How We Celebrated the New Year

My parents came on New Year's Eve to run our traditional Race into the New Year 5k. Last year Ty stayed home with Carter, read about last year's race here, so I stayed home this year.  My mom made delicious recipes using crescent rolls that she had been eyeing on Pinterest wanting to try.  We were all sitting around talking and enjoying the snacks before the race when one of my parents' big dogs, I'm talking 70+ pounds, accidentally stepped on the tea cup poodle they inherited from my grandparents.  There was lots of blood and quick moving by everyone.  Ty (thinking from the amount of blood that Benny was going to die) made me leave the room and the next thing I knew my dad, Jeremy, and Ty were rushing to the emergency vet.  Benny is a tough little guy.  He survived the incident and it turned out he had damaged soft tissue in his mouth and throat which caused all of the bleeding.  Needless to say he was very pampered the rest of the weekend.

Normally Benny doesn't let Ty hold him, but he did after his incident.

The race started at 11:45 and they arrived home from the vet around 11:30.  They all quickly changed into their race gear and rushed off.  They ran from their parked car to the race start and Jeremy, the first one there, started the race as they were turning off the chip timing so he received a chip time while my dad, Ty, and mom all only had their gun time to work with.  His chip time was almost 2 minutes faster than his gun time so everyone else probably started 3 minutes late.  According to my dad's Garmin the race was long at 3.4 miles.  That along with starting the race late led to much slower times than usual.  Even though they used gun time for awards, Jeremy still placed 1st in his age group!  Had they used chip time rather than gun time, he would have been the 3rd overall finisher.  Dad finished 4th in his age group and would have been at least 3rd if he'd started on time, but not having a chip time for him, we're not sure of his finishing time.  They all had fun and I was impressed they were even able to run after the Benny incident which left me feeling exhausted! 

After the race.  My mom made them all hats with reflective yarn.  Benny got to be in the picture because of his impact on the race.

I had planned to go to sleep when they left for the race, but the whole ordeal with Benny had me sick to my stomach and upset.  I wasn't the only one at the house upset as all the other dogs were worried and upset, pacing the house and smelling Benny's things.  I ended up staying up until almost 2:00 petting the dogs and calming them down.  Right as I was drifting off to sleep I heard the key turn in our front door and I jumped out of bed to check on Benny who they had picked up from the vet's on their way home from the race.  The little guy was a bit drugged up, but other than that was looking good.  I got to hear all about everyone's races and then we all headed for bed.

The next morning my mom got up with Carter so Ty and I could sleep in which was amazing!  I woke up around 9:00 and then woke Ty up around 10:00.  He came out dressed for the Polar Bear Plunge, announcing we all needed to be ready to leave within a few minutes.  We all started rushing around to get ready and made it to the race about 10 minutes before the start.  My dad and Ty did the race alone this year.  I ran with them last year, but decided against it this year since being submerged in freezing water wouldn't be a very good idea for sweet Elise.  Read about last year's race here.  The location of the race was changed due to construction and Ty and dad both felt the change was for the better.  Rather than a 2 mile race, it was only 1.5 miles.  The course was a half mile loop in between jumping into the same pool 3 times.  This year the race included a water slide.  Everyone ran a half mile and then entered the pool area to jump into the pool.  They then headed out on the same half mile loop and entered the pool area to climb a ladder and go down the water slide.  Then they were off on one more half mile loop before jumping in the pool and retrieving their medal off the bottom of the pool before exiting the pool and crossing the finish line.  After the race there was an indoor heated pool, saunas, and showers at the facility.  The temperature during the race was 28 degrees and there was a 90% chance of snow.  Unfortunately it was drizzling rain when we left for the race and the rain never turned into snow.  The entire time we were there before the race Carter was trying to get into the pool and pointed at the water slide exclaiming, "Play?!?!!!"  It was difficult to wrangle him because he was so determined to get wet!  Dad finished in the top 10 and Ty wasn't as far behind him as usual.  Carter laughed hysterically when he watched Ty jump into the pool on the last jump and dive under to pick up a medal.  Between that and his eagerness to get wet, I have a feeling he'll be just as crazy as his daddy and want to run the race when he's older.  Both Ty and my dad were talking about running the race again next year as we drove home.  I guess the Polar Bear Plunge might become a yearly tradition for us.  

Ty going through the pool the first time which they could actually wade through rather than swim.

I loved Ty's face after getting out of the pool the 2nd time.

Dad finishing with his medal.

Ty finishing with his medal and a beer.

Before we started running the Race into the New Year we always celebrated New Year's Eve by eating fondue for dinner.  Now with the race we have fondue on January 1st instead.  This year with all the trauma of Benny's incident and lack of sleep we postponed fondue until January 2nd.  We started the day off with New Year's hats left over from the race.  Carter ran around the house wearing one while yelling, "Happy Day!!!"  It was the absolute cutest!  Rather than traditional meat fondue, we had cheese fondue which Carter loved.  Each time he took a bite of something dipped in the cheese sauce he would proclaim, "Good!"  My favorite part of the entire day was cheering with Carter.  My mom brought champagne, wine, and sparking cider.  Carter, Jeremy, and I all enjoyed the sparkling cider while everyone else had one of the other choices.  We held out our glasses while saying "Cheers!" to welcome the new year.  Carter loved cheering and would randomly say "Cheers, mommy!" or "Cheers, Uncie J!" during the meal so we would clink glasses with him.  Each time he clinked our glass he would do it twice in a row.  Hearing the word cheers come out of his sweet little mouth was the best.  I am excited beyond words for what 2015 will bring to our family.  A new baby, this time a sweet little girl, and a more communicative and continually happy toddler.  Life doesn't get any better than that!

Wearing a New Year's hat and one of my race medals while running around the house.

Cheering with Oma and Opa.