palm springs

I was lucky enough to get away for a few days after the half marathon. We flew to Plam Springs and stayed in Palm Desert for 6 days! The heat was incredible but the pool, cold drinks and air conditioned condo made things bearable. We checked out the Palm Springs night market, Joshua Tree National Park,did some serious shopping and spent a lot of time at the pool reading.

sun run

Last Sunday I finished my first 10k in Vancouver! It was a very fun, challenging and rewarding experience. Two and a half weeks before the run I started having a lot of pain and some numbness in my right leg. It turned out to be a very inflamed it (iliotibial band) and bulging disk in my back. So frustrating and disappointing when you are working so hard to improve your health. With some rest from running, painful sports massage and stretching with my new best friend (a foam roller aka 'the sausage') I was still able to participate in the run with my friends. My leg started to hurt a few minutes after starting the run but I was still able to run the entire distance. The most frustrating part of the run was the sheer volume of people (49,000) and the constant weaving around people. I'm so proud of our lil running group and look forward to our next challenge....

the fair 2011

We ventured out to the fair on Saturday. I think it was the hottest day of the year ( I know there hasn't been many this year). It was slightly miserable to be standing in line in the beating sun but we made the best of it! Right Tracy? Wind in my hair and chocolate dipped strawberries!!!! The absolute highlight of the fair was watching my kids go on rides together. I can't believe how quickly they have grown according to fair standards. Amelia and Aiden were able to go the bumper cars together and had a blast. Fair highlights this year were the 100 foot drop for Dale and Amelia, baby pigs for me and Aiden loved the Gravitron even though it took him about 45 minutes to recover from his vertigo/nausea. Crazy kid. My camera battery died about an hour into the fair so I missed a lot of pictures. C'est la vie.

girls week end

We had such a great time this week end! The drive was a little (a lot) unbearably long but once we arrived at our final destination it was worth it. We did a whirlwind tour of Forks and then it on to our cabin at LaPush. It was a great surprise. The website and the people on the phone were so vague we were worried we might have been duped by an internet scam. But we weren't! We had a cute cabin directly in front of one of the most beautiful beaches I've seen. We quickly poured ourselves a drink and went to the beach. It was a fun night of way too much yummy food, girl talk , hysterical laughing and bonding time. On the way home yesterday we stopped at the outlet mall and did some shopping. Girls week end + food + drink + shopping = perfect. Thanks ladies it was a lot of fun and I won't forget being yelled at by the navigation system, slangteasers and "honk three times!"

pasta party

Sunday, I had so much fun with the girls. Everyone showed up with their 5 pounds of tomatoes and we got busy! Making the most delicious pasta sauce. It was definitely a learning experience but so much fun as well. Thanks ladies.

highlights

This week passed in a flash!

Monday: Aiden started vacation bible school and loves it. Amelia and I enjoyed our time alone together too. We headed to Zuanich after bible school and joined my neighbor and friends for another great Monday playdate. It was very windy and sunny. I overheard Aiden telling the other kids he has a spiderman kite "it's so cool!" And I completely busted him by bringing out his kite that was... Winnie the pooh. Let that be a lesson in truthfulness buddy. Your Mom will get you every time!

Tuesday: I was able tot ake Amelia to story time at the library. She absolutely loves the songs and dancing. I fear we have a future diva in the family!

Wednesday: My one year blogging anniversary and I completely forgot. I am definately going to do a blog coffe book for each year though.

Thursday: We enjoyed a nice bbq with Heather and Rebecca's families in our backyard. We rarely seem to entertain in the summer but I loved watching all the kids hanging out on the play structure and the adults relaxing and visiting.

Friday: Last day of bible school and the kids enjoyed a bouncy house and cotton candy. We headed over to the Roth's for a delicious authentic Italian dinner and to look at their vacation pictures from Italy. We really enjoyed ourselves and the food was amazing. The kids were completely entertained by their older kids so it was nice evening for all.

white water rafting

Yesterday, Dale and I along with Tracy and Martin tackled the white water rapids of the Chilliwack River. We had decided last Christmas instead of exchanging gifts we would go and do something fun without the kids. We had such a crazy time! The weather was perfect and just as we were starting to feel comfortable maneuvering the rapids one of the boats flipped over. After we fished someone out of the water our boat tipped over. I saw Tracy fall out as we hit a rock pinning our boat against it. Dale, myself, our guide and another guy were left hanging onto the side of our sideways raft as the water pushed against the rock making it impossible to move ourselves or the raft. I later found out that rock is called the 'dishwasher' because you just keep tumbling and tumbling getting stuck in the current. You know the saying "that minute felt like an eternity" well 5 minutes feels even longer. One of the guides hiked up and threw as a rope that missed the first time but eventually we were pulled off the rock. The worst part of the whole thing is I never saw Tracy came back up to the surface so the whole time we were stuck I was freaking out that she hadn't been located. Everyone pulled off to the side of the river and two people needed to get off the trip because they had been hurt.
We started off again and 20 minutes later another raft was pulled under a tree and flipped. I was starting to feel like we were on the 'bad karma cruise" and should call it a day. Apparently the guides felt the same way and we ran out of time with all our 'rescues' so we disembarked a little over halfway down the rafting trip and bussed back to the camp. Everyone besides me loved it and wants to do it again. I doubt I will.

snow, sushi, concrete

That about sums up our week end. Saturday we woke up to snow! We had planned to pour our new patio never thinking to worry about snow in April. We went ahead as planned and everything turned out fine. A big thanks to everyone that lent their husbands Saturday morning, very appreciated. We had Tracy and Martin stay for dinner Saturday night and we made up a huge platter of sushi. We didn't one piece left over! The kids had a blast in our tub with some spray foam soap that took a long time to clean up today. It was worth it to see them having so much fun. Pictures of our new patio coming soon.