for my back.  Today's workout had a lot of squat jump.  Squats and lunges, if I do too many, send a shooting pain down my tailbone area.  So, I didn't try to keep up.  I set the goal of picking someone out in the video and doing every other one with them.  That seems to work.  My core feels tired and a little sore, but I don't feel any pain.  I'm hoping that I will build up the muscles in my core enough that I will someday be able to keep up.

Generally I would do my long run over the weekend.  Last weekend I ran 9 miles with two good friends back home.  This weekend HR won't be home to help with the boys, so if I'm not too sore, I'm going to try to run long tomorrow.

Spring Break with Caiden

My Spring Break flew by, and I wouldn't have it any other way!  I Minecrafted everything I could think of for Caiden's room.  Since we moved after he left and he never saw the place, I really wanted him to feel like this was his home too.  Trey generally sleeps in there, but I didn't tell Caiden that.  I just didn't want him to think he didn't have a space of his own or for him believe we forgot about him.  He loved it!  I racked up many, many cool points there!

Caiden arrived on Friday, May 15th, alone.  He was nervous about flying alone, but we knew that although we too were apprehensive, he is very mature.  He ended up loving it.  As he got off the plane he said, "That was so cool, I want to do it again."  His wish would come true two weeks later :/

Unfortunately because our schedules didn't coincide, I was only able to see him on the weekends.  It was hard knowing he was so close, yet still too far away.  We were able to make the most of it.  The first weekend was a lot of traveling and trying to see everyone, my family, my father's family and my husband's family.  My sister took us in that night he flew in and we spend Saturday at the playscape in San Marcos.

We played a few rounds of parkour; he beat me every time.

Sunday night Caiden read to his brothers before bedtime.  HR and I took the boys to daycare Monday, I skipped class, and we took Caiden to the aquarium, the two-story Whataburger in Corpus (per his request because it's the "best burger place ever" and there are none in Cali), and then to the beach for an hour or so before heading back to pick up the boys.

At the Aquarium

The second weekend I took Caiden and his best friend/cousin Katelyn to see The Croods in 3D.  My mom and younger sister joined us.  I normally wouldn't go to the movies, let alone a 3D one, but he really wanted to see it.  More cool points!

The 3rd and final weekend we spend with my husband's family celebrating Easter and visited with my mom for a bit before driving all night to San Antonio Saturday.

Lawn darts; he beat me yet again!

Sunday morning Caiden and I said bye to the boys and HR before heading to the airport.  As we left, Trey got emotional and hugged Caiden tightly, to which Caiden replied, "Such a harmless thing (to want to see his dad), but it hurts so bad."  He's too wise.  At the airport he saw that he would be flying with a girl about his age who was also an unattended minor.  He looks at me and said, "I guess I'll have to make the most of it."  What a ham!  Miss my wise little man.  Can't wait for Summer to have him back!!!