We know how to party, and NO MORE DRAGONS!

For all of the farther away meets, the Cross Country parents have a tail gate party and bring tons of food for the kids/families. We set up tents, grill out and just generally give our kids somewhere to sit down and eat during the long days! It is a ton of fun and as new parents to this, Rich and I are having a blast! Yesterday was "Bring whatever you want day!" Normally they assign each "team" something different to bring such as desserts, fruit etc. So we took bagels, cream cheese, coffee and hot chocolate. We also had to be there by 8 even though J didn't end up racing till 11. He had to be on the bus at about 7 so it was early again. This is a picture of the Buckeye parents in the morning, we were grilling ham and cheese sandwiches for breakfast, had donuts etc and then had grilled chicken and brats for the kids for lunch. The kids really enjoy it and its much better than us having to buy greasy pizza for them to eat.

Rich helping set up the tent - it was broke,

they had to duct tape it!

Buckeye Parents tailgaiting

These pictures are of the course they had to run. Lots of Hills! Two miles for Jr High of all hills, 3.1 for high school! It was a tough course, but they all did great.

Looking out over the course

Coming over the first hill

Then last night the neighbors, boys and I went to a corn maze. The maze is in over 5 acres of corn and was a lot of fun. You can see an ariel view of the maze here. We let the older two kids, T and Amanda go together and then J and Amber went together in the maze and I went with the girls mom, Teresa. They give you these game papers to do while you are going through the maze and give you history about whatever the theme is for that year. This year was Dragons and Knights. So we learned about squires, knights etc. You also got to do rubbings of different important charachters, such as a knight, nun, and dragon. Each was in a different part of the maze.

Well, Teresa and I just couldn't get out of the one area where the dragon rubbing was. We tried everything! We went all right turns, all left turns, right left right, and even eni, meani, miny, moe! Nothing! We came back to that dragon AT LEAST a dozen times! Also, they give you flashlights to use, well both ours died. Needless to say, it was kinda dark, but not too bad and we only got scared by someone coming twice! We finally get out and then decide to go back in with Amber and J to find T and Amanda. We had a really good time and were all completely tuckered out by the time we were done! I would definately recommend this if you have older children. I certainly wouldn't have wanted to take a baby or a toddler, after awhile, it gets to you!

We did learn however that the longest someone has been in there was 4 hours (during the day!) and that they plan their design, plant the corn in the field and then when the corn is about 3 inches high go in with a GPS and cut their design. Then they put nitrogen on the paths to kill the corn. We are definately going to plan on going back next year!

The kids, Amanda, T, Amber and J

Lost in the corn!

Today, I have cleaned the house, and now I am going to blog read and work on Alyssa's costume. I tried to go out to get my horse so I could ride, but he wouldn't come in so maybe later tonight he will! Hope everyone is having a great weekend!