It's a Thanksgiving Miracle

I did it again. I ran the Turkey Trot--all 6.2 miles. Actually, I should say, WE ran the Turkey Trot, and it was more like 8.2 miles. But, we should probably start at the beginning.

Last year after I ran my first Turkey Trot, Melia mentioned that maybe, if I kept running these things, it would inspire the kids to eventually be involved and that this could be a good family tradition.

So with that mentality, I asked Jobe if he wanted to run the 2-mile fun run with me this year before I ran the 10k. He loved the idea and he woke up with me the next morning and started running. That lasted two mornings (as I started sleeping in from late nights with the baby) I think he practiced three or four more times total before the official day.

The last of those four practices was on a real track and he mentioned half way through that he didn't want to run the event anymore (let's just say that the reality of two miles became apparent to him). We had a short talk about finishing what we start, not to mention the $12 I already paid for him : )

I'm not sure why Charlie started getting interested, but he started putting up the idea that he really wanted to do this with us too. I knew there was no way he would run two miles, but he and Melia could walk the one mile fitness walk. We were a little worried about them finishing the fitness walk in the 15 minutes that was between that walk and our fun run, so Melia ended up strapping Anders to her chest, putting Lindy in the stroller and pushing it with Charlie jogging beside (it deserves merit, but really, she does it twice a week walking to the bus anyway, so it wasn't that much of a change of pace for her).

They didn't make it back before Jobe and I started the fun run, but Charlie apparently jogged the whole way and was elated to get the ribbon. I guess, when I told him that they got to have a T-Shirt and a ribbon for doing it, he got really fixated on the ribbon. At one point he wanted to jump on the stroller and Melia just asked him if he wanted the ribbon and an "oops, oh yeah" later, he was back to jogging.

Jobe and I did a lot of stop and go jogging, but he didn't complain and we had a fun time and we talked a lot. I knew I was cutting it down to the wire in terms of getting to the starting line for the 10k, but my primary goal was to let him have fun, so I wasn't going to push him.

Melia and the kids were waiting for us at the finish line when I heard I had four minutes to start. I started booking over to the starting line when it dawned on me that I just used up most of my energy by doing so. I slowed down and got to the starting line just when the gun went off...however, the sea of people pretty much made me wait at least a minute before I could find a spot to jump in and start running.

I found Garren Griffits in the group pretty early and jogged for a short spell with him before turning it up a notch. Last year I lasted about 3 miles before my energy was spent and I was running in a fog for the rest of the time. This year, I felt like I had a bunch more energy and had to fight back using it all at the beginning. I got past mile three and turned up Power Road where I remember looking up it like one would Mount Everest. This time I was passing people as I ran up the fourth mile. However, thinking that it was all down hill once I turned the corner, I misjudged my energy use. For once I got to the corner and turned, I noticed that the hill kept climbing! I started to feel that familiar pain of knowing I didn't have enough energy for the rest of the race. But, I kept plodding along.

The family was near the end of mile 6 and I thought that seeing them cheering would give me my second wind....

Nothing.

I passed them with a couple high fives and kept plugging along. Now a few people were passing me. I crossed the final street and made my way into the park. I saw the mile 6 sign and thought that with only .2 of a mile left, I could dig deep down and turn up the heat; and....

Nothing!

Then to my surprise and amusement I started to hear the Rocky theme song on my mp3 player. You know the one you hear while watching and it makes you want to get up and start boxing people around you. I had to laugh out loud. If anything was going to give me the extra umph, it was this song. I got ready to turn it on and....

Nothing!

Here's where I started to wonder about the validity of these movies. I mean, I was going through the same things, tired, drained, competing, and about to be beat by the race itself. I mean, if anyone deserved a second wind...if anytime was a good time for that second wind to show up...it was now.

Still nothing!

I turned into the final stretch and out of nowhere, my legs started taking longer strides, I started passing people again, one, two, three....I don't know how many more but I crossed the finish line with a sigh of relief that I had done it and turned up some heat at the end too. Awesome. Yeah! Right on!

...then awkwardly, I started fighting my way back to the finish line, because no one was taking our numbers and I realized that the strip they gave us at the beginning (which was supposed to be on our shoes) was the digital gadget that was supposed to set off the timer at the end. I had it in my hand for 5 miles of the run because my shoelaces came undone and I had put it on wrong.

Throwing my hat at my family. Didn't give me any edge.


Okay, turns out my official time was....54:46. That is less than a minute more than last year's time (53:55) and I had to tie my shoelaces in the middle of the race plus I had run 2 miles extra already and added to that was the possibility that the machine didn't read it when I crossed so I had to go back. Not bad. So, now I have my time to beat for next year. I better get practicing.

The kids are a little excited about finishing the race. Okay, really this is how they always pose when the camera is focused on them. You should see their school photos! : )

Here is a picture of the registered runners. Melia deserves to be mentioned, but she wasn't registered, nor would she consent to a picture.

The Toothfairy

Well, Jobe lost another tooth. I'm not sure how many this is, but it's the second one that I pulled out for him. Morfar (Grandpa Merkley) would be proud. I actually got out the pliers for this one because I couldn't get a good enough grip with my fingers.

Jobe put it under his pillow that night and as he fell asleep, I reached in to see if I could feel it. It wasn't anywhere thatI could feel it and thought it must be directly under his head. He hadn't been asleep for very long and I didn't want to wake him. The tooth fairy would have to reach deeper later that night.

I fell asleep and think of the horror that I felt when my son woke up in the morning and found that the tooth fairy had not taken his tooth. Of course, before I could say anything, he said; "I think it's because it was a white tooth on a white sheet. "

"I even had a hard time finding it!" He added. "I think that tonight I'll have to put a different colored sheet on so that the tooth fairy will have an easier time finding it."

He did, she did and he's now a quarter richer.

: ) Can there possibly even be a better explanation?

When Charlie saw the quarter and contemplated what had just happened, I had to jokingly ask if we should knock out all his teeth to make some money. I thought I saw a moments hesitation before he said no.

What do YOU want?

I had to include these two writing assingments as they pretty much sum up my children.

This one is Jobe's, as you can see, he stayed on the one wish theme...


Charlie's first four items were very insightful, the last just brought me back to reality.

1. I want to get a pocket knife (look hard, it's there)
2. I want to get a job
3. I want to have children
4. I want to win a race
and .....
5. I want to win a battle

And his name will be....Swede

Well, given that Melia's grandma is full swedish, I served a swedish mission, Melia and my celebration of 10 years of married life was by going to Sweden, and the fact that the boys are going to and I am teaching at a Swedish school, we thought we would continue the theme and give our next child a swedish name.

Anders Merkley Kydd was born October 2, 2008 at 1:33am. I wish I could have taken a picture of him coming out (for obvious reasons, I didn't) but his two little hands were together next to his face as if he were diving out into the world. The doctor thought it was more like he was in the act of praying and said, "did you see how he came out, with his two hands held together by his face….he might be a minister when he grows up." The nurse chimed in, " or a diver." I added "probably both if Melia has anything to do with it."

Well, we deliberated for weeks afterwards, looking for a nickname we could agree on. We tried, Andy and a few others that just didn't fit. Finally we landed on Swede and everyone loved it. So Swede it is!

Halloween Costumes

So, I took pictures of each of the children as they were dressed up for halloween.

Jobe was a Praying Mantis....he had to keep telling everyone he was not a frog..."frog's don't have six legs!" Melia used to make each of the kids a costume every year, but it got too be too stressful so now she picks a child every year and sews them a costume.

Charlie reused the knights costume. But he was adament that he was not going as a knight, he was going as a prince.

I'm not sure where Melia got the Vietnamese costume, but that was what Lindy dressed up as. I think the closest guess was Princess Amidala.

All in all, I think it was a successful evening. We kept the sugar consumption to a minimum.

Weather, Citizenship, Swedish School and Corned Beef

Yesterday was probably the most beautiful day of the year. The weather was a perfect 75* with a slight breeze and work "made" me take the day off to go and vote. I took Melia in to vote, but since I'm still officially Canadian, I don't think they want me voting quite yet. But, I'm very appreciative to the company for giving me the day off : )

Speaking of citizenship, I've completed my paperwork for naturalization. I haven't filed it yet, though. I don't know what I'm waiting for, but I'm 90% sure I'll follow through with it in the near future.

Anyway, being a perfect day, we did what all normal families do...got errands done.

Since Melia can't drive any more because of her failing eyesight, I need to get her to all of her places of shopping or errand running. This time, we tried dropping her off with one or more kids while I took one or more kids with me on one of my errands. It turned out pretty well as long as we swapped kids every once in a while.

We all took a much needed nap in the afternoon.

I left Melia at home with Anders while Jobe, Charlie and Lindy went with me to Swedish school. It's a school we discovered where a bunch of Swedish moms got together to keep Swedish alive for thier children and anyone else who had a Swedish speaking parent in the family.

We started late last year and the children really enjoy it. I'm helping one of the teachers teach the teenage kids who don't speak fluently at home.

Today, Jobe and Charlie (Lindy just plays there for now) went into the fluent class because their teacher wasn't able to come. I was informed that they did very well. I was more impressed when in the car I started asking them simple questions in Swedish and Charlie kicked into gear and answed all of. He really understood what I was saying in Swedish. He didn't miss a single question. Jobe gets it, but says he's tired. I don't blame him, his brain is always going a mile a minute and by the end of the day, I'm sure he wants to release energy, not use it through concentrating.

Melia had a wonderful corned beef and cabbage waiting for us when we got home. It was so good, even Lindy (our pickiest eater) ate all of it and wanted more.