Awake for 28 hours (might be a personal record)

So, the all-nighter. It went well. Everyone survived, no one got hurt, and it seemed like everyone had a good time.

It started off with a hockey game and within the first 5 minutes, there was a good fight. And by "good fight" I mean the helmets came off and the refs just stood back and let it play out. To me, the only thing that makes hockey remotely interesting is the fights. Other than that, I couldn't care less about it. There was another fight in the first period, and then... nothing.

Once the game was over, the event truly began. They allowed a few minutes for everyone else to leave the arena, and for all the church groups to move to one end of the rink, and then the rally began. First up was the speaker, who spoke for about 20 minutes. When he was done, the crazy ice games began--everything from human bowling (pushing a person on a sled into giant inflatable pins) to tug-of-war to other games where the whole audience could participate. Plus, as always, they gave away awesome prizes such as a digital camera, a desktop computer, a Wii and a $100 Best Buy gift card. No one in our group won anything big, though.

After the rally, we had our pizza and soda at the ice rink and when we were done chowing down, we headed to our first activity--bowling. We had a lot of fun there. The people running the event ran a few little contests, and when they called for "the coolest bowling trick" we got right on it. We lined up several people--some standing with their legs apart, and others making a "bridge" out of their bodies by bending over and touching their hands to the floor. Then, one person grabbed a bowling ball, came running up, and slid on her belly underneath everyone. She actually got a strike once or twice during practice, but not when we "performed" for the judge. But we still got first place, so go us.

After that was over, we went to "open gym" at an indoor soccer building near our church. A couple fields were divided to be used for soccer, touch football, and dodgeball. In the center field, they had a bunch of inflatable activities--a mechanical bull, an obstacle course, a boxing ring, a jousting arena, a sumo wrestling ring, etc. Plus, there was still enough open space to some people to do their own activities--a few of our teens joined a circle of people bumping a volleyball around.

It was while we were at the open gym that I hit my "wall"--that moment where you're so tired, you feel like you could just collapse. But I soldiered through. It helped that it was kind of chilly in the building, plus I had a book to read (yeh, I'm a dork--a non-athletic dork).

We were back at the church shortly after 6, and shortly after that, one of the girls in my car zonked out completely. We waited for parents to arrive and once all the teens were gone, I went home. Tony stuck around--our church was running a craft fair that day and he had promised to help set up. I got my second (or third, or fourth--whatever) wind when I got home, and was not at all tired. I messed around online, did dishes, and got a few things done for church before I finally succumbed, around 10 AM, to napping on the couch. I figured Tony would be home any minute and could wake me up, since our plan was that I would go get Ari while he slept.

Instead, I woke up around 2:30 to the dogs barking at the door. I heard it open... then heard Ari's voice. I was confused, and when Tony saw me awake, he felt bad for waking me up. He had come home earlier to find me asleep, so rather than wake me, he decided to get Ari himself and even treated her to lunch at McDonald's just so I could sleep longer. (Isn't he the best?) Ari went down for her nap almost as soon as they got home, so we both slept while she did, and when she woke up, I took over Ari duty until her bedtime.

We went to bed slightly early that night, and rested a little yesterday afternoon, so I feel fully recovered. Tony's been achy and sore since that night--probably from playing touch football for over 2 hours at the open gym--so he's feeling a little rougher than I am. Of course, I haven't been able to resist teasing him about being old.

Anyway, here's a couple pictures from the night (in the interest of protecting the privacy of the teens, I'm not going to post any pictures of them). Here's me at the bowling alley at roughly 2 AM...



This one was taken at approximately 6 AM on Saturday morning, after I'd officially been awake for 24 hours. And I've discovered something... when I am overtired, I get really pale. I mean, look at me in this pic (and compare it to the previous one)--I'm like a ghost or something. When I said this to Tony later, he agreed and told me that sometimes I come home from work looking really pale, and he always knows that means I haven't been sleeping well. So a big "awww" at him for being so attentive, and without further ado, the picture...



And yes, we had a nice time at my parents' house last night, visiting with my sister and brother and their families. I'll probably write more about their visit after they all leave, since we'll be spending pretty much every free moment down there with them. But suffice it to say, my niece and nephew are as cute as ever, and all the kids got along famously. (Well, OK, Ari and Lyvi had a few scuffles, but that's to be expected when you have two 2-year-olds sharing toys.) I'm only working today and tomorrow, and then I have the rest of the week off--we're celebrating Christmas on Thanksgiving Day with the out-of-town siblings, so that should be a crazy, fun-filled day. Hooray for the holidays and all the madness that ensues.