Ka-PoW Superhero Adventure Race

Saturday, the Town of Gilbert sponsored the Ka-PoW Superhero Adventure Race at Freestone Park! Holy Guacamole Batman! Was it Fun!

I found some costumes for the girls through friends and family, got myself a Superman shirt, Brandon a Captain America shirt, and Oliver something in red, white and blue. After dressing everyone up, we headed in the car to the park. The girls had NO idea what we had planned, they just knew it involved costumes, and costumes are always good!

When we got there, and got Melanie and myself registered, we started having fun. First, they were taking free pictures of the runners in front of a green screen. I snuck Noelle into the picture (with their permission) and got a fun souvenir with the three super girls along with a few other super heroes. I don't have a good scanner, so it's not posted. Then we took some pictures with the cut out superheroes. I couldn't pass up a picture with Superman. Brandon and Oliver make a great Captain Americas, don't you think?Grandma Traci came to watch the event and got this great picture of the whole super family!

Then the girls bounced in the bounce houses! Eventually it was time for some running. First up: Noelle in the Flash Dash.

She went over!

She went across!

And She went through!

I'm so proud of her! She did a great job!

Then we went over to the start of the "big race". We got there just in time. Melanie has the cutest, silliest little run you have ever seen. I just love it. It has character!

There were several obstacles on our 1 mile "Wolverine Run". Here was the line up of the obstacles Melanie and I encountered:

Superman's Tower (a large superman bounce house complete with it's own obstacles inside and a slide to get out)

Wonder Woman's Wall ( a 6 foot tall wall, that we went under instead of over... because we are small super heroes. We may not be able to fly, but we can blast through walls, right?)

Wolverine Wash (shown in the below picture).

The Aquaman Slide (a huge slip and slide down the side of one of the hills at Freestone Park).

Spiderman's Web Crawl (a rope web that we had to crawl under to "escape")

Captain America Tunnels (long tunnels made of large plastic pipe)

Back through the Wolverine Wash...

Over the He-Man Mountain (a large pyramid haystack)

and through the Finish Line!

Here we are approaching the finish.

We Made it!

I'm so proud of Melanie. 1 mile is really really far for someone so small. She started strong, got tired and thirsty right off. Walked, Ran super fast, walked, Ran even faster, rinse and repeat. She was cracking me up. She'd stop running, and tell me she was tired, so I would tell her we can walk. Walking is okay. She'd take a few steps and then say "okay, let's run!" At one point, she asked me if we could lay in the grass for a while. I had to tell her no. I had a flash back of my marathon, and my desire to lay down. I told her we can always walk. 5 seconds later she saw the gigantic slip and slide and was off running again. I'm so impressed by her. She did the whole thing and was ready to bounce in the bounce house as soon as she was done.

Since it was a Superhero Adventure Race, there was a booth devoted to the up and coming comic book convention. The people manning that booth were definitely acting the part. We couldn't pass up a photo op. Not pictured are Batman and Batgirl. I'm not sure were they went off to, but I'm really pretty happy with the picture I got. Tell me this isn't awesome!

Way to go Noelle and Melanie! Both of you ran your first races and did an amazing job! Mommy is SO proud of you!!!

Donny and Kari's Wedding

Kari got married last Tuesday, April 24th, 2012!

 The girls felt so special that they got to hug a beautiful bride (they are still talking about it and asking if they can go back to the wedding).  Kari was gorgeous (but there is no surprise there).

 Oliver was smitten.  Sorry Oliver, she is now taken!

I didn't get any pictures of Donny because he was busy dancing with Maylee.  But I can say, just from observing him that night, that he seems to be a really fun, energetic guy.  I can tell he makes Kari and the kids so happy.  And for that, I already like him.

 My girls spent the night dancing!  Melanie even skipped the wedding cake JUST to dance.  Now that is a serious decision.

 And since there are no pictures of me at the party, Brandon snapped this on when we got back.  Unfortunately, I had been dancing with Melanie and Oliver most of the night and look a little haggard.  I promise, I HAD done my hair before the reception.

We miss Skylar very much.  He will always be an important member of the family and we know will see him someday.  In the meanwhile, we are SO happy that Kari and her beautiful children have found someone that will make them happy, take care of them, and participate in their lives until they see Skylar again.

Congratulations to Donny, Kari, Slade, Daisey, and Maylee!



Brian Mickelson Marathon

This past weekend was the Brian Mickelson Marathon in Cottonwood, Arizona.  I picked this marathon out about a month before I had Oliver as one I wanted to try to train for.  So, I had Oliver, and after waiting the 6 weeks (okay, I lie, I started running at 5 weeks post-Oliver), I started training.  I followed a training plan I found online and decided that once I get up to the larger runs I would decide if I could handle an actual marathon or not.

About a month ago, I decided I was all in.  I registered and reserved a hotel. 

A few days prior to the race, I received an informational email regarding the upcoming race.  In in, it said: "This year is the inaugural marathon event and we have nearly 50 registered to take on the 26.2 miles!"  *Nearly*?  In my vocabulary, that means "less than".  When I ran the Sedona Marathon last year, there were between 100-200 runners, and I remember thinking that was small.  50 is tiny.  So, I decided to try not to think about the size.

Saturday morning, we got up bright and early (thanks to Oliver, who saved the day by waking us up at 5 o'clock when we slept through the 4 o'clock alarm), and headed to the start.  It was a little chilly at the beginning, but felt nice.

 I was happy to find out that one of my runners was an engineering friend, Ox.  He was running his first marathon and had his dad (who happens to be our pediatrician) was there to support him.  It was fun seeing a friendly face in the race (even if I only saw his face for a few minutes and then he was off ahead of me).

I had a plan for this race.  My plan was to run a lot slower at the beginning so that I could keep a steady pace for the entire race.  My goal was to run in less than 5 hours, so my goal pace was 10:45 min/ miles.  That is a lot slower than my training runs, so I thought it would be doable.  I borrowed a friend's garmin (Thank you Lybi) and kept track. 

The first 17 miles were super easy and flew by.  Ironically, that's were all the hard climbs were.  But I had my family as a cheer team every once in a while, and my music was keeping me excited and jamming.  After mile 4, I really didn't see anyone until mile 9 (when the people that were faster than me were coming back from the long 6.75 mile there and back segment).  Really, the only people I saw were the ad station workers and my cute family.  

At mile 18, I realized I passed a porta-potty, but by time I made that realization, I was going down hill and didn't want to go back up. I didn't really *need* to use it, so I thought I'd use the next one.  Ha Ha!!!  What next one?  I started asking ad workers at mile 19 if they knew where the next restroom would be.  All I got was blank stares and "I don't know".  At mile 22, I was directed by the ad station to go off course a quarter mile (half mile round trip) to use an outhouse.  I did as he directed, but after getting of the restroom, I was momentarily lost.  They only markings on this race were little pink flags and pink painted arrows on the ground.   And have I mentioned that there are no other runners around?  yikes!

Thankfully, I found the trail, but unfortunately, after that, I lost my momentum.  I still was able to run, and made it past the mile marker 23.  Until this point, I had kept my goal pace, and was on track to make my goal of running the whole marathon in less than 5 hours.  Then something happened...  I got so sick.  Can we say DeHyDrAtIoN?!?!  It was 95 degrees in Cottonwood on Saturday.  So, even though I had been drinking and re-fueling like a crazy girl the entire race, it still happened.  There really wasn't anything I think I could have done differently.  I had turned onto a dirt trail around mile 18.5 and never saw the family on the course again.  I decided I was determined to finish, so started walking (though dizzily).  I tried calling the family after I passed mile 24 to see if that would encourage me (my music stopped working, stinkin' ear phones), but I didn't get through to them.  Before I got to mile 25, I was on another dirt trail and got the feeling I should sit down.  I sat.  Then I got a feeling I should lay... then a strong feeling came over me that perhaps laying would be a bad idea because no one would ever find me.  (Have I mentioned that I hadn't seen any runners in a LONG LONG time).  I got back up and kept going.  I passed mile 25 and was on the main road again.  I started speed walking.  I passed mile 26... I started jogging...  I ran through the finish.

Did I make my goal of finishing in less than 5 hours?  Heck no! (My official time was 5:25:58).  Did I finish?  Heck yes!  And I happy with it.  Yes.  (Though I will admit to mixed feelings at first, but I have gone over it again and again in my head, and I don't think I could have changed my approach at all to prevent my dehydration).

So, how am I feeling now, 2 days later... just fine!  I'm already planning my next marathon.  I'm thinking Phoenix Marathon, March 2, 2013 (and probably one or 2 others early next year) Until then, I'm thinking it's time to take on some half marathons!  But believe me, I'm definitely not running another long race in 90+ weather any time soon.  Yikes!

Random question... turns out that there was only 2 people in my age group, so technically I took second.  If you were me, would you ask for your reward?  I didn't stay for the ceremony because I had to hurry back, shower and feed Mr. Oliver.  I didn't realize I had "placed" until just now looking at the results.

Oliver's Clothes

Last week, Noelle was being very quiet in Oliver's room... so I checked it out.  She was laying out complete outfits for Oliver.  So I let her be.

 She was determined to match up all the clothing...

 Then there was a knock on the door and I stopped paying attention to what was going on in Oliver's room.  When I came back, I found this:

Two silly girls wearing their baby brother's clothing.  It was cute... but then I had to put an end to it.

Arizona Historical Society Museum

I has taken me a while to post because I'm not quite sure I like the new format. Well, regardless, I decided to give it a go.

Last Tuesday we ventured over to the Arizona Historical Society Museum.  Before getting the pass from the library on a whim, I didn't even know this place existed.   Now that I know it does, I can say, it's really pretty cool.  We will be going back, and I think I'd be willing to pay the 5 bucks to get in (yep, that's it.  Kids under 11 are free).

 Here are a few of the pictures I took while in the museum.  My lighting was all off on most of the pictures.  The museum had signs saying to turn OFF the flash, but the pictures that turned out were actually the ones when I had my flash on.  Irony as it's best.  This is a picture of the girls standing by a wagon gun the had horses pull during the war (though I can't remember which one).

 There was a section devoted to Arizona's agriculture, and all the kiddos got to try out the tractor.  It was very neat.

 

Being a geeky engineer, I had to take a picture of a piece of wooden pipe. 

 "Hello!... Hello!"  The kids got to try out af old phone. 

 In the following picture, the kids are sitting by a picture of the entire crew on the U.S.S. Arizona.  They had a little area devoted to WWII and about the Arizona. 

Then they were off to the Vetenam...

There was so much more at this museum.  Infact, we didn't get to see it all.  It was a lot of fun.  I would reccomend it!

 Afterwards, we took all the kiddos (boys in one stroller, goofy girls in the other) for a picnic.

It was a good day!

All Dressed Up

I didn't take Easter pictures on Easter because it was a crazy day. So yesterday I got a few before church. These two are my favorite!

Ha ha ha! Enjoy!

Career Day at Melanie's Preschool

On Friday, I was able to participate in a fun day at Melanie's school. The theme for the week was about what they could be when they grow up and I got to show them a little of what it is like to be an engineer. I brought a hard hat, some plans, a bit of asphalt, and chunk of sidewalk...

And then did a little bridge experiment with them. The bridge wasn't as exciting at school as it was when I did it at home. I guess I weakened it a bit with the test run. O-well. The kids seem to have liked it and Melanie loved having mom teach her class.On the way home I asked her what her favorite part was. She says: "The part when we saw the inside of the road and the sidewalk. That was cool, mom! When I grow up, I'm going to be a civil engineer!" Then she commented about how I wasn't an engineer any more because I was a mommy now. We had a conversation about how mommy will always be an engineer, but how it's more important to mommy right now to be at home with her kids then it is for her to design roads. I think she appreciated that.
Oh, and she is already planning her wardrobe for when she is an engineer. She says she needs a dress with a lot of different colors on it when she designs road. Too silly.

Water at the Science Center

After school on Tuesday we went straight to the Science Center to play with cousins Liz, Morgan, and Ethan. It was the first time we have seen this fun outdoor water exhibit, and we really enjoyed it.

This was fun. The water shot the balls up and into a little maze.

I love this picture and the look Oliver is giving. Ha ha!

Noelle could do it all by her self!

It was fun!

Flowers and Butterflies

Last week, I was lucky to get a pass to the Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden. I decided to take the girls and little Mister on Monday. The 4 of us got there pretty much at opening and checked out the desert trail.

At 9:30, the butterfly exhibit opened. We couldn't resist checking it out. It was really neat and I'm glad that we did.

We learned some neat things about butterflies. For example, they use their feet to taste their food. Interesting, isn't it? Melanie decided there were 106 butterflies in the exhibit, but the lady that helped us leave the exhibit informed us that there were over 1000. wow!

Then my girls decided to *become* caterpillars and butterflies.

After the exhibit, we walked the rest of the desert trail (there were some beautiful flowers blooming on the cacti) and then we headed home. It was already really hot.

It was definitely a fun, beautiful experience.