Auntie Adrienne's Lost Dutchman

Auntie Adrienne decided to come out for a quick weekend and run the Lost Dutchman Half Marathon.  Turns out that was the same weekend Scott had signed up to ride in his 24-Hours in the Old Pueblo mountain bike race.

Playing at the park the day before the race

We woke Nat up at 6:30, threw her in the car in her jammies and headed for the race.  Lucky for her, the parking lot was far away and there were school bus (BUS!!!!!) shuttles to ride in.  If it hadn't been so early, I think this would have been crazy exciting for her.

Shuttle took us from parking lot to race.
Nat's first school bus ride!!!

While standing near the finish line for an undisclosed amount of time wearing her "I love my Auntie" shirt, Natalie cheered everyone on by yelling "YAAAY" or sometimes "almost there" and occasionally, if she saw someone walking, she would yell "FASTER" -- which was slightly embarrassing but also very comical.  She kept watching the crowd for Auntie Adrienne and saying quietly "blue hat, red shirt."

As soon as she saw Auntie Adrienne come around the corner, she took off and started swimming upstream by running towards her yelling "Auntie Adrienne, Auntie Adrienne -- almost there."  She tried to run with Adrienne the last 0.2 miles but kept tripping over her feet, so Auntie picked her up and ran with her to the finish line.  Both had giant smiles.  

It was perfect.

Crossing the finish line with Auntie Adrienne!

Trying on Auntie Adrienne's race "necklace."

It's hard work running a half-marathon 

Scott's 24-hour mountain bike race ended at noon on Sunday and he made the hour drive home shortly after.  He came in the door during Natalie's nap, took about 10 steps, laid down on the carpet in the family room and simply said "french fries."  So once Natalie woke up from her nap, we all headed to our newest local brewery for beers and fries.

So less than 6 hours after returning home from the race + 2 beers, 2 plates of french fries, a half-dozen wings, this is what Scott looked like...