Hot Springs Visit & Night Run 5K

Rhett went to Hot Springs last Wednesday to spend a few days with Grammy & Bobba.  He, of course, had a wonderful time!  They stayed super busy with movies, golfing, swimming, shopping, etc.  I'm going to have to see if I can get photos from L's parents and then let Rhett do his own post about their many activities.  Thank you, Grammy & Bobba, for letting him stay!  He enjoyed his special time with you both.

On Saturday Alexee, Crosby and I went over to Hot Springs.  We were all REALLY missing Rhett--our house just didn't feel right with him away!  I felt bad going without Lane, but he had to work this weekend.  I wish he could have gone with us.  We had lunch at the condo then went out to Mid-America museum for the afternoon.  Rhett had gone earlier in the week with his cousins, but he wanted to go again and show us how he could ride the SkyCycle!

They currently have a really neat dinosaur exhibit.  Alexee was afraid to go through, and Crosby was skeptical at first but was willing to look if I carried him.  He recognized the triceratops because that's the kind of Dream Lite he has on his bed. So Rhett took our picture standing by it.

 Rhett on the sky cycle--no fear!  He did great and looked so focused.

We had fun back at the condo, too.  They have such a nice view of Lake Hamilton, and the weather has been WONDERFUL so it was extra pleasant to sit out on the deck.  It was actually even cool this morning when we had breakfast out there!  It's crazy to be able to say the weather is "pleasant" here in July--what a treat!

I've been planning for a while now to run the "Dam Night Run 5K" with my friend, Candy.  It was great to see her again!  It took place last night at Lake DeGray, not far from Hot Springs.  The kids stayed with my in-laws, and I went to Arkadelphia to pick up C and go to the run.  I had not driven that road (Hwy 7) in a long time so it brought back memories of college days!  I went to OBU in Arkadelphia, and my friends and I went to Hot Springs a lot for something to do.  

I am really NOT a runner, but I wish I was.  I was nervous about how it would all go, but it was fine and I enjoyed it.  Hopefully we can meet there and run it again next summer.  We were really lucky to have such awesome weather this time!

Before the run

We thought it was funny that you had to catch a ride on the back of a lumber truck to get to the starting line.  The starting line was on the top of Iron Mountain, which meant the course was mostly downhill--thank goodness for that!  The truck ride was honestly a little scary--there wasn't much to hold onto!  I love the look on Candy's face as we were speeding up the mountain!  :)  (Well, she could actually peek through the truck window and see that the speedometer read 35 mph, but it seemed more like 65!)  At least the scenery was pretty!

C's sister & brother-in-law ran too.  Here we are waiting for it to begin.  

This seemed like a huge number of people behind me--I was afraid I was going to get trampled!  We stayed all the way to the right so that people could go around us, and it was fine.  Wouldn't you know it though, a guy RIGHT in front of me lost his shoe about 15 seconds after the starting horn and he stopped to get it and I almost fell over him--ha!!

I was pleasantly surprised at how fast the miles went by.  What little running I'd done to prepare had been on the indoor track at the gym, and maybe it's just really boring there because I always feel like it takes forever to run 12 laps to equal 1 mile. 

The stretch across the DeGray Lake dam was really pretty.  The older guy in the yellow shirt was obviously in way better shape than me...while I was gasping for air he had plenty of extra breath to encourage everyone around him and even to yell down to the boats below, "Can you meet me at the finish line with a Bud Light!?!"  HaHa!  We thought he was funny! 

We made it!  

(Candy failed to warn me that she always gets a burst of energy when she sees the finish line and sprints the last several yards!  I wasn't expecting it, but when she picked up the pace, I decided to follow her.)  :)  I'm so glad she invited me to come along with her--it was tiring but fun and it felt good to have accomplished the goal.

Thank you, Candy, for letting me join you!  And thank you, Bob & Rose Mary, for keeping the kids for me!

We made it back home in time for Alexee to go to her friend Addison's birthday party at Build-A-Bear. She loved getting to ride there with her friends and had fun making a new bear.  She was excited to show me the bear's reversible rainbow tutu and all the bows.  :)  I'm so glad she has such a sweet group of girls to hang out with.  They really are a joy!

When Alexee got back from the party, we picked up a friend of Rhett's and went to eat pizza.  He spent the night with us so he could ride to camp with us on Monday.  Rhett has been looking forward to going back to climbing camp for a long time, so he should have a fun week ahead!