One of the parents had a really cool banner that she had ready. Dean held one end and she held the other. I ran down a tad further and climbed on a short wall to take photos. It was awesome seeing them ride in. Eric was near the front. They raced to the beach and dropped their bikes. I hurried over to Eric. He has always heard me when I was trying to get his attention at a swim meet. I know he knew I was there at meets, but was not expecting me here. I called out to him and he paused but didn't really look around. I ran right up to him.
He was like "what are you doing here?" He had not seen his dad holding the sign either. I think he was really glad we had done it. I sent him on to the beach to jump in with his friends. They had huge celbration in the water. Then he did the traditional bike over the head photo for me with the water and skyline behind him. They were all pumped and excited.
We saw him a little bit, but not much. They have formed their own huge B&B family - not that they were not including us, but they know their time is limited together. He called us later and we picked him up, went to the grocery store for them and went to the park to get the grills started. Eric and Dean and a couple of other father -son teams worked on grilling a lot of food for all of us. After everyone devoured the food, they had an award ceremony. They would tell about the rider before they said their name. Because of the blogs, quite a few of them I could figure out before they said their name.
I don't think the riders realized how much we all enjoyed their blogs. Quite a few of us read them regularly. One mom even asked what we were supposed to do at night now that we don't have blogs to read.
I am so glad we came. Some of the other kids said they really wished their parents would have shown up and surprised them, too.
Today Dean and I went down town to Pike's market. We really enjoyed just walking around and looking. It was so very crowded. I would have loved to have been able to take more photos - cool things, ya know, but it was just way too crowded.
After that, we came back to the hotel. After we got the car unlocked, we went over to where the kids are staying and helped pack bikes. We came back to the hotel for Eric to shower and then went back to eat fish and chips. I really like this kind of fish and chips- not catfish like Dean likes.
I have us all repacked and just about ready to head out. JoyAnna is packing at Dad's. We will be back together tomorrow. I have really missed her. We have been together 24-7 for so long now. We are going to drive one of the riders to the airport and then pick up Dustin and Lisa's brother. That should put us back to the hotel by 11 at the latest - we hope. We have to leave here by probably 3:30 in the morning. I don't have a book for tomorrow. I will probably sleep on the plane. I am going to be wiped out.
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