From good to Mud

When my friend called me over a month ago to ask if our kids wanted to participate in the annual 'Mud Run' in Des Moines, I immediately answered "OH I'M SURE THEY WOULD!" I let the kids watch the commercial which featured folks splashing and running in mud and puddles - and that was it. We were going.

Since Jacob was too young to participate, Ben reluctantly (yeah right) volunteered to sit out with our little guy while the rest of us ran the race. I actually thought it might be kind of fun - definitely out of the box for me - and the kids were over the moon about it. What's a little mud?

The rules were as follows:

Wear your grungy clothes and old running shoes.

Make sure your shoes are double or triple tied.

Avoid clothes with pockets, pockets carry extra mud.

Bring a trash bag, dry clothes and towel.

Make-shift shower stations available.

(and here comes the best one:)

Do not dive head first into the mud pit.

This is a FUN RUN so help your neighbor if they get stuck!

HA!

A little mud on a nice sunny day would be one thing. But a LOT of mud on a FREEZING morning (40 degrees) is another! The unseasonably cold temps on Saturday morning had us watching puffs of our own breath float around in the air. My 2 layers of running pants and three shirts were not keeping me warm while we waited for the race to begin. What did I get myself in to?!?!!?

Well, THIS:

note the difference in facial expressions between myself and the chap in red

And believe it or not, we didn't get near as muddy as some of the folks who ran this baby. They may not have dove head first into the pit, but there was definitely evidence of many a belly flops, that's for sure. And we didn't freeze. Once we got going, it was better - and pretty funny... and fun. Getting out of our wet muddy garb in the parking lot was a bit of a challenge, but we managed. I can only imagine what was going through the attendant's head when we walked into our hotel to check in!

Concrete and Power Washing Bliss

Mother Trucker.

Today was my all-time favorite day.  The day we take the blessed pool down.  I HATE THAT JOB! Seriously, it was already hard enough to put the sucker away when it had been sitting in grass all summer - but MUD?  As I listen to Ben outside powerwashing the driveway so we can lay the disassembled mud-pile of a pool on it to scrub, I'm thinking I'd rather burn it (not sure that would be so eco-friendly) or gleefully drive over it multiple times with the lawnmower.  It is more pain than it's worth!

In the past, I have secretly snickered at people who leave their 3 foot pool up all winter in their backyard, like it's a 'real' pool - closed for the season... but I'm suddenly kinda getting the logic! How is it possible to get this huge thing completely dried and cleaned before rolling it up in a wad and packing it away for a year?  It's not!  

Ben curses the full pool every time he looks at it, already thinking about the upcoming date (even though it might be 3 months away) of when we have to take the MOFO down.  And as much as I hate to admit it, the public pool is sounding like a good option, now that the boys are a little older. I'm gonna think REALLY hard next year before dragging this thing out.

BUT WAIT. Through all the cursing and spraying and de-mudding today, one positive discovery was made.  I LOVE POWER-WASHING!  It's true.  As I was methodically spraying the dirty water and mud off the pool and concrete, I found it oddly satisfying and yes - fun! I have to say that we haven't used our power-washer much before now, mostly because we had no concrete surface to wash things on, and because power-washing on gravel... well it's kind of pointless.  I was amazed at what this thing could do!  Dirt that I had scrubbed and SCRUBBED with a brush, came off effortlessly with this thing!

And in the end... we got the pool clean!  And dry!  Now, if I only had somewhere to put the darn thing...

Wordless Wednesday

Even the rain didn't stop these two...

My Name is Mud

Unfortunately, we just missed the cut-off for planting grass at our new house. Our landscaper didn't want to risk our newly planted grass dying in the hot and dry summer weather which was soon to be upon us.  We agreed to play it safe and wait until after August 15th to plant.  This decision left us with greater peace of mind about our new lawn's future, but also left us with a LOT of weeds and mud.  LOTS of mud.  As I look outside today for the second day in a row at the rain, and think back to our 4th of July gathering when it RAINED... it makes me a little bitter about the lack of grass and 'hot and dry weather'.  These weeds are growing JUST FINE. Hmph.  

I had my first experience scrubbing carpet on Saturday afternoon after one of the kids opened the sliding glass door and accidentally let in a wet dog, complete with mud-covered paws.  Everyone turned in unison and inhaled the same "AgHHH!" as we watched the dog scamper across the entire width of the room, leaving a trail of brown dog prints on the light colored carpet.  Luckily two guests, who happened to be dog owners, were much quicker to react then I was. They hustled over to the bar for wet rags and started blotting, while I sat, frozen and staring at the mess, thinking to myself how lucky it was that Ben had to run to the gas station and didn't see this little 'incident'.  Someone must have retrieved the dog as well, but I kind of missed that part too.  haha  Thanks again M & B for helping me clean up the mess!  It was spotless by the time Ben returned - whew!!! :-) 

Scrubbing carpet is one thing, but scrubbing concrete is not exactly the thing I pictured myself doing on a Sunday afternoon - but that's exactly what was going on here. During Saturday's get-together, the kids (5 total) went outside to play with strict instructions to STAY ON THE CONCRETE. Right.  In no time at all, they had mud tracked all over the patio, the sidewalk and the driveway - I'm talking COVERED.  Even the kids were covered.  I was plenty peeved at the kids for not following directions, but I wasn't too bent out of shape about the tracked mud, as I figured the rain would probably just wash it all away. HA! The next morning, when the sun was shining, I could see all the brown baked mud smeared everywhere.  Hence, the scrubbing.

Monday, as I was trying to get my crew out the door for a park outing, the mud monster (which is turning out to be ME) struck again.  I had to dash inside for one forgotten thing (of course), and when I emerged 20 seconds later, Jacob had driven a ride on toy through the mud and up on to the freshly scrubbed concrete, leaving those beautiful mud markings once again.  Aggghhhh!  I have to admit I may have overreacted a little by grabbing the toy and forcefully chucking it off the concrete into the mud, causing the steering wheel to pop off (I didn't mean for that to happen!), but seriously, a girl can only take so much in three days!  

After I got the kids strapped in the car, I took an extra moment to sit back in the driver's seat and prep myself to really enjoy the short trip to town - a trip with the kids physically restrained away from any MUD!   

PLEASE QUIT RAINING!!!!