This past weekend was the LOTOJA bike race. It is a 206 mile race that goes from Logan to Jackson Hole. So 206 miles, 3 states, one day. It is absolutely crazy that people think this is fun. One person that enjoys doing it is my dad. This was his second year doing it. It is actually really hard to get in the race. There is a lottery done in May because they only let a certain number of people ride in the race. My dad rode in 2009 and then last year he didn't get a bid and was really bummed. My dad is a huge biker and has done it my entire life. This year Brad, Cooper and I made a weekend out of it and went and supported him. It was originally going to be a surprise and we were going to surprise him in Logan. But my great aunt died and the funeral was Friday so it just became too complicated to keep it a secret because we had to work out a ton of details.
The adventure started Friday evening. We drove up to Logan and we stayed at Brad cousin Katelin's house. We went to dinner and the babies played. She has a little girl Scarlett who is 7 months older than Cooper. She and Cooper had a ton of fun together. My dad finally arrived in Logan around 8 pm with his cousin Scott who was going to be his support during the race. Poor guys had driven all day long...the funeral was in Cedar City. We just saw them for a few minutes before we went our separate ways. They needed to get to dinner and get to bed because the race started at 5:45 am.
We were really nervous about how Cooper was going to do. Because he doesn't do well when he sleeps somewhere other than his crib. He was able to sleep in Scarlett's crib Friday night so I was hoping that would help him. He went to bed without a peep. I was so relieved. He did however wake up around 1:30 and didn't go back to sleep until 5:00 am. I tried everything!!! I rocked him and he would fall asleep until I put him in the crib. I tried putting him in bed with us. I took him driving. I gave him some milk. Nothing worked! He could see us in the room with him and so thought he needed to be with us. And I didn't want him waking up Katelin, Micah and Scarlett so I couldn't just let him cry. Finally he was so tired he fell asleep in bed with us. He has never slept in our bed ever before!!!!! He wouldn't even fall asleep in our bed when he was a tiny newborn. I woke up and he was cuddled right next to me. I wish we could have gotten a picture of it! But Cooper being the light sleeper he is woke up as soon as he heard Brad up.
The race started in Logan then had 7 feed zones along the way. This is where the bikers could eat and have a few minutes to relax before they started again. We met up with my dad at the 3rd feed zone in Montpelier, ID. The first feed zone was in Preston, Id and Cooper wasn't even awake yet and then the 2nd feed zone was a neutral support so none of the bikers support could stop there anyways. Cooper had fallen asleep in the car and we had to wake him up when we arrived in Montpelier. My dad arrived in Montpelier around 10:30 (80 miles into the race). My dad was already dying. There is a huge climb over Strawberry Summit that had taken it out of him. Luckily Cooper was there to give him a boost. He could have cared less about anyone else at the feed zones, as long as he could see Cooper and get a kiss from him he was good! It is amazing how crazy it gets when the bikers come into the feed zone. People are frantic trying to find each other and hurry and get everything they need done so they can get going again.
After my dad left we got back into the car to meet him in Afton, WY (125 miles into the race). Cooper again had fallen asleep so we had to wake him up. This Feed zone was at a park so there was a ton of places for all the kids to run around and play. We got some hamburgers and hot dogs here and just waited and hung out. It actually had gotten really warm so I was feeling bad for the riders. My dad arrived and still wasn't feeling the greatest. He at this point said he felt worse then at the end of the race last time. Again Cooper was there to help :) He got some more food in him and took off.
The next Feed Zone was in Alpine, WY. Our hotel was between Afton and Alpine so we stopped there and checked in. On our way to our hotel we passed my dad. We got out and cheered him on. Then cheered him on again outside our hotel. The race went directly passed our hotel so it was perfect! All the support vehicles kind of caravaned the whole way. It was amazing how many people there were. The line went on for a long ways.
We stayed at the Cabin Creek Inn in Thayne, WY. It was such a fun little place. We had our own cabin and they were really nice! The cabin was really roomy too! We got the Cabin Fever and it had a huge jacuzzi tub in the room. It even had mood lighting. I am pretty sure it was like the honeymoon suite ha ha. The shower was awesome too it had the normal faucet then on the other side had 3 other faucets that would spray you while you showered. We put Cooper in his pack n' play and Brad and I got a king size bed. We would totally stay here again. If we were ever out by Thayne again ha ha.
After we got settled a little we were off again. We needed to make sure we would make it to the next feed zone which was in Alpine, WY (159 miles into the race). We passed my dad again so that was fun to see him. He got to Alpine and still wasn't feeling great. He and his buddy stayed at this feed zone for a little longer. There was only one more leg left and a really big climb so they were getting ready for it.
Not long after my dad left Alpine his tire blew out. I guess it was so bad that the neutral support had to totally replace his wheel. Here is my dad and his buddy Dennis approaching the last and final climb in their Simply Mac team jerseys.
The finish line is actually in the Teton Village so that is where we headed next. We got there and just hung out and waited. Cooper was getting tired and grumpy by this time. We walked around and did a little shopping. Once the sun went behind the mountain it got really cold. My dad crossed the finish line a little before 8. We said hi and congrats and left pretty quickly. My dad had to get his award and find his wheel so he wouldn't have been able to visit much anyways. Cooper cried all the way back to the car. But the second he was in his car seat with his binky and blanky he was content. He doesn't normally get his binky or blankey in the car but I figured we could make an exception for this trip! We grabbed some McDonalds and headed back to Thayne which was about an hour away. It was nice driving that extra hour because it meant an hour less we had to drive on Sunday. We got back to our cabin and we were in bed by 10:00. Cooper had a bit of a hard time getting to sleep. But he was out by 10:30 pm and slept until 7:30 am.
We got up and had our continental breakfast. Cooper of course was flirting with a lady at breakfast. She was talking to us and said "How old is he, 9 months?" This is so funny because she isn't the first person to assume he is that young. He much just be little or something. We came back to the room and bathed baby in the awesome tub. I had wanted to do it the night before after the race because he was filthy but he was way to tired. So he got to hang out and play in the bath while we packed up and got ready to leave. It was like a swimming pool for him. He loved it!
The tub was so deep I had to get in it in order to wash him. I knelt down and I thought I got my butt all wet......that's why the face.
After Coop's bath we were off. He fell asleep almost immediately and slept for 2 hours. He woke up right before Evanston, WY and we grabbed lunch. Then we headed to my parents to pick up Indiana. We couldn't believe how amazing Cooper did on this trip. He was awesome in the car. He entertained himself and slept when he needed to. We didn't have any spurts of screaming or grumpiness. He was such a trooper with everything. We dragged him around all over the place on Saturday and he didn't complain at all. He just went with the flow. It made the trip way easy and really enjoyable! We had even loaded Baby signing time onto the iPad in case he needed it and we never had to use it. We were so glad we were able to go and support my dad! (As you can tell Brad took all the pictures since we didn't get one of him and yet again failed to get a family picture!!!!!)
WAY TO GO GRANDPA!!!!! YOU DID AWESOME!
I didn't post all of our decorations because that would be boring. I just wanted to share the new stuff that I made for this year. We get so excited to decorate for the holidays around our house. It is so fun getting the decorations out and remembering what we have. It puts us in the mood and makes us excited for the holiday seasons. Our home now feels all ready for fall!
