TUCSON!!

We have a very exciting few days around here once I finally got over my illness.  I woke up last Monday with a fever.  Again.  Day 10.  Because my parents are so on the ball with this kind of stuff, they thought that maybe, perhaps, possibly a phone call to the doctor was in order.  So that is how we found ourselves parked in my doctor's office at 9:00 AM on a Monday morning.  Turns out I had strep and had to stay home until I had been on antibiotics for 24 hours.  Guess the previous 7 days that I was spreading my nasty germs around didn't matter.  So on behalf of my parents, I would like to apologize to all the families of Heritage Elementary if you now have strep.  It's my fault.

Lucky for me, once I got onto antibiotics, I perked up pretty quick and that was a good thing because we were headed to Tucson for the weekend!  Dad was heading down to ride in the Tucson Bike Classic and  Mom and I were a last minute addition because I didn't have school on Friday (imagine that!) and day camp was full so mom couldn't work anyway.  

We hightailed it out of town Thursday afternoon just ahead of a snow storm and drove to Albuquerque to stay with Nana D and Mr. Walker for the night.  We battled crazy cross winds the entire way and mom and dad were exhausted by the time we got there.  Thankfully, the beer was cold and dinner was warm!

We were up and out the door by 5:30 on Friday and rolled into Tucson about noon after battling crazy head and cross winds the entire way.  Dad dropped us off at the hotel (a very nice one by the way!) and he headed out for his time trial.  He battled crazy head winds the entire 7 miles.  (Are you sensing a theme here?)  He didn't do as well as last year but still not bad.

Mom and I spent the time hanging out at the Lazy River.  Mom was too much of a wimp to get in even though the water was heated.  Something about 60 degrees and 30mph winds didn't make swimming sound to appealing!  I had a ball though and spent an hour on the River and water slide.

After exhausting myself there, we came back up and took showers, after which, I promptly fell asleep on the floor for an hour and a half.  I had to be woken up and I was a true joy to be with.  We met some of dad's old bike team for dinner at El Charro and it was really great.  We got to catch up with old friends and eat good Mexican food.  After that we made our first of two trips to Frost for gelato.  Soooo good!
We got back kind of late and I crashed into bed.  On Saturday, dad headed out for a much nicer day of racing and mom and I hung out at the hotel again.  Our friends Ms. Audrey and Madeline drove over to have breakfast with us and spend the morning keeping us company.  Madeline is my old camping buddy and we picked up right where we left off.  So very good to see them again!

After saying our good byes to Audrey and Madeline, we came upstairs and I promptly fell asleep for another two hours- (another theme and kind of a drag on mom's vacation.  She didn't plan on spending her down time stuck in the hotel watching me sleep but oh well!)  I had to be woken up again and again was a true joy.  We drove to Grandma Sue's house for a bit and then we all went to a Dinosaur Discovery Center for awhile and then out to play miniature golf and drive go carts.

After golf, we went to Beyond Bread  which has always been my favorite grilled cheese place.  Ahhhh, the memories!  It was so awesome to see grandma and grandpa again- it feels like it has been forever and I miss them.
After leaving grandma and grandpa, we headed to Frost once again to pick up desert and head over to Brian and Christina's house for a bit.  It was another great night and made us miss all our friends a little bit more.

On Sunday, mom, dad and I went down for breakfast before he headed out for the last leg of his race.  Mom and I drove down a little later and we took this picture from our hotel.  It was an impossibly blue sky and a perfect Tucson day.

The last part of dad's race was a circuit so we got to see him go by about 5 times and I made sure to ring my cowbell everytime.  In the end, dad didn't do as well as he wanted but did better than expected considering he has been riding in the basement for the last 4 months.  It was good to get his race legs back under him and he is gearing up for racing season here in Colorado.

       The Peloton

 The view from the race course

 That's dad in back in the white- he is making a move for the front!

Dad finished up and we loaded back into the car and headed back to Albuquerque, sans wind this time so it was much more pleasant.

On Monday morning, Uncle Adam, Aunt Erin and baby Sophia managed to drag themselves out of bed and down to Nana's house so we could meet Sophia officially.  It was a good effort on their part because apparently, sometimes us little ones are not so easy to get moving in the mornings.  Sophia was very happy to see us and we were very happy to meet her.  Oh and to see Adam and Erin.
We made in back to Denver Monday afternoon and are madly rushing around trying to ready for work tomorrow.
It was a great trip and we can't wait to come back and stay longer and relax a little!