Emma Crawford Coffin Races

So this one time my friend Crystal and I went to Manitou Springs with the idea that we were going to climb the Incline, but it happened to be the weekend of the Emma Crawford Coffin Races (Saturday before Halloween) and the shuttle was shut down for the event. We walked to the Incline and got a couple hundred steps up, and Crystal was tapped out. That happens. Instead, we enjoyed the coffin races and crepes!

Story behind the Emma Crawford Coffin Races: Emma Crawford had tuberculosis and moved to Manitou Springs, drawn by the great energy movements in the town, hoping to cure her condition with it. She lived there for a while, always wanting to climb up Red Mountain and finally did so. Shortly after, she passed away in 1891. She had wanted to be buried up on the mountain, so her lover and several others carried her coffin and buried her accordingly. Then in 1929, heavy rainstorms hit the area and washed her coffin and remains down the mountainside. In 1995 the Chamber of Commerce started the tradition of coffin races where teams run wheeled coffins with an Emma in it down the street toward the mountain. 

Before the races, they parade the hearses and coffins.

This float was a bicycle bar, powered by the bar stool bikes.

With a flame blower to light.

M. Balm

Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!

The Springs Funeral Home. Ha!

I spy Harry and Lloyd.

Pirate ship and crew

Unicorns and nuns.

Ran into my friend Jeff on the street before the parade. He's the pale Incredible facing my camera.

Okay, so the announcer on this ticked me off. She said, "And here comes Minnie Mouse with Hermione Granger." Um...no. That chick is wearing Slytherin colors and is NOT Hermione. Not that the announcer could hear me, but I did loudly correct her in my outrage.

There's Jeff again!

After the parade, the races commenced.

Crystal and I watched a few races, then made our way out of the crowd and toward crepes and saw the coffin lines.

Poor Jeff's team's coffin broke and they couldn't even race. They were just stuck at the starting line in the middle of the two racing lanes.

When the Full Moon Coincides with a Barometric Pressure Drop...

All hell breaks loose. It's pretty much the worst combination ever. And it happened on Two's birthday.

Two turned seven and wanted Burger King for her breakfast date with Shad.

Meanwhile at home, I don't remember what was going on, but it had me feeling like Johanna Mason in Catching Fire:

And it was one of those days where we were planning on going somewhere, specifically to the Space Discovery Center and meeting my mom from Denver there. And you kids want me to take you out in public?! Momma went for a run.

I never run. But it was fantastic, cold, wet weather and I got to reminisce about the time I went running in China in such weather and the guard at the school gate very clearly communicated to me that I was crazy...you know, as clearly as you can when two people don't remotely speak the same language. But the message was clear. Anyway, this is my "I may be pissed and having a crappy morning, but at least I have Altra running shoes that allow me to go for a run out of the blue and feel comfortable with it!"

Somehow, we still managed to get out to the Discovery Center and had a blast with it. It was our first time and we still need to go back for more.

{Me, Four, One}

Five

Two, the new seven-year-old.

You know, when you're still Chinese enough that you flash peace signs in pictures...

And it confuses your two-year-old and he thinks we're showing off his age.

{Me and Five}

I love it when there's fun weather around my Narnia lamppost! Thick fog that night did just the trick.

And a full moon at sunrise the next morning was something special, too.

Of course, full moons affect rabbits, too, because she hadn't scratched the heck out of me in a long time.

Still in a full moon/barometric pressure funk, I wasn't in any mood to go to the forest, but it worked its magic the moment we walked in! I couldn't get it to show up in any of the pictures, but it was RAINING leaves!

None of these leaves had been on the ground the previous week.

And then the next day we applied for passports! Shad entertained the kids with pictures on his phone while I was at the desk processing the paperwork. They relived our Santa Fe trip, I think.

{Three, Shad, One, Four, Five, Two}

Mid-October

{I hate getting 5 months behind on blogging. The last month has been infuriating--I haven't been able to get pictures from my phone to upload to blogger or my computer. Instagram, text, and email, sure. Blogger and computer, no. I still need to figure out what the problem is, but for now, removing my SD card and inserting it in my computer is working. However less convenient than simply using the Blogger app. Now to figure out my glitch with YouTube...}

Back to October:

The day after the unicorn party, I had a funeral I was going to with my mom and Lori. I went early with Mom to the family reception and then stayed late to help with the lunch.

My dear friend "Pepper" came in a little late and I moved to sit by her. I love her and it was good to have "Salty" and "Pepper" together again, named thusly as a consequence of Bonnie Doxey, who's funeral we were attending. Behind Pepper in the blue suit in Zach Coria, my Downs Syndrome buddy from 15 years ago. He didn't remember me, but it did my heart good to see him again.

While I was at the funeral, Shad entertained the kids by taking them to Wizard's Chest.

{One}

{Five}

{Three}

When we were ready to go home, we stopped at our favorite store on the way: The Lego Store!

This photobomb is hilarious to me. The kid came and posed on the figure, completely oblivious to me taking pictures until his mom told him to get out of the way!

Five entered the "Backpacks are awesome and I wear them everywhere!" phase.

Batman rocking his Cat in the Hat backpack.

And that backpack is always filled with books and play food.

The kids remembered from last year that we're supposed to keep the street and gutters clear and happily attended to it. At one point, they had Five buried in the leaf pile. It was coming out of his clothes and diaper the rest of the day!

{One, Five, Two}

I revisited the Manitou Incline to prove to it and myself that I could do better than I did in July 2017 when I wanted to die on it. And I brought One with me.

The boy beat me up the Incline, leading far ahead of me but keeping me in eyesight. Then once I made it to the top, I was ready to turn and run down the trail, but he wasn't up for it.

Pictures of Two and Three's artwork.

We listened to Hatchet and drew pictures of parts of the book.

Two's doll Lindsey lost a leg when we were at the zoo during the hailstorm. Not that the leg broke off because of the storm, just happened then. Shad and Two worked together to fix it and rig a pair of shoes to stay on a skateboard.

My friend Rick gave me a piano! Let's be honest: Shad getting disqualified from the Air Force Reserves sucked. We lost the next 6 years of our lives we had planned out, the GI bill we were planning to reserve to split between our kids, and the rest of the 6 months of travel I had planned. It was incredibly stressful and emotional returning to normal life. It felt like I had gained such momentum with my traveling with the kids, like a boulder rolling down a hill, and then just hit a wall partway. You are done now. And Shad has had PTSD, anxiety, and panic attacks from the hell hole that Med Hold is. And not knowing how to proceed with life. So I tried to vent on my keyboard, but it wasn't full-size and I couldn't play any of my music properly. Rick said he had a piano he'd wanted to get rid of for a couple years and would even deliver it. It's not possible to take a selfie and flash double peace signs, but supa happy! That's pretty much the entire reason I haven't blogged in 3 months. I've been filling my soul with my piano music.

And Scarlet came to cuddle under my foot.

Shad made a list of "date in" ideas we could do after the kids go to bed. One night I was in a down mood and so he picked "prank kids."