MERCEDES IS GOING TO INTERNATIONAL PEDAL PULL!!!!!!

Wow, where has the time gone??? I noticed that I totally didn't blog about Mercedes and the whole pedal pull experience in South Dakota! The pull was at 10am I believe and we could start registering at 9am at the Corn Palace. Well, let me back up. . .

We had planned on leaving right after school. It turned out Jon was able to go with us, but we had to pick him up at a jobsite down by Rapidan or somewhere. It was a pipeline job. We didn't end up leaving MN until 7:30pm which means we didn't get to our room until 11:30pm-ish. We had supper and thought for sure the kids would fall asleep along the way. NO WAY!! They were talking, giggling and just being all excited about the big day. We stayed at a Days Inn in Mitchell, SD and the kids had a blast. We got a suite and the room was HUGE!! I hate being all cramped in a hotel room, so this actually worked out great. We had breakfast at Perkins with Mom and Dad and Jim & Marlys. They all stayed overnight on Friday night, too. After breakfast we headed to the Corn Palace and took lots and lots of pictures. Mercedes was nervous, but she kept saying, "Mom, I will get a trophy, I know it." The top 5 kids would go on to Internationals. She and I went down on the floor to check out the trophies and to get a program and a t-shirt for her. I thought that was something worth spending money on. :) Everyone was just so excited!! We were going stir crazy watching the 4 and 5 yr olds. Mercedes just said she wished it was her turn already. lol. I swear I had more butterflies, though, than she did. We asked her who she wanted with her on the floor and she said, "Mom!" :) The grandparents all stayed in the stands with Sierra and Lincoln, while Mercedes and I sat on the chairs and then Jon walked down to stand in the first row. When we sat in the red chairs, I was pumping her up and telling her what to do and the poor thing just looked so nervous!! I believe she was #10 out of 17. The girls kept going farther and farther and soon there were 3 full pulls ahead of her already!! I thought, "OMG!! OMG!!!" I told her that she would absolutely positively have to get a full pull if she wanted to try getting a trophy. She looked and me and said, "Don't worry, mom, I'm getting a trophy!!" Then #9 was called, which meant we were to walk up and wait for our turn. YIKES!!! We had a little time, so I was able to take a pic with the guy telling the girls when to go and he just looked at her and said, "Full pull, kiddo!! I know you can do it!!" I smiled at her and the girl ahead of her also got a full pull!! That was the 3rd one. GULP!! Mercedes sat on the tractor, I went to the end of the track (I had told Mercedes how far she would have to pedal for a full pull.) so she knew she would have to get to me or she would be out of the contest. She was only looking at me (I instructed her to not look at anyone else in the stands.) and I was only looking at her. It was as if time was standing still for everyone else, but not for her and I. We both were soooo concentrated on each other that neither one of us even heard the cheering from the stands from the Grandparents and Jon! We all told them later that it was awful they didn't cheer and they all said they were hollaring LOUD! lol. No kidding, we didn't hear a thing. lol. Well, Mercedes got a full pull and we were ECSTATIC!!! I was so proud of her!! I told her that there were 7 more girls, she was the 4th full pull, so no matter what, she would have to do it again. However, I told her it was a good thing there were so many girls after her because her legs would be able to rest. Tension was high as each girl went and suddenly there was another full pull!! AAAHHHHH!!! I kept thinking that if there were only 5 full pulls, she was guaranteed to get a trophy and go to Internationals. Soon there were only 4 girls left, then 3, then 2, and then 1 and then MERCEDES WAS GUARANTEED TO GO TO INTERNATIONALS!!! Once the last girl went, Mercedes said, "Mom, do I get a trophy?" and I just told her I didn't know because she would have to pull again. Once we knew there were only 5 full pulls, I looked back in the stands at mom and dad and said, "OMG, she going on!!!!" She went for the 2nd time and did great AGAIN. :) The announcer said before the girls went up there for their 2nd pull, "Ok, ladies. Looks like we are pulling for trophies!!" Mercedes asked me what that meant and I just told her I wasn't sure. I didn't want her to know at that time she was for sure getting a trophy. When they called her name for 5th place, her eyes were absolutely huge and I encouraged her to get her trophy. That was amazing seeing her with that big, huge, trophy. All of the girls looked so excited and proud. I got several pictures and I was SO PROUD OF HER!!!! She set her mind to it and she kicked butt!!! We all were just so excited and hugging her and kissing her. :)

After the pull, we went to the traditional Pizza Ranch and talked for several hours about the pull and what happened. We stayed one more night and saw several other pullers at the pool that night and it was fun talking with the other parents. We could see our room from the pool and we set the trophy right in the window for everyone to see. :) Mercedes held her trophy the entire way back to Gaylord. We are all so proud of her!!!!

Peace.