5kFoamFest

 5kFoamFest was a blast!  I saw an advertisement in the local paper for it and knew I had to sign up.  The only problem was my racing partner was going to be out of town the weekend of the race.  I signed up anyway and had to do some heavy recruiting to find people to race with me.  Finally I convinced my sister Candace and my bro-in-law Shane (Samantha's husband) to join me.  Here we are looking clean and happy before the race began.

 Now when I say "race" I use that term lightly.  For some reason the organizers didn't have a very good flow set up so we kept getting stuck behind people on obstacles, waiting to take our turn.  It was nice to get a breather but it messed up any sort of rhythm.  And I don't think it was even timed, the whole point of this adventure was to have fun and get messy!  Here we are "racing" up the hill at the end of the race.  There was a bottleneck at the final obstacle so we didn't even attempt running it.  Well, we did, we just didn't get very far running ;)  Mason joined me at the very end.  I'm not sure he is very impressed with my crazy races.  He always just looks at me kind of funny, like I have lost my mind or something.

 Climbing the cargo net.  Its fine till you get to the top and have to get yourself over to the other side while looking 20 feet straight down.  Mission accomplished though.

 We thought we were such a mess here, before the last obstacle.  Ha!  Actually, we were a mess.  This was the result of taking an 80 foot slip-n-slide covered in foam face first.  With a big huge mud pit at the bottom.  That was hilariously fun.  I swear we were going about 60 mph!  I got my hand slipped under a cut in the plastic and some how my arm was pulled back out without breaking in half as I'm racing down the hill.  I have a HUGE ugly bruise on my left arm.  I seriously don't know how I didn't end up breaking it. 

 The final obstacle, a foam covered bouncy slide.  I got up from this and couldn't see a darn thing.  The guy with the towel kept telling my "I'm right in front of you." but I couldn't find him!  I must have looked like a real idiot!  Well, yah, just look at me.  Who in their right mind pays money to do this?!

Here we are in all our glory.  What a mess.  It was tons of fun though.  I would do it again if they could guarantee a better flow of the race.  I had so much fun racing with my family this time.  Maybe next year I will sign up early enough so Drew and Mason can compete in the 1 mile kids' race.  My racing for this summer is over now.  Jodi and I decided to skip the Warrior Dash since we already conquered that course last year ;)

Party Time!

 The beginning of July is party time for our family.  We usually have a big 4th of July party and then my birthday is on the 6th.  Darcy's is two days later on the 8th so we hae an excuse to party for about a week straight!  This year was no exception, except for spending the 4th at home, but we still partied for it!  On my birthday we went to my parents house, swam at the outdoor swimming park, Paul and I actually went to dinner - just the two of us - while the kids ate tacos at Aunt Sammy's house, and then we all had a slumber party at her house with Darcy's favorite cousin Ruqayyah!  It was quite a busy day!  And of course we had lots and lots of my favorite dessert, Angel Delight!

 Saturday morning we made it over to grandpa's for his famous pancakes!  YUUUMMM!  Just look at all those happy faces!

 We stayed at my parents' and played in the water and had a bar-b-que.  Mason was loving playing with his BOY cousins!  He is rarely in the company of so many guys to play with.

 Sunday was Darcy's birthday!  Happy birthday Miss 4 year old!  She talked about having a horsey cake since she turned 3 so I put together a horse head with cupcakes.  She wanted a pink horse so she got a pink horse!  She was a happy girl!  She did very well being the center of attention.  I wasn't sure how it would go but it was surprisingly smooth.  Her cousins were there to help her celebrate so that made it all the better!

Grandma and Grandpa found her a pink horse to go along with the gifts from us which were a pink body pillow (all the rage at our house right now), a Cat in the Hat board game, a "Brave" doll which looks just like Darce, and some nail polish and chapsticks to keep her looking gorgeous!  She had a great day with all her family around loving her.  What a special girl my Darcy is!  Some of her favorites right now are:

Color - red and yellow
Food - little noodles (Kraft mac and cheese)
Animal - horse
TV Show - Blue's Clues
Thing to do - play on the trampoline

Happy birthday to my sweet, sweet Darcy!

4th of July

 We love 4th of July!  Well, most of us do.  Mason goes crazy for it but Drew doesn't appreciate it all that much.  Sparklers are fine, the loud fireworks aren't.  I thinks she would be fine skipping the holiday all together.  Mason on the other hand went crazy all day waiting for the fire works.  We only did a few in our street but they were fun.  For the past few years we have been at my parents' for a huge family bash but since the 4th was on a Wednesday this year we spent a "quiet" holiday at home.

 Bree was fearless with the fire.  We will have to keep our eyes on this girl as she gets older and bolder!

 I think Mason had fun ;)

 Darcy was brave enough to hold two at once!

Waiting for dad to start the show!

Great Urban Race

We did it!  My crazy racing buddy and I competed in the Great Urban Race as our race of choice for the summer of 2012.  I think we both agreed this race was much more grueling than the Warrior Dash was last year.  The WD only took and hour.  We were constantly pounding the pavement for 4 hours and 16 minutes for this race.  We finished EXHAUSTED!  But it was awesome!  We had so much fun!  Jodi was amazing with directions and I was outstandingly testy because I was starving.  I'm so lucky she puts up with me.  I thought we worked together well and had tons of fun.  Amazing Race here we come!  We also had some great help from Paul, who was our phone-a-friend.  We put his Googling prowess to work many times to help us figure out our clues.

So the way it worked was they handed us a sheet of 12 clues and we had to figure them out and figure out where each clue was sending us.  Once at the location there were things to do and we had to get pictures of us or fliers at all places as proof we were there.  We delivered some paper products to the Ronald McDonald House, did some yoga at another spot, had a homeless guy take our picture jumping in front of a big 'ol elephant statue in the Park Blocks (whatever that means), Jodi did some math with Paul's help on car stuff (read her blog for better info on that, I kinda stayed away from that one), and I ate a scorpion.  Yes!  I ate a scorpion!  We walked into a tatoo parlor and I was worried we had to get a tatoo.  Nah, just eat a scorpion.  Jodi immediately started backing up when she heard so I ate it instead.  It tasted like crunchy wheat bread.  Now in real life I would NEVER eat a scorpion but when you are in the racing mode pretty much anything goes.  I guess.

We also walked on hot coals at the Convention Center.  It was Jodi's turn to complete the task but I wanted to try it too.  You couldn't feel a thing as you crossed them.  Pretty cool!  We both did well with that one I think. 

From there we went down to Union Station, not at all the best part of town, to catch the MAX back across the river.  While we waited we were accosted by a homeless guy.  What fun!  He thought he gave us some advice that he should be compensated for, whether by money or by other favors (ask Jodi), and he was getting pretty scary before a nice group of women rescued Jodi from him.  I am soooo not a city girl!  I think we scream "country bumpkins" (no offense Jodi) just by looking at us.  That was not at all a comfortable place for us. 

We ended up completing 11 of the 12 clues, which was all that was required.  We wanted to do all 12 but we could not find the darn culinary school and we were running out of time so we finished without it.  I had an awesome time, it would be a fun race to run again because the clues will be totally different next year so its always something new.  I would prepare a little better by studying maps of the vicinity more but I was proud of us and the fact that we finshed 107th, with at least 50 teams behind us.  Go us!

Swimming Lessons x 3

A few months ago Drew was at a birthday party at the pool.  She slid down the small slide they have in the shallow end and she promptly started to flail and sink.  The lifguard had to throw her the floaty thing and told her she couldn't use the slide again.  She was, needless to say, totally embarrassed in front of her friends who all seemed to know how to swim.  I promptly signed her and Mason up for swimming lessons starting the next Tuesday!  They had 1 session of lessons 2 summers ago but I insist on having kids who know how to handle themselves in the water so this just pushed me into getting them started again.  I had plans for 2 straight sessions with Drew and Mason, 1 session for Darcy, and then the free week of lessons for all 3.

 The first day of lessons was oh, so dramatic!  Bree cried at the top of her lungs the entire 30 minutes, trying to pull her shirt and pants off so she could swim too.  Mason was loving being in the water, not sure he was listening to anything his teacher said, and Drew was probably just as unhappy as Bree.  For some reason Drew's butt doesn't naturally float to the top.  It wants to sink and pull her under.  I could see the frustration on her face and she let all of us have it when we got in the car.  She was a wreck!  Drew isn't used to failing at things, she can usually conquer pretty much anything we put in front of her, but this was obviously different.  Swimming wasn't coming easy to her and she was extremely frustrated.  That night I said a prayer with her to help her in this situation.  On Thursday she was raring to go!  She got in that pool and was determined to conquer it.  She somehow trained her booty to float in the water and she took off from there.  It was fun to watch that intense look of determination on her face as she listened to everything her teacher said and tried her darndest to swim.  What an example of determination she is to me!  When all was said and done she was able to move up a level and she is more than capable of keeping herself from drowning if left alone in the water.  I think she even had fun!  Way to go Drew!  I am so proud of you and your fighting spirit!

 Mason, on the other hand, seems to have some natural swimming ability.  He just doesn't have the drive Drew does to improve and move up levels.  That doesn't mean much to him I guess.   He had a great time seeing how long he could hold his breath under water, even when his teacher was talking to him.  Nice, Mase.  The only thing holding him back from moving up a level was the transition from front float to back float.  I mentioned that to him during the free lessons and he said oh, and proceeded to do it perfectly.  Grrrr, that kid can frustrate me.  Maybe I'm just jealous of his happy-go-lucky personality!?  He can totally take care of himself in the water now too.  Yeah!

Darcy was up and down, depending on the day.  She didn't like doing "Blobs" (bobs) but other than that I thought she did OK.  If she started to cry I just let the teacher and her work it out on their own without stepping in.  Sorry teachers!  I wasn't really looking for Darcy to learn how to swim, just be comfortable in the water.  I think she was.  I was also trying to gage how she might react when she is left with a teacher and mom isn't in the picture, like she will be in 2 short months when school starts.  The jury is still out on that, hopefully she will be fine but that will be a one day at a time thing too. 

All in all it was a great experience for me to get a front row seat to watch my kids' very different personalities manifest themselves in the swimming pool.  I think we are done with lessons for the summer but who knows, we may get bored and sign up for another go-round.  But it will have to be when Bree and I can swim too because I think it would be too much for her to have to sit there and watch the big kids swim again without her!

Last Hurrah

 Memorial Day Weekend we took our trailer out for the last time.  For the next 2 summers we have plans that don't include hauling a trailer around so we figured now is a good time to try to sell it.  We went to Honeyman State Park, just south of Florence for our last trip with the trailer.  We met up with Paul's mom, sister, and 2 nephews in the cold rain of the Oregon coast in May.  The kids had fun playing with cousins, roasting marshmallows, visiting with Grandma, playing in the tide pools and discovering star fish and anenomies, and living in the trialer one last time.  Can you tell I am a bit sentimental about letting the trailer go?  I admit I didn't see the need for a trailer when Paul approached me about it 5 years ago, but we have been on many adventures that wouldn't have been possible without it.  I'm going to miss it!  We all are, the kids don't like to hear we are selling it, especially Darcy.

 Our camp.

 Helping dad start the fire.  Bree was right in the thick of things for the first time.  Last year I kept her in the trailer with me since she was so small.  There was no containing her this time.  She wanted to be a big kid!

 Darcy was adventurous and went pretty far out on the rocks with me.

 We are looking at a purple startfish on the side of the rock.  Cool!

 Dad took Bree and Darcy cave exploring while mom took Drew and Mason even farther out on the rocks where we were rewarded with 17 star fish all stuck to the same rock.  Pretty cool!

 It was FREEZING, I wore 4 layers of coats and sweatshirts but for kids it is never too cold to get your feet wet at the beach.

 Or your entire lower body, as Bree decided as she sat in a pool.

Grandma was so cold she tied on one of the towels she brought for the grandkids just to keep warm.

Uninvited Guests

Last Sunday I went out at dusk to water my garden and I heard a loud buzzing.  I looked over at the fence and found a swarm of bees trying to huddle into a mass for the night.  Paul called my dad who told us to leave them alone and they might fly away the next day.  Well, they didn't.  I called a few places and found a local man who would come get the swarm for free.  He was a hoot!  An older guy from Minnesota who desperately needed someone new to talk to I think.  He stood there in the sweltering heat with me for 2 hours talking about literally everything under the sun.  It was fun.  I may not have agreed with all his opinions but I had a good time.  I also learned alot about bees.

He had a burlap sack to collect the bees in.  I guess once the queen is in there all the rest will follow her in.  Kind of reminded me of me and my kids ;)

The bee man had a knife and just lightly scraped the mass of bees down to the grass where they all just WALKED into the bag!  It was crazy!  Very interesting to watch.  Mason and Darcy sat outside and watched it too.  There were a few bees flying around but they weren't interested in messing with us or the bee man.  He was able to get almost all of them into the bag, which he tied off with a rubber band, collected a few more bees on the outside of the bag, and then put the bag in the back seat of his car to take home!  Now that is a real man if you can drive with a swarm of bees in your car, some of them loose!  No thanks!

Unfortunately he left a few more than we would have liked and they didn't want to leave either.  By this time the novelty had worn off for me and I just wanted the bee drama done!  Paul got all dressed up and sadly we sprayed the remaining bees from the swarm.  It was an interesting experience but hopefully it won't happen again.