California Trip - Day 1, Redondo Beach

We've been saving and looking forward to this trip for so long.  Having successfully done this once before I left like the planning part was pretty easy.  Also, this year we were going just with our family plus Robie (Jeramie's mom).  She had never been to Disneyland before and so we told her on Christmas last year that we'd be taking her on vacation with us.  Plus with the three small boys it would be really nice to have an extra set of hands and eyes.  The kids were all pretty good in the car on the way down.  We only made a few stops for gas and lunch along the way and before we knew it we were at our destination. 

On our first day we headed down to Redondo Beach, which is where I spent many a summer day growing up.  I love taking my kids to THAT beach just for the nostagic value it gives me.  The kids don't really care what beach we go to.  We lucked out and had a really nice and warm day.  Before driving out to the coast I had made a quick trip over to Costco to pick up some supplies for the week.  So we took our lunch with us down on the beach for the day.

I love this expression!  That water can be so cold.

Wyland began like this ...

... which quickly turned into this.  He did NOT like the cold.

While Jackson loved playing in the water the other kids preferred playing in the sand.

Even Jeramie had a turn being buried.

Jackson takes after his father.  He literally makes friends everywhere he goes!

After spending several hours on the beach we headed down to the pier.  Grabbed some ice cream cones and went for a walk.  It was actually pretty busy, but I guess that's what we get for heading down there on a Saturday.  The kids weren't all that impressed with the pier.  I remember it being "cooler" when I was little.

Baylee was the only one that would get close enough for a picture.

Man I love my kids!!

And that there is what a "I spent all day on the beach playing my heart out." face looks like!

Wyland's Birthday and a Little Camping

I really still feel quite bad about Wyland's birthday this year.  It really got lost in the shuffle of Post Mexico and Marathon / Pre California Vacation.  We owe him a big birthday celebration next year for sure.  Wyland's birthday fell on the Sunday and this was also our first camping trip of the year up to Deer Creek.  With so many kind of "big" vacations going on this year we actually didn't camp but a few times.  This was the first and best trip of all.

I brought up his presents from us for him to open there at the lake.

Man this boy needs a haircut!

He loved his purple blanket!

My mum always makes his camping birthdays special.

Evan and Rachel came up to join us for some wakeboarding and swimming.

Jonathan found that he DID still remember how to wakeboard.

I bribed Jackson again to go with Jeramie.

Baylee getting a cool off on the boat.

Me and my baby jumps.

After we returned from the lake on Sunday we headed to Jim's for dinner with my parents and then they came back to our house for more presents (from them) and cake.

I know that Wyland didn't feel like he got a lame birthday but I definitely feel like he did.  We will make it up to him next year!

Ragnar 2013 - Wasatch Back

Yep .. more running.

We lucked out this year because half of last years Ragnar team (from our van) backed out at the last minute. So we got to fill our van with our own lovelies.  I was SOO excited to Jeramie to get to run Ragnar with Evan and Rachel in the same van.  We always have so much fun together.  Also my best friend Rebecca joined our van and one of Rachel's friends Jamee.  We were Van 2 this year which means you get a later start and you don't have to wait around at the finish line for the rest of your team.  However, it also means that you don't get a lot of downtime to sleep.  That proved to pretty much suck.

We got together before we needed to head north and decorated my Dad's truck and grab some lunch.  We figured this would be our last decent meal for awhile.

I didn't do nearly as good of a job taking pictures this year as I did last year.  So there are none from any of our first legs. But they wall went off without a hitch.  We handed off to Van 1 again and then we made our way back down to Ogden for some dinner.  We found ourselves at Olive Garden where we loaded up on some more carbs.  It was nice sitting down for a real meal in the middle of the race.  However, afterwards we had some navigation issues getting back to where we needed to be.  It resulted in some miserable moments for me because I was the driver and I was SO tired.  But eventually we got where we needed to be with time to spare and off we went for our next round of legs.  Evan had a beastly 11 miler in the dark.  I had a shorter 7 miler that finished as the sun was starting to come up.  I usually really hate my night legs.  And this year I ran on a dirt road almost the entire time. There weren't a lot of runners and it was kind of scary. But in the end I actually ran it a little faster than expected because I really wanted to be finished!

Nice little sunrise over Rockport.

Jeramie digging in and getting it done.

Rachel making it look easy!

Jamee and Rachel look way to happy given the little sleep.

 

 Me providing Rebecca with some on course support.

Jamee making it look easy as well.

Evan and I split the Ragnar hill.  It's basically this MASSIVE uphill climb. 

I love this picture of Evan.  It's pretty much the ONLY TIME EVER that it's looked like

he really had to work hard when it comes to running.

He had some fun uphill climbs too.  Plus it was pretty warm.

Then it was my turn.

Rachel gave me a pat for good luck.  She likes my bum!

Sibling Picture!

And off I went .. up and up.

I can honestly say that it wasn't nearly as hard as I expected it to be.

It was BEAUTIFUL and I really truly enjoyed my entire run.

View from the top.

I'm thinking they had no problem spotting me.

Tired and happy to hand off to Jeramie for his last massive DOWNHILL leg.

Those downhills are hard.

Evan and Rachel right before she headed off for her last leg.

We had such a good time this year!!  I think I would prefer Van 1 over Van 2, but it's nice to get to do both every now and then.  I would love to convince Mike to run it one year with us.  We could easily give him the easiest leg and I really think it would be a total blast!

Here's to next year .....