Broadcasting Life

heat rash and sun burn

ugh, long weekend. and i can't complain. it was warm and sunny out which is a complete surprise for this area as it has been the exact opposite this whole summer thus far. this weekend i was in fargo, nd, all weekend long for a swim meet, the Island Park Invite. friday morning i went and had a key made so i could rescue my breeze and get my keys and everything else i stupidly locked in. then after some shopping and lunch with the fam, i was off to fargo as i had swimmers swimming distance events that night. so i got to fargo, running just on time, found out the whole city is under construction, some how navigated myself through it and made it to ip (island park). i set up my stuff, got my kids in the water, we swam, got some good times and then my friend laura met up with me and we got a chance to talk for a little while before she had to leave for the night. that night my co coach and i and some of our swimmers played some cards, ordered pizza and had a mini party.

the next morning, apon arriving at the pool, we were greeted with thunder lightning and eventually sirens for tornado touch downs. at the coaches meeting they pushed warm up time to 9:30 (it was originally supposed to be at 7:50) and we had to retreat to the locker rooms. i was in a room of about 50 to 100 loud, yappy girls. very entertaining. at one point i went out on the pool deck (they locked us in the locker rooms but people with authority had ways of getting around) to check on start time and such and was just watching the clouds; they're so amazing. i could see blue clouds near by and eventually we got our kids in after setting up our so called ez up tent. don't be fooled by the name. let's just say that it took both meghan and i to lug that heavy thing into the pool, then we got it out of the bag and tried to set it up. all in all...it took 4 people to get that thing up and raised. it should be called the-hardest-tent-you-will-ever-have-to-set-up tent. and take down was even worse on sunday. but our kids swam hard on saturday. i was outside with them in a tank top from 9:30 to 3 pm (older kids in the morning, 15 min. FREE! lunch, and then in hop the younger kids). it was a hot and sunny day. afterwards, laura and i headed to the mall for sidewalk sales. it was then that i realized that my sun exposure was pretty bad even though i slathered on sunscreen. it hurts. and this was on saturday. so laura and i found excellent deals at express and american eagle and then i went back to the hotel and the team went out to grandma's for supper. afterwards i met up with laura again and we took some little (like two 2 year olds and a 5 year old) out for ice cream at the coldstone creamery. this place is all the rage in fargo and i am excited to inform you that BEMIDJI IS GETTING A COLDSTONE! we are all in trouble...i think this place is part of the reason for the weight gain in america...it's not just supersizes at mcdonalds! first when i walked in, i was overwhelmed...i didn't know what was going on, but the ice cream scooper dude helped me out. there are 16 flavors of ice cream and you get to taste which ever until you find one that you like, then when you have one, the ice cream scooper dude tells you what you can make with it. i had strawberry so i decided to order a strawberry blonde. so he takes this huge scoop of ice cream over to the coldstone and he mixes in graham cracker, strawberries and whip cream and serves it up. it was good but i couldn't finish it. then, if you tip your ice cream scooper dude or dudette, they all start singing! it was a neat experience. then, that night, i was proposd to by the five year old and he told me i was a "very pretty college girl." i was flattered :) at that point of the night it decided to pour buckets on fargo and i had to get back to the hotel. so here's me...driving in fargo, can't see a thing and i don't really know where i'm going. i'm glad to say i only pissed off one car, or so i think...

sunday came around to a better start. we were in on time and my fam was there...all of them. and we all got more burnt! swimming was fun and i had 2 of my kids go home with high point award winners. i said goodbye to laura, my parents took me out to eat, all the little kids have home made tatoos drawn by yours truely and a magic marker. my former team was there so it was fun to catch up with bryan (my coach) and watch my old teammates and siblings swim. at this meet, they had to eliminate starts due to pool depth in the starting zone so they were all doing push offs from the wall, meaning they all pretty much added time...but there were always some surprises. then i made the long drive home and got to watch the last half hour of olympic team trials for swimming. i had my fam tape fridays and todays for me, since i had to miss them. there were some legends that didn't make the team which was really disappointing to me...it would be nice for them to make it one last time before they have to retire, as most of them were planning on retirement from swimming right after the olympics.

and that was my weekend...sort of a long post. i also have to mention that in addition to locking my car keys in my car, i can add to the list of moments when i just was not thinking this weekend: when meghan left to get stuff at kmart i took my key and went to explore my hotel...but didn't check to see what room we were in...it was slightly embarrassing to go back to the front desk and ask them what room i was in. i also misplaced my keys but quickly found them again when i realized they were missing. i also dropped my hotel key card somewhere. someone, somewhere in fargo, has a keycard to the howard johnson's room 226. enjoy i guess. so yeah, i have a souvenir shoulder burn and heat rash from my knees down to show for the weekend, but i'm not going to complain, because with this weather...it'll probably be cold and rainy tomorrow...but i'm catching up to nate and square!!! ---have a wonderful day!