News del Mercado: That Time of Year

Now that we are fully invested in the cross-country life, for now anyway, the meets and Halloween festivities intermingle. And both are almost over for this season!

As I mentioned two weeks ago, Kade has been a scare actor at a haunted house, which we went to see last weekend. I didn't take any pics of Austin, Erik, Jason, and me when we arrived since it was pretty dark. The Pumpkin Factory, where the haunted house is, is located in Belleville, about 30 minutes south of us, and is in the country. There are hardly any lights in the surrounding areas. There are all sorts of fall activities to do there in the day, but at night, it's just the haunted hayride, which only Austin and Erik did, and the haunted house, which is actually a bunch of trailers connected together.

Scare Actor Kade!

Kade gave them a heads-up that we were coming, so they knew to look for his family, and they could give him a warning. The lady collecting the tickets said, "Some very special guests have arrived, including Valerie," in a spooky voice. Then we proceeded to go through. Luckily, Erik was in front, where all the jump scares are, so there was less screaming from me. I was in the back, also not a good place to be, but it was fine. Kade's friends were excellent in their roles, and Kade plays a very creepy clown. They had an awards ceremony last night, and Kade got a "pee award", meaning he made someone pee their pants from fear. He's very proud of it, and I'm just glad it wasn't me who peed my pants! (It does help when you know who's doing the scaring.)

They all got a "Freak Squad" patch, and to the right is Kade's pee award.

Last night was our ward's Halloween party. The Youth did a great job with the games and scavenger hunt they put on for the Primary kids. Pizza and pumpkin pie were served, which was a first and very welcome at this party. We always finish it off with a trunk or treat.

Lois Lane and Superman

Pedro and Napoleon

So funny!!

A cow and "6 7".

The Youth participated in the parade with the Primary kids.

The XC update this week was another sick and successful story. There was no school on Tuesday for a teacher development day (I think the main reason was for Diwali). Tuesday night, Austin wasn't feeling well. He said his "bones hurt". On Wednesday morning, he had a fever. Other symptoms were a sore throat and some congestion. He stayed home on W and Th, but his bones were feeling better Thursday night, and he no longer had a fever. So he went to school on Friday and got to participate in the pre-meet run. He still didn't feel 100%, but good enough. We did the usual treatments that we do to help when he gets sick, though he didn't ingest quite as much garlic as the last time because we were the host house for the XC team pre-meet pasta party Friday night. I could only add so much garlic to the sauce I was serving 25 teenage runners with. We only had to provide the sauce and pasta, and the boys brought the breadsticks, drinks, fruit, and dessert, depending on what grade they are in. I was told by other moms who have hosted in the past to have extra fruit, drinks, and salad for the guys, which I did. However, I learned that I definitely didn't need the extra fruit as we had tons of that! Next time I host one, I will have extra breadsticks for sure! Anyway, everyone left in good time, and Austin went to bed early to get some rest. Luckily, the meet was at noon on Saturday.

A nice spread and such polite boys!

It was Regionals, which our team was projected to place first in, and Austin was projected to place second. Either way, Austin would be going to States next week.

As usual, the guy who came in first for the Park, our high school meet, came in first with flying colors. There was a small gap, and then the next 3, which were Austin and the 2 guys from Plymouth that he's been mostly rivaling with all season. Clark took Austin by 4 seconds, and Austin came in a few seconds before LaPointe. So he came in 3rd. None of those guys got PRs, and I'm certain Austin would have beaten Clark if he had been feeling better. Though, in defense of Clark, he's a Senior and I'm sure he was locked into beating the Junior! Austin got a 15:50, which was 10 seconds off his PR, but I am shocked he still got sub 16, also considering he had been stung by a bee, just under his arm, right before the race. (I didn't know that til way later.) In the meantime, after that group of 3 came in a bunch of other Plymouth runners came in. One was a previous soccer teammate of Austin's, and I told his mom that he probably had the best PR of anyone in the meet, as no one else in the top 15 got a PR. We still had 4 of our runners place in the top 15, but it wasn't the best race for any of them. Owen probably had the best race, and he placed 15th. Whereas Plymouth locked in and took the first-place win from us. We took second. Our girls also took second, so the boys and girls Salem XC will be at States next week! We just found out that 2 of Austin's teammates are now sick, so they must have been fighting it a bit during the race. Hopefully, they recover quickly!

Austin's in front of Clark and LaPointe here.

Now, Clark is just a step in front of Austin. There was still a bit to go.

And for the record, LaPointe's dad came up to Austin and congratulated him for some great racing this season, as the two of them were neck and neck for so many races. LaPointe is also a Senior, so it's his last XC season in high school. I thought it was so nice of him to take note of Austin and congratulate him. Such great sportsmanship!