June-Turtle Domination

Within days of Cohen being born, my cousin, Stephanie, dubbed him "turtle" b/c of the way he would crouch down to sleep then slowly expand his neck high in the sky, like a turtle coming out of its shell. Where as I now realize all babies do this, the name stuck with him and so did all the paraphernalia:) He has turtle clay molds, bags, books, shirts, beanbag,...you get the point. So the fact that he quickly took to the idea of being in a turtle race was really no surprise.

The Kechi turtle races were June 27th, 2009. Cohen and Miayla (although she had no clue) were in the turtle races last year, and I really do not think there was a week that went by that Cohen did not make some mention of the upcoming race. HE LOVES IT. So this year, I felt a bit more pressure. As time approached, we geared up. We spread word that we needed turtles for the race (last year cohen named them Franklin "speedy" ayres, and Harriett (mia's)..after his favorite set of children's books, Franklin). Well, this year, we were heading out the door when he saw it! He obviously gets his dad's vision b/c I could barely see the area in which he was speaking. He ran over to the neighbor across the streets yard, and jumped up and down. IT WAS A TURTLE!! Me, hating all things dirty, was very hesitant to touch it, but knowing the races were coming up, I took one for the team and went and got a box. I had a feeling our neighbor would not be partaking in the races due to the fact he was a 30 yr old bachelor, so we took speedy across the "tracks" to our yard. Well, me not thinking about a great habitat for the turtle is where the story goes sour. To sum it up nicely.....it rained, the Turtle ate through the cardboard box and he found him a mile up with the road.....cracked shell and all. Cohen was not devastated though b/c Grandma Ayres had just called and had found a turtle too! YAY. So here we are a week and a half out from race day with one turtle in hand, and one more to find for Miayla. And of course, some of Miayla's biggest fans come to her rescue, Papa Larez and uncle Tony. They found a turtle.....a mean turtle...a turtle that was scary and hissed at you....sharing some of Miayla's traits. HAHAHAHA. Cohen called grandma to tell her that everyone had a turtle now......except now grandma's turtle had gone to turtle heaven too...which also means, mia's turtle was now Cohen's turtle. Never fear though, everyone had their eyes and ears peeled for turtles. And 6 days before the races, grandma and her neighbor, Gladys, had come up with 3 turtles!!! We now have 4 turtles and are ready to go.

So after the Kechi parade, we took the turtles to the racing spot and I started praying! Cohen, after watching the mean turtle walk all over the other three turtles, decided he had a fighting spirit and chose him to be his racer. Mia picked the one with pink fingernail polish on its back (grandma ayres had wrote Mia's name in pink for her). And so the race begins.....



our family huddle to discuss our team strategy and Cody reminding me not to freak out and drop the turtle (b/c I still do not like dirty things).

















Cohen's turtle on his quest to first place!!!!













Miayla and I, both thinking we should of gone shopping instead...by the way her hands are wrapped tightly around me, you can tell she doesn't like turtles either:)

Cody and I giving the fair lady the names of the kiddos b/c THEY WON!!! Cohen took first and Miayla took second. This is where things go wrong again, b/c either cody forgot how to spell Miayla's name, or this lady couldn't hear, or someone couldn't read her writing and the entry in the paper is all messed up (see below).





Due to the mass amounts of Turtles we had available, my nieces and nephew were able to compete in the races too. Landen took second in his age division with "the mean" turtle, and Braylin took third. Morgan took third in her division too. They also had an adult division. Cody, his mom Armella, his brother Scott, and my dad all raced. Dad took "the mean" turtle b/c after all, he had won two previous races, and he did find him along the road. The very angry turtle WON again.






It was a fantastic turtle race this year and Cohen really cannot wait until next year now. Cohen won $15 and a queso from On the Border, Miayla won $10 and a queso from OTB, and Papa won a belt buckle, a Kechi hat, and a queso:) Here are the names in the paper...yes they are spelled incorrect, but that doesn't change the fact that we pretty much swept the turtle races:)