Kayak Point #4

More sisterly love.

Being goofy is what we do best, right mom?

Mason is having a great time.

Mason crawling on some logs.

Thanks for letting us tag along Dale. We had fun at the beach!

Kayak Point #3

Sister love.

Me, Brighton, Mason and Kassie.

Brighton and Kassie sharing a precious girl moment.

Dale didn't like shooting into the sun, but I think we got some fun silhouettes.

Kayak Point #2

The kiddos loved taking their shoes off and strolling in the waves. Not so soft on the feet, but worth it.

Mason wasn't sure about this moving water.

A great picture of Kassie, if not for the STINKIN' wind blowing her hair into her face.

Brighton enjoying the waves.

Kayak Point #1

Seriously, the blog gods are out to get me today! Ready for another series of posts!? This one is Kayak Point!

It was a YM/YW activity to go to Kayak Point and eat s'mores. I told Dale he was going to take us along. Who could miss this?

Not a great beach, but still fun to run around.

Brighton loves rocks. She was in heaven, throwing them into the waves.

Looking for a pretty one to throw.

Silver Lake #5

Last one, promise!

Baywatch babe.

We had a lot of fun. Thanks Friends who made it a great afternoon!

Silver Lake #4

He finally got away and had fun in the sand.

Hanging out with friends and learning to share... maybe.

Wait for it...

There we go! And if you look in the top left corner, Mason takes a face dive.

Silver Lake #3

I just love little man! Perhaps his new nickname should be Gordo because Brighton has started calling him Fatty. Oops Mommy! That can't be good.
Kassie getting artistic in her photography.

Me and the Mister.Ok, I wasn't going to put pictures of anyone other than MY family on this, but Nicole, this was just too funny. And, I believe he asked for it.

*ok, don't know what was going on, but hopefully you can see pictures now... let me know.

Silver Lake #2

Kassie brought along her word search, and a pen. Mason loved that pen. And he actually kept his hat on for more than three seconds.

All the kids playing. You can see Brighton and her future husband (I wish!) playing with some buckets together. Young love...

Me and Miss B's sandy feet. Yes, she picked the black nail polish. She's so chic and she doesn't even know it!

I just love picnic lunches!

Silver Lake #1

Kassie and I took the kids to Silver Lake in early August. We had a ton of fun, and here's just some of the cute shots we got that day. Nicole and Jessica, remind me to get you the pictures of you and your kids- there are some great ones.

Mason hadn't quite learned to walk at this point, so he was itching to get crawling around in the sand. Kassie was having none of that!

Brighton was having fun playing in the sand. She didn't really get how the sand shapes were supposed to work.

Thought this was a cool shot with the boats in the background.

Mason got away! But they had fun with a game of chase.

For some reason I can't add more pictures to this, so there are a few more Silver Lake posts to follow. To be cont'd again and again and again!

To: Kay-aline

I don't know how many of you have seen the movie Coraline- but in my family (well, me and my sisters) we LOVE Tim Burton! My sister Kaylee is especially in love with the movie Coraline, so Kassie and I thought it would be fun to make a doll that looked just like her.

My sister had white hair at the time (hair school girls, what are they thinking?) and she has this amazing yellow dress that's her favorite. We decided to recreate that look. Here's Kassie painting on her red lips.

Here's the doll complete with pearl earrings and textured tights!

We even included a box of button eyes for Kaylee. If you haven't seen the movie, see it!

We didn't tell Kaylee we were sending it, we thought it'd be fun for it to surprise her. She used scissors to cut open the package, cutting off some of the doll's yarn hair! The next day she was getting her roots done and her hair dresser made some sort of mistake because when Kaylee started to wash her hair, it was breaking off in clumps (Here's where Kassie and I screamed "voodoo doll!"). She has since dyed her hair red to try and save it from falling out of her head, and is taking much better care of her Kay-aline doll.

Giant Zucchini

We planted zucchini in our garden and we had a mutant one grow (or maybe we just never saw it under all the leaves and it kept growing and growing, I don't know...).

It's the size of a newborn!

Half the size of Miss B!

Literally huge! This was a zucchini we got at the grocery, and a loaf of bread! We've had it coming out of our ears, eating it almost every day and baking zucchini bread too. Yum!

Ragnar Relay 2010

We met up in Bellingham, WA Thursday night, the night before the race, for a team meeting and pasta party. The family got to come too! Mason and Brighton had a lot of fun playing on the exercise equipment.

Brighton, sweating it out on the elliptical.

RAGNAR RELAY NW Passage

12 people, 2 vans, 200 miles (ish), 24 hours.

Run. Drive. Sleep? Repeat.

Our cute team in our "I eat, therefore I run" t-shirts. We were the "Eaters with a Running Disorder." Some are missing!

Side shot.

And of course, the butt shot. At least we all have decent rear ends or this could have been a disaster. It says "Eater, Runner."

This was the van I was in (with driver Mike, so named because there was a runner Mike)- Van #2. We were runners 7-12.

And the back- our runners falling over.

So, the dew melted off all our decorating during the night. Our driver Mike and his wife re-did all

the paint.

I actually think they made it better the second time around!

We had a 10 am start time. But since we were van #2, runners 1-6 had to get through their 25 or something miles before we even had to think about running. I was runner #7, so I was really nervous all day- the first one to go in our van! Here we are waiting for #6 to show up so I can take off for my 6 miles. I hit the road around 3:30 pm and it was toasty!

So close! This water was what kept me going. Can you just see the beautiful condensation all over it? It was fresh from the ice chest.

Seriously! It was so warm that day. Who knew water could taste so good? I finished my 6 mile run in 52:30 and then it was time for me to kick back and relax while everyone else went. (It was nice being first, I'll admit it!)

We were running through gorgeous areas! The race starts in Blane, WA, near the Canadian border, and goes south to Whidbey Island (189 miles).

So many cool team names! Here's one we especially loved- Choose to Run.

Me, Jennifer and Jay. Jennifer had just finished I think, and Jay was still awaiting his turn.

Me, Jennifer, Runner Mike (from DC!) and Jay.

I just really liked this picture of Jay, and the cows following him along the fence. Kinda creepy.

Jennifer, me, Francys (who is runner #1, getting ready for Jay to stroll through the exchange),

and Melody.

And now the night runs, leg #2, begin!

We got the call around 12:00 am that Rob was speeding his way along (runner #6). Seriously, he was waiting for me for a few seconds at the exchange! At 12:30 I lept out of the van and booked it! Don't I look hot in my vest? The night run was the longest of my legs: 8.7 miles, which I did in

1:13:24. Lady Gaga kept me company.

Van #2, last legs, 10 am, Saturday morning. Waiting for runner #6 to come through the exchange. At this point I've had literally no sleep for over 24 hours, eaten a few bananas and bagels, was so nauseous I was thinking of not even running my last leg, and wondering why in the heck I would torture myself like this!

Jay was wondering too, why I did this to myself, and laughing at me. I don't feel too well in this picture and I'm not excited about this last leg!

But I'm competitive, and I told myself I could do. I knew I would be so proud to finish. I bit the bullet and took off!

A few weeks before, Dale and I had driven my legs just to get familiar with where I was going. This was the one I was so looking forward to. I was running through some farms, along the water, up and down some hills- truly gorgeous. And I finished! My last leg was 6.3 miles and I did it in 1:00:40.

Yay! I'm done!

Not feeling too well, but still looking fabulous!

We all crossed the finish line with Jay, and our team captain, Cara, leading the way.

We did it!

Not as climactic as we'd hoped- we were all just a bit frazzled by the end.

Not so much we couldn't get a team shot by the Ragnar Van!

And a fun one, too!

Yes, I'm awesome.

I had so much fun, even with the no sleep and feeling icky. I made some new running friends (I only knew 2 other people before the race) and I ran 21 miles! I don't think I'll ever get tired of telling people that :) I had so much fun I'm already signed up for next year's Ragnar NW!